HERstory - making women in history and society visible

13/03/2024

"Female athletes are excluded from the Olympic Games because 'no matter how toughened a sportswoman may be, her organism is not cut out to sustain certain shocks.'"

This was in 1896, and the quote belongs to the modern Olympic Games founder, Pierre de Coubertin, who believed that women's participation in the Olympics would be inappropriate. Thankfully, things have changed since then.

Over the years, the International Olympic Committee has made substantial steps in promoting gender equality within the Olympic Movement. The percentage of female athletes participating in the Games has steadily increased, reaching 23% at Los Angeles 1984, 44% at London 2012 and 48% at Tokyo 2020.

This year, for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, the IOC is planning to achieve a historic milestone by distributing quota places equally between female and male athletes – a perfect 50:50 ratio. This marks the first time in Olympic history that full gender parity will be realised on the field of play.

As a continuation of International Women's Day, throughout March, we'll be sharing news and compelling stories related to and . Stay tuned!

15/12/2023

Today we would like to present you the Brest HERstory audio tour about the Jewish Ghetto from 1941-42. For this tour, you don't have to be in Brest, you can enjoy and learn about the situation of women in the Brest ghetto from whereever you are. We wish you an interesting virtual travel!

В 2017 году театр “Крылы халопа” представил цикл документальных аудиоспектаклей в пространстве города Brest Stories Guide и первый аудиотур о Брестском гетто. Наш второй ма...

13/12/2023

We support our partner organisation's Quarteera petition to the German Parliament on opening an admission programme for transgender people from Russia.
Since Russia launched it's full-scale war against Ukraine, the situation of LGBTQ+ people has deteriorated greatly. In particular, a law was passed in Russia that discriminates transgender people. The Germany based organisation Quarteera demands a simplified visa procedure for transgender people from Russia and an immediate access to medical treatment. Please find more information here and sign the petition!
https://www.quarteera.de/en/paragraph23/

30/11/2023

Have you heard about the Brest HERstory project? It is a series of documentary audio performances and audio tours about the women's history of Brest. The first Brest HERstory route is dedicated to the women's history of Brest during World War II, offering a perspective on historical events through the lens of women.

"In our work, we begin with the idea that the past shapes the present and the future. In Brest HERstory, we seek a different history – not one of heroism and big battles, but of selfless care and the rescue of children, friends, and other people. It's a history not of men's companions but of strong and independent personalities."

The tour is available in Russian and Belorussian languages. You can join the tour online and take a virtual walk via the link below. Next tours will be announced soon.

В 2017 году театр “Крылы халопа” представил цикл документальных аудиоспектаклей в пространстве города Brest Stories Guide и первый аудиотур о Брестском гетто.Наш второй ма....

27/11/2023

Violence against women and girls continues to be a widespread and persistent violation of human rights on a global scale.

This year, the United Nations marks 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence with the UNITE campaign, as well as the slogan and hashtag, which emphasizes the need to allocate resources and reshape societal norms to bring an end to violence against women and girls.

Thanks to the UN statistics, we gathered key facts about violence against women and sharing them with you.

22/11/2023

Does the Glass ceiling still exist? The Economist's glass-ceiling index (GCI) shows that women are still lagging behind their male counterparts in senior business roles, making up on average only a third of managers and just over a quarter of board seats across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

In 2023, Japan and South Korea occupy the lowest positions in the GCI ranking list, signifying that women in these countries still face the dilemma of choosing between family and career. Though, the situation is better in the Nordic countries — Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and Norway top the recent index as the best places for working women.

31/10/2023

HERstory has always been about spotlighting women from across history, particularly those that have made an impact on the human rights situation. And for the first time, we are going to be showcasing them via video 🎥

The first woman we are highlighting in our brand new series is Katelijne Heringa, a human rights activist who has managed projects focused on LGBTQIA+ people in Central and Eastern Europe and the MENA region. She has also worked on peacebuilding projects in Nagorno-Karabakh.

What did we discuss? As there are many conflicts across the globe right now, individuals may feel powerless. But it doesn’t have to be that way: drawing from her experience in conflict zones, Katelijne told us about the role of individuals in resolving conflicts. Check out the video to find out what her top tips were. Thank you, Katelijne!

➡️ Katelijne's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katelijne.heringa

09/10/2023

This is Narges Mohammadi, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and a woman whose name has become synonymous with the fight for human rights in Iran. On Friday, the Nobel Committee has awarded a Prize to Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”.

In 2022, her book about Iran’s brutal prison methods titled “White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners,” was published. In the book, thirteen women share their experiences of imprisonment: harassment and beatings by guards, total blindfolding and denial of medical treatment.

By the age of 51, Mohammadi has faced repeated sentences for being the voice of the voiceless—due to her ongoing activism and her fight for women's rights. At the moment of the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize, she was still imprisoned. In total, the Iranian regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a cumulative 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.

04/10/2023

Yesterday, on October 3rd, Anne L’Huillier was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."

Anne L'Huillier is a French-Swedish physicist and a professor of atomic physics at Lund University in Sweden. Professor L'Huillier became only the fifth woman to receive a Nobel Prize in physics in more than 120 years of the award's existence, and the third female laureate in the last five years.

Anne L'Huillier shared the Prize with physicists Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz.

Read about Anne L'Huillier' initial reactions to the Prize in a short interview by following the link below!

02/10/2023

Today, on the International Day of Non-Violence, which also marks Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, we want to draw additional attention to the fact that there is still a lot of violence in the world, particularly violence against women.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 30% of women worldwide have experienced partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Violence can have detrimental effects on women's physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health.

On the International Day of Non-Violence, we once again want to highlight the problem of violence against women.

Say No to Violence.

28/09/2023

Did you participate in the quiz from our last post about the first female flight attendant, Ellen Church? Here are the details and some more interesting facts!

In the mid-1900s, US airlines enforced strict criteria for the weight, age, marital status, and appearance of their cabin crew. During that era, women assisting on flights were often treated as low-class workers. The term "stewardess" became associated with a negative stereotype, portraying them as little more than models in the sky.

However, in 1967, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) of the US ruled against all discriminatory hiring practices by airlines, officially putting an end to discrimination.

Reflecting the social changes of the 1960s and 1970s, the terminology underwent a transformation, with “stewardess” evolving into the more inclusive and gender-neutral "flight attendant."