Opinion

Let’s Rewind.
Over half of the prospective students seeking to enroll in the Bauhaus were women. However, the Bauhaus women were placed into a separate “women’s facility” due to the threat their talents posed to the men. Although the Bauhaus declared equality between men and women when it opened in 1919, Walter Gropius’ decision to segregate these women was undeniably wrong. Yet, this did not keep the skill, passion, or production of these women at bay.

The recently published monograph “Bauhaus Women” by Ulrike Müller details the work of twenty women who passionately taught, designed, and created within the Bauhaus to the highest degree of excellence. These influential women (including Anni Albers, Marianne Brandt, Gertrud Arndt, and many others) should be prominent names in art and design history — however, these extraordinary women are not widely known. We are much more immediately familiar with the names of the Bauhaus men: Walter Gropius, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, etc. We can assume that the same applies for countless female artists and designers who lived and worked both before and after the Bauhaus era.

Let’s Pause.
Consider the contemporary example of Wikipedia. Only approximately 15.5% of Wikipedia biographies are about women — this is partially due to the fact that approximately 90% of Wikipedia editors are men. Women's Wikipedia biographies are drastically shorter than men’s, and many times the content is not centered around their career achievements but about their husbands, relationships, and children. The talented women of art and design history are no exception.

Since 2013, the Museum of Modern Art, New York has hosted an annual event entitled “Wikipedia Edit-a-thon: Art + Feminism.” This public event includes panel discussions, Wikipedia tutorials, editing and reference assistance, childcare, and food. The goal of the event is to begin repairing the minority and gender imbalances that exist on Wikipedia, specifically with regards to important women in art and design. The MoMA’s Edit-a-thon has spurred a cascade of similar events around the country, including one within the institution I teach. Sadly though, a few male students nearly destroyed the event with discrimination. 

Three female Communication Design students within the University of Cincinnati began promoting the first Edit-a-thon in April of 2015 with posters around the building. Two male peers repeatedly took down the posters. The persistent female organizers re-printed and hung the posters again and again, only for them to be taken down five more times. Next, the male students created a parody poster identical to the Edit-a-thon poster (it featured men instead of women) and plastered it all over the building. 
Like the women of the Bauhaus, these female students did not slow down in the face of adversity, and hosted a successful four-hour event where 4,737 words were added to Wikipedia. The following year, the event was 8 hours, 14,154 words were added, and they had six sponsors from local design firms and the University Women’s Center. The efforts of these young women contributed to the scant profiles of female icons such as Muriel Cooper, Irma Boom, Lorraine Wild, and many, many more. 

Let’s Move Forward
A web of influential women stand as important figures in our contemporary and historical visual culture; we must make the effort to be aware of them and to celebrate them. The “Diagram of Influence and Inspiration” from the book “Women of Design” by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit is an excellent resource. This web-like interactive visualization connects many female designers with their influences. Additionally, the AIGA is pursuing a “Women Lead” initiative that seeks to empower female designers. We must all work together to educate others and ourselves about the immense contributions of women to our profession.