Women’s Safety and Welfare - A new collecting project
We are working on a new collecting project documenting how women’s safety and welfare is dealt with on London’s transport network for both staff and passengers, and we’ll be hosting an event at the Museum on 23 May 2022, Collections discussion and workshop: ‘Women’s safety and welfare in the workplace’, to discuss these issues across the heritage sector.
Recent tragic events have highlighted women’s safety in London. In October 2021, Transport for London launched a new campaign with a zero-tolerance approach to unwanted sexual behaviour and sexual harassment. Posters, such as the ‘Upskirting’ poster above, have appeared on the network. Part of my role as Documentary Curator is to put new material, such as these posters, in the context of our existing collections such as this leaflet from 2001, Tube Tips for Women. The leaflet, though just over twenty years old, reflects changes in attitudes and assumptions about gender, women’s place in society and who has the responsibility for keeping women safe.
The leaflet uses language and tone that feels dated, and perhaps even patronising, to women today and makes assumptions about gender that are not inclusive. For instance, the leaflet warns against twisting your ankle on the escalators when wearing your party shoes, as well as fainting through skipping breakfast, “A cereal bar does the trick and fits into the tiniest handbag”.
When discussing women’s safety and welfare, it is important to be inclusive but also to be able to deal with older collections that reflect outdated tone, language and attitudes.
The Museum will be hosting an event discussing both contemporary and historic collections with colleagues across the heritage sector. The event is part of the subject specialist network ‘Women’s history in organisations’ and is funded by the Art Fund. The event will be hosted by myself and will include a talk from the Museum’s STARS team and a workshop led by The History of Parliament Trust, who have interviewed former MPs as part of their oral history project.
Collections discussion and workshop: ‘Women’s safety and welfare in the workplace’ will be held online on 23 May 2022, from 10:00-13:00. You can book your free ticket on Eventbrite.