Forum of Slavic Cultures returns to UNESCO
The international foundation Forum of Slavic Cultures in collaboration with partner institutions put on the exhibition Women and the Great War. The opening ceremony took place in cooperation with Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Slovenia to UNESCO at the UNESCO palace in Paris. The exhibition will be on show until 15 April 2019.
“At the Forum of Slavic Cultures we take great pride in our mission and are very happy when our international efforts add a new chapter to the history of Europe. This exhibition on Slavic women in World War I is a fine example of close collaboration between our countries,” stressed Andreja Rihter, Director of the Forum of Slavic Cultures at the opening of Forum’s sixth exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, adding that eight Slavic countries helped shape the exhibition Women and the Great War with contributions from their state archives, museums and a faculty. The archival material reveals the diverse roles of women in the Great War. For them, the war front was more than just personal; it extended to their families and society, and most importantly, carried an emancipatory charge. While the brutal war deprived women of so many things, it also brought a new freedom in their fight for women’s rights.
As Andrej Slapničar, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in Paris and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, put it in his address: “Women’s contribution to the war effort was so important that it signified the beginning of emancipation and future cooperation. Without these women there would be no gender equality to talk about today.” Saniye Gülser Corat, Director of the Division for Gender Equality at UNESCO stressed that the exhibition reflected UNESCO’s mission of promoting gender equality and a stronger role of women in modern society.
The exhibition Women and the Great War will be on show at the UNESCO palace until 15 April 2019, at the same time as the session of the UNESCO Executive Board, and will subsequently visit partners in eight Slavic countries.
Exhibition Women and the Great War