Jun 9 2008
The International Museum of Women (I.M.O.W.), a non-partisan social change museum, explores links between politics, women, and the environment this month in the global online exhibition Women, Power and Politics. With climate change the hot topic on political agendas around the world, the multimedia exhibition makes a timely exploration of political activism through women's efforts to save the earth.
Debuting new essays, interviews, film clips, community forums, a podcast and artwork in June, Women, Power and Politics looks at many reasons why women care about the environment. Through nine new stories, the exhibition reveals how women are more adversely affected by environmental damage than men, yet shows how environmental activism is frequently a gateway to political activism for women globally.
In the aftermath of tsunamis, and the recent cyclone and earthquakes in Myanmar and China, the Women, Power and Politics multimedia exploration reports shocking trends of how natural disasters disproportionately affect women worldwide. Yet, the exhibition also brings to light stories of women environmental warriors who are cleaning up ecological damage everywhere from Papua New Guinea to Colombia. We meet green pioneers including Olya Melen of the Ukraine, winner of the Goldman Prize for Europe; Kaisha Atakhanova of Khazakstan, protecting her homeland where the equivalent of 20,000 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs were detonated; Medha Paktar of India, taking on the two goliaths of government and the World Bank in efforts to protect indigenous land rights; and Libia Grueso of Colombia, preserving her country's rainforest, one of the richest biological areas in the world.
Visitors can also listen to this month's featured podcast with activist Sibongile Musuku van Damme of South Africa to learn how gender, race and the environment co-exist in the post-Apartheid country; see film clips of Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai of Kenya, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to make the connection between keeping peace and conserving the environment; view vibrant murals that link environmental toxins to breast cancer, and meet Green Party member and MP Janina Andersson from Finland who reveals why women make up the majority in the Green Party.
"Women are some of the most provocative and effective environmental activists," says Dr. Masum Momaya, curator of the Women, Power and Politics global online exhibition. "By bringing the stories of these inspiring women to exhibition visitors from around the world, many more people will learn about their heroic efforts and in turn be inspired to take positive actions in their own communities."
Women, Power and Politics connects visitors to stories of remarkable women claiming and exercising their power to transform the world. The exhibition features content from more than 50 countries and currently highlights 80 plus stories that cross international borders and engage a global audience. I.M.O.W. invites people of all cultures and political affiliations to submit their own stories and art and join the conversation in its online Community. Launched on March 8, the cutting-edge multimedia exhibition runs until December 31 in four languages -- Arabic, English, French and Spanish at http://www.imow.org.