International Women's Day

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Today is International Women's Day.

A new version of the London tube map has been created by UCL, in association with a creative team, including Reni Eddo-Lodge, Rebecca Solnit and Emma Watson.

This links with previous atlas projects created by Rebecca along with Jelly Shapiro, which I have - three cities were mapped in that project, included New Orleans and New York.

I've ordered a physical copy of the map and an interactive version is now available - link below.

'How does it impact our imaginations that so many places in so many cities are named after men and so few after women? What kind of landscape do we move through when streets and parks and statues and bridges are gendered ... and it's usually one gender, and not another? What kind of silence arises in places that so seldom speak of and to women? This map was made to sing the praises of the extraordinary women who have, since the beginning, been shapers and heroes of this city that has always been, secretly, a City of Women. 
And why not the subway? This is a history still emerging from underground, a reminder that it's all connected, and that we get around.'
Rebecca Solnit

Details of the map here:

Instead of Bond Street, Notting Hill Gate, Warren Street, Paddington, Euston Square, Waterloo, Bank or Lancaster Gate, the City of Women London Tube map invites us to mind the gap at Audrey Hepburn, Claudia Jones, Virginia Woolf, Mary Seacole, Noor Inayat Khan, Agnes Beckwith, Boudica or Jung Chang.

An interactive, digital version developed by UCL allows pedople to learn more about each person and their inspiring lives.

The women and non-binary people assigned to each station were identified through a multi-layered research process, beginning with an open call for suggestions. Some of these figures are household names while others are unsung heroes from London’s hidden histories, yet each has indelibly shaped the city. The names for the map were selected by the authors of the project, with input from an advisory group made up of academics, writers, activists and historians. Where possible, names have been placed at a station with a personal or symbolic connection to their lives. The inclusion of several non-binary people on the map recognises the resonance between their lives and undertakings and the anti-patriarchal spirit of the City of Women project (in all cases, they are in full agreement about their inclusion).

This morning, I did a quick thread of the female GA Presidents to date. Read more about them on my GA Presidents blog.


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