Women in History - Telling HERstory through Memory of the World

UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) Programme was established in 1992 with the objectives of facilitating preservation, enhancing universal access, and increasing awareness worldwide of the existence and significance of the world’s documentary heritage. The Programme comprises three types of register: international, regional and national. The registers list documentary heritage which has been endorsed as corresponding to the selection criteria regarding world, regional and national significance.

As a response to the UNESCO gender equality priority, UNESCO Bangkok Office launched the ‘Women in History – Telling HERstory through Memory of the World’ project. The project aims to identifying, arousing attention and promoting preservation and access to documentary heritage collections in the Asia-Pacific region that contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

This ‘Women in History’ online exhibition is an attempt to raise awareness of gender sensitive documentary heritage in the Asia-Pacific region. It encourages memory institutions to evaluate their collections with gender dimensions. The exhibition includes some important records from the region on gender equality issues, achievements of women in history and stories told by women. In order to inspire more collections, it also highlights some inscriptions of prominent women on the MoW international register who contributed to women’s empowerment around the world.