Women’s role in history has been overlooked for quite a while due to the presence of deeply patriarchal ideas that did not allow to center women as important agents in the development of society. However, women’s contribution to humankind’s development is still massive, and it has increased exponentially over the centuries. Therefore, The National Women’s History Museum holds a very special place in the existing hierarchy of repositories of historical records. Providing insight into the crucial role that women have played in global history for thousands of years, the museum allows delving into the political, economic, social, and cultural changes that women have introduced into the world.
The NWHM provides exhibits that serve a very specific goal and prove their [point meticulously. The emphasis is placed consistently on women’s accomplishments, making examples of events from different time periods to convey the scale of the role that female scholars, athletes, and artists have played in world history (“About Us,” n.d.). The layout of the museum also helps to emphasize the importance of intersectionality in embracing the role of women in world history. For instance, the exhibition that pays homage to the contribution of African American women specifically allows emphasizing the challenges that specific groups of women had to overcome to achieve specific accomplishments. Namely, the problem of race-related prejudices as in the example with Black women, as well as other biases concerning religion, ethnicity, and other characteristics are explored in the exhibitions.
The museum does a perfect job of portraying the accomplishments of women from all walks of life and time periods, encompassing the essence of the changes that their inventions and discoveries entailed. Moreover, the method of arrangement used in the museum for displaying the different inventions and discoveries made by women in different eras is also worth noticing. By classifying its exhibits according to the social, political, and artistic movements by which they were inspired, the museum workers have created an important historical narrative that guides visitors across centuries (“About Us,” n.d.). As a result, viewers can see not only how women in question managed to accomplish specific goals but also what inspired them to make these crucial changes to world history.
Overall, the work that the museum has been doing is nearly flawless. If there was anything that the NWHM could improve, it would be the method that they use to entice their visitors into paying attention. Although the museum workers do not make any noticeable mistakes in the representation of their material, they do not push the envelope with it, either. As a result, the information offered in the exhibitions can thrill only those visitors who are familiar with the subject matter and have a background in it (“About Us,” n.d.). In turn, those that are completely new to the issue of women’s accomplishments may feel slightly distracted, which means that innovative methods of forming a cohesive visual narrative could be used.
Nonetheless, the NWHM has been providing spectacular opportunities for learning about women’s crucial accomplishments across the world’s history. The scope and scale of the work done by the museum workers are admirable, and the information represented in exhibitions is enticing. Overall, the museum has been serving its purpose of reminding about the changing role of women in society extraordinarily well, and it deserves to be mentioned above the ones that have been making a significant social change.
Reference
About us. Web.