Women Power and Politics is a particularly meaningful project for me. I signed on to curate the exhibition because we are living in a remarkable moment in history, in which unprecedented numbers of women are engaging in politics, not just running for the highest levels of elected office but also organizing and mobilizing to build true democracies. Yet, their full story is not being told.

I am often dismayed that the images we tend to see of women in the media portray us as victims. While this may stir up emotions and sympathy, it doesn't show our strength, power, and the range of ways that women participate in shaping and influencing society.

As a counterpoint to these one-dimensional depictions, we wanted to collect and share real stories about how women are making change. In particular, we wanted to show inspiring tales of how women from all walks of life dare to believe the world can be different - and put their passions and ideas into action.

Despite what the evening news and our high-school history books tell us, women are powerful, and they always have been.

As we close the active phase of Women, Power and Politics, we would like to thank you for participating in our online community and sharing your own experiences.
The stories from this exhibition will continue to be accessible online and we hope that you will join us as we continue to explore and feature voices from our online community. If you haven't done so already, be sure to visit our other online exhibitions and register for our community.

On behalf of the exhibitions team and the International Museum of Women, thank you!

--Curator Masum Momaya

 

P.S. Watch this space in January 2009 as we unveil our Women, Power and Politics white paper and sum up what we've learned during the course of this exhibition.