“What Women Want”: Exhibit Review

Ada Mau

“What Women Want” is an exhibition at The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, which explores and celebrates what women have fought and longed for from the Victorian period to the 21st century. The exhibition has been created in collaboration with staff and students at London Metropolitan University and community groups from the East End of London and is an evolving project that will grow and change according to participations from new organisations and visitors.

You probably cannot find a definite answer to the eternal question “What do women really want?” here. Instead, the exhibition chronicles important women’s issues in the last hundred years and opens up discussions for future campaigning in feminism. It is definitely intriguing to see the tongue in cheek display of Mrs Beaton’s Victorian advice on cooking and home life sitting side by side with Erin Pizzey's “The Slut's Cookbook” and “Why be a Wife?”, a campaign in the 1970s, and Nigella Lawson’s guide to being a modern domestic goddess. The exhibition showcases objects, art work, photographs, books, pamphlets, magazines, and banners from Britain’s largest collection of Suffragette materials and other women’s literature, some of which are previously little known to the public.

The exhibition is divided into seven  interrelated themes. In the first section “Pleasure,” you can observe the progression and changes in women’s leisure from traditional home-based pursuits of crafts and cooking to more public pleasure such as sports, dancing, and drinking. From the Flappers smoking and dancing in the 1920s to a new generation of lager drinking “ladettes” hitting the bottle harder than men, the ways in which women can have fun have challenged the social norms and provoked debates constantly throughout time. Can women “just be one of the guys”? Or are these behaviours sabotaging themselves and the effort to be seen as equals?

The “Voice” section documents the suffrage campaign’s fight for the right of women to vote and the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 20th century by presenting many of the original banners and posters of these collective actions. The section entitled “Beauty” explores women’s continuous issues with their appearances. Although beauty ideals and fashion have changed , as you can see drawings of corseted Victorian ladies and a Wonderbra advertisement as part of the exhibits, the relationship between women and beauty has remained a complex one. Today’s women seem to spend a lot of money and effort on enhancing their beauty, but many are still not satisfied with their appearance. Are we just being sucked into consumerism and airbrushed, unrealistic images? Or is looking like Pamela Anderson empowering?      

The “Home Life” section looks at an equally complicated aspect of women’s lives by exploring women’s various roles as daughters, wives, mothers, partners, and singletons. The “Safety” section shows how women have fought against war, abuse, rape, and domestic violence to achieve a safer environment to live in, and the “Independence” section shows the advancement in women’s freedom to be mobile, control their fertility, and express “Girl Power” (Yes, there is a Spice Girls bag on display!).

You can find an orange banner proclaiming the slogan "So long as women are not free, people are not free" and wartime posters inviting women to "Join the Land Army" and rosettes demanding "Equal pay for equal work" in the “Equality” section, a theme that shows the struggle of equal pay, opportunity and treatment at work place for women. The exhibition is comprehensive in covering different aspects of British women’s lives since the Victorian period, and it focuses on issues that appear to be most persistent and relevant to today’s women.

A lot of positive changes have been made to women’s lives in the last  one hundred years, but have we got what we really want yet? “What Women Want” aims to be dynamic and inclusive by encouraging visitors to reflect upon the issues and contribute ideas to the some questions that we probably ask ourselves. A whole wall at the exhibition is dedicated to displaying visitors’ views, and this element adds an evolving and interactive dimension to the project. Visitors are invited to pin up cards with their replies to questions such as “what makes a woman beautiful?”, “what is the most important freedom?”, “how can the environment be made safer?” and “what would improve the world of work?”.

In answer to the question, “why is housework still thought of as a woman’s job?”, some responses included , “because we do it best”, “years of traditional farming society” and “because women keep asking their male partners to “help” them.” When asked “what is your favourite leisure activity?”, a number of responses included sex and football.

Perhaps we just want the same things as men do? Maybe girls just wanna have fun? Maybe we just want to be independent and have fun without being judged or threatened? The question and quest of what women want continues to be discussed and debated around the world.

The exhibition runs from 6 October 2005 to 26 August 2006. For more information, please visit:The Women's Library and What Women Want.