To mark International Women’s Day 2025, the Ars Electronica Center is also setting an example and taking part in the public discourse. With works by women in media art and a performance programme in Deep Space 8K, it is putting the spotlight on women on March 8.
International Women’s Day is aimed at the multiple discrimination and exploitation of women and girls around the world. The call for a Women’s Day that focuses on women’s rights was already loud in the years before the First World War. In 1911, the first Women’s Day was celebrated in some countries, including Austria; this public holiday was officially banned during the Nazi era. The women’s movement took it up again after the Second World War, but it only regained great significance with the women’s movement of the 1960s and 70s.
Since the United Nations General Assembly (UN) passed a resolution to this effect in December 1977, International Women’s Day has been celebrated worldwide on March 8.
However, more than a century later, women are still significantly underrepresented in many areas such as art, technology and society. History shows, however, that continuous commitment and the visualisation of women are essential in order to make progress towards equality. Although the gender gap has narrowed in recent years, there is still a lot to do!