The Feminist Map of Projects (FemMap) is using technology to document initiatives around the globe that focus on achieving gender equality. The idea behind it is to create a worldwide database of feminist activities, including various categories from politics to local community actions, giving us an idea of how feminism is acting in different parts of the world.
With the support of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Hamburg University, in Germany, FemMap was created by journalist and human rights activist Juliana Guarany through the German Chancellor Fellowship for Prospective Leaders. She developed the concept of the project with close collaboration of Dr Monika Pater from the Institute of Journalism and Communications of Hamburg University.
FemMap is an online map database that collects and connects projects, events and advocacies focused on gender equality and empowering women across the globe. As a collaborative tool, the website allows anyone to create an entry about feminist projects and initiatives they find interesting. All entries are fact-checked before appearing on the map.
An internal team collects projects, creates a profile entry, and pins the locations on the map in the website. The team connects initiatives designed with similar methods and campaigns. By doing so, it is possible to give a different perspective of the world, where feminist movements are altogether building a global community that works toward eradicating gender-based discriminating cultures such as misogyny and sexism.
Brazilian human rights activist and journalist Juliana Guarany designed FemMap while doing her own project to tackle violence against women. She came to a point when she realized the need not to create another project, but to address all groups and organizations in order to have them talk to each other:
I stumbled upon a variety of similar initiatives. I felt that, instead of creating something that had been done before, we needed to document, quantify and create a place for all feminist activities to be found. Also, it is important to show how many initiatives are focused on gender equality in the world", says Guarany. “Using FemMap, organizations can contact similar projects and avoid redundancy on their work by helping each other.
Please click here to visit the FemMap website.
