Do you remember playing Grandmothers footprints (aka statues) as a child, maybe at a friends birthday party. One person plays the stop light or curator and the rest try to touch him/her. When the curator says stoplight and turns around all the other children must freeze. They become statues and the faces of various boys and girls remain motionless. Those still moving are unfortunately out of the game.
We love statues. We idolize them and sculptors painstakingly create them. They are sprinkled across a broad spectrum of our landscapes, from the green city parks to the downtown concrete jungles. They educate and inspire us, fueling our sense of curiosity and wonder. They prompt conversation and they entice another holiday photograph. They are reference points and navigation symbols, helping us reach our destination; "I'll meet you at the Lincoln Memorial at 9:00am." However, how many statues do we have of female icons?
Statues echo the achievements of the past and inspire future progress. They bestow a sense of immortality upon our icons, forging the deeds and words of hero's into our minds and conveying the essence of humanity. Unfortunately, Chicago and many of our great cities have failed to honor many of our great women. An article in the Chicago Maroon cites New York's Central Park as having 22 statues none of which are female. The Washington Post pointed out that less than 8% of public outdoor sculptures in the United States are of women. How many figurative statues of historically significant women exist in Chicago's 580 parks? We fear the number may be less than 1%.
Dorothy from the Wizard or Oz is a fictional character. We are not referring to the presence of nymphs, goddesses or the Statue of Liberty. We are referring to female explorers, pioneers, leaders, scientists who influenced the progress of humanity. Some will argue that history is littered with the trash of inequality and consequently few women reached the pinnacle of their respective field. However, to even entertain the notion that many great women have not fundamentally influenced human evolution is ludicrous! Moreover, History (or Herstory) is not a static notion, we are continually updating our knowledge of the critical part played by women in many ground breaking discoveries. We now need to symbolize, reinforce and cement these great female minds.
Change is happening. Chicago Park district has renamed more than 40 parks to honor great women of science, government and the arts over the last 12 years. The Jane Adams memorial and the Cheney-Goode memorial represent steps in the right direction. However, as Asya Akca of the University of Chicago correctly observes the number of figurative statues of notable women has failed to noticeably increase. This needs to change and evolve with words and deeds!
