To celebrate International Women’s History Month in March, staff and students from across the School of History and Cultures nominated their forty favourite or most influential women from history, from Hatshepsut and Cleopatra VII to Maya Angelou and Victoria Wood. The images of these women were then turned into decals (plastic stickers) and placed around the Arts Building and Muirhead Tower on the Edgbaston campus. Each image was accompanied by a QR code linking to the women’s biography, written by their nominators. Students who found all of the women were entered into a prize draw and this is what the lucky winners had to say:
The best part of participating in the Finding Our Foremothers competition wasn’t just about winning – it was about learning! I had great fun reading about all the inspiring women and their achievements (while having healthy exercise climbing up and down the stairs at the university building!). Well done to the team for organising the competition and engaging us in such excellent history lessons!
– Citta Widagdo, PhD Law
I got involved with the selfie contest because I wanted to show my support for what I thought was a brilliant way of raising awareness about the role of women in history, and the importance of recovering the voices and experiences of women. I was thrilled to win, but even happier to see such inspirational women throughout the week around the Arts building, and I hope it helped call attention to the lives of some pretty inspirational women.
– Rose Parkinson, MA Global History
The images put up around the Arts building and Muirhead tower intrigued me, and I saw the contest as a means of getting involved an activity outside of my academics. It was an intellectually-stimulating and inspirational afternoon spent reading and researching the women nominated for the contest. Winning was a bonus; what I learned from the contest was arguably more valuable in the sense that my awareness of the accomplishments and contributions made by these women grew.
– Kathryn Myers, BA Drama and English
You can see more great selfies by looking for the tag #IWHM_BRIHC.