In Umea, a small Swedish town not far from the Arctic Circle, there is one of the few museums in the world dedicated to the history of women. The municipality, very avant-garde, has been wondering about the place of women in the public space for decades now.
From our correspondent,
It started in the 1970s. Gender equality is in the air and in Umea, a student city, progressive, ideas are flowing. Researchers specialize in these issues, and the municipality, anchored on the left, launches. It becomes a small laboratory, with the first project being the construction of social housing, designed for mothers with, in particular, the windows of the kitchens facing the interior courtyards where the children play.
This is the beginning of awareness of the specificities of the female condition and their consideration in urban policies. A concern that will be formalized in 1989, with the creation of a dedicated post at the town hall of Umea: that of commissioner for gender equality. Two people today wear this hat, they are paid to ensure that in the planning of all projects carried out by the city, the question of women is always raised.
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Umea, the city that supports its female footballers
In the 1990s, the Umea men’s team could train on this pitch at the best times of the day: between 5 and 8 p.m., which made life very complicated for the players of the women’s club. However, at that time, the players are better placed in their league than the players. The town hall will therefore establish a simple rule, still valid today: the best team in the city (regardless of its sex) chooses its time slots for the occupation of the field.
Thanks to this change in the operation of access to the field, which is a priori anecdotal, the yellow and black women’s football team has become, a few years later, one of the best clubs in the world since it has won seven championships in 8 years, and twice the Women’s Champions League.
Modified urban developments
Another anecdote: that of a pedestrian tunnel which passes under the railway station. It connects two neighborhoods of Umea in which women were attacked 10 years ago. Very quickly, the town hall decided to break everything, to rebuild a wider, brighter tunnel, with soothing frescoes on the walls, and above all an escape route in the middle of the tunnel in case of danger.
More recently, to reflect on the development of the banks of the river, the town hall organized a series of single-sex workshops with teenage girls. The idea was to take into account the fact that young girls generally express themselves less and above all, less freely when there are boys.
A statue to carry the word of women
In the center of the main square of Umea, there is no equestrian statue of a king or a general, but a beast, fiery red, who roars, camped on his cage from which one imagines that he escaped. It is a work of art that was commissioned by the municipality to celebrate the MeToo Movement, five years ago. The statue is titled “Listen”. And that is the message to all who pass through Umea today: Listen to the words of women, and do not close your eyes to the abuses they are victims of “.
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