Building the gender perspective into policies on culture and historical memory is the challenge for the Gender and Museums project by the Directorate for Memory, History and Heritage, and the Directorate for Gender Services and Time Policies.
Gender action plans seek to build in the gender perspective right across the board, from management to operations, in the narratives and activities organised by Barcelona’s museums.
This is an innovative project, unprecedented in Spain, where just 34% of artists are women and even fewer are museum directors (14%); despite the fact that women account for the majority of students in art schools (up to 72%). According to Sara Berbel, Municipal Manager for Barcelona City Council, this means that we need to “reverse this situation and build the gender perspective into policies on culture and historical memory”.
The gender action plans specified in this project not only focus on parity, but also build in the gender perspective right across the board, from management to operations, in the narratives and activities organised by Barcelona’s museums. “What we are doing is changing the way of understanding and interpreting all museum facilities, in all their complexity” (Carles Vicente, director of Memory, History and Heiritage).
“Gender and Museums” starts from the analysis made of facilities and the programmes at Barcelona’s municipally managed museums, which highlights a “flagrant inequality in parity”. This must be a starting point which enables us to “know where we’re coming from and where we’re going” (Patrícia Soley-Beltran , doctor of Sociology).
Some of the actions in the plan have already been implemented at the Museu de Ciències Naturals, where the greatest difficulty has been the lack of examples and models. In the words of Lina Ubero, head of the Area for Public Programmes at the NAT, “we need to improvise and keep trying out proposals”.
“Gender and Museums” entails a necessary combined effort, as “it is a project which only works if the entire team gets involved” (Marta Clari, manager of Culture, Education and Science).
The Meeting on Gender Plans at Museums was held on 30 November 2021. You can see the full video here.
