East End Women's Museum facts for kids
Logo introduced in 2015
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Current building site
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| Established | 2015 |
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| Location | London
Barking, IG11 7BB United Kingdom |
| Type | Women's museum |
| Founder | Co-founder: Sara Huws, Sarah Jackson |
The East End Women's Museum (EEWM) is a special museum in England. It focuses on the stories of women from east London. Unlike most museums, it's a "virtual" and "pop-up" museum. This means it doesn't have one fixed building. Instead, it hosts events and exhibitions in different places and online.
The museum started in 2015. It was created to share the rich history of women in the East End. This was a positive way to show that women's stories are important. The museum hoped to open a permanent home in Barking in 2023. However, they are still working on finding a fixed location. For now, they continue to offer exciting temporary exhibitions, workshops, and educational events.
Contents
What is the East End Women's Museum?
The East End Women's Museum (EEWM) is all about the lives and voices of women from east London. Its main goal is to make sure all women are represented. This includes women of color, women with disabilities, and women from different backgrounds.
Often, women's stories have not been fully recorded in history. For example, only a small number of English Heritage's famous blue plaques honor women. The museum wants to change this. It aims to challenge unfairness and help women share their own experiences.
Why is the East End important for women's history?
East London has a long history of people working for change. Many important moments for women's rights happened here.
- England's first well-known feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, grew up near Barking.
- The famous matchgirls' strike of 1888 happened at a factory in Bow. This strike was a big step for workers' rights.
- The sewing machinists strike at Ford Dagenham in 1968 was also very important. It helped lead to the Equal Pay Act 1970. This law made it illegal to pay women less than men for the same work.
The suffragette movement, which fought for women's right to vote, was also strong in this area.
- When Sylvia Pankhurst and her group left another suffragette union, they started the East London Federation of Suffragettes in 1912.
- Annie Clara Huggett, one of the last living suffragettes, lived nearby. A women's center in Dagenham is named after her.
Past Projects and Activities
Since it's a pop-up museum, the EEWM connects with local communities in many ways. They offer temporary exhibitions, workshops, talks, and online learning. They also create tours around East London. Here are some of their past projects:
2016
- "East End Women: The Real Story" (2016-2017) was an exhibition. It celebrated how women led social and political changes in the East End.
2017
- "Women at Watney: Voices from an East End market" was an exhibition. It collected memories of women who worked at Watney Market. They did this through recorded interviews.
2018
- "The Women's Hall: Celebrating the East London Federation of the Suffragettes" looked at the original headquarters of the suffragettes. It also shared lesser-known stories about their fight for votes. This project included two major exhibitions and many events.
- "Making her mark: 100 years of women's activism in Hackney" was an exhibition. It showed how women in Hackney have been active in their community from 1918 until today.
2020
- "EEWM Heritage Trail" is a self-guided tour. It lets people explore 14 locations linked to important East London women, like Annie Brewster.
See also
- East End of London
- Glasgow Women's Library
- Feminist Library
- Women's Library
