WOMEN. POWER. EUROPE

In 3 chronologic parts, the series will look at the awakening and restoration 1945-1967, the upheaval and women’s rebellion 1968-1988, and the new European women from 1989 to today. At the heart of each part, we’ll meet about five women from different nationalities and backgrounds. Prominent names will mix with less well-known personalities; but each of them definitively shaped the development of Europe through her work. As women in powerful positions – in politics and business –, they were or have been able to direct the fates of their countries, of Europe and with that of the entire female population. Even though acting from positions of power, their experiences are representative of those of many women across Europe: the obstacles they faced and the hurdles they had to overcome on the path to participation are strikingly similar. We’ll meet these protagonists in interviews, in memories of their contemporaries and through archive material. Letters, diaries, autobiographies and photographs provide viewers with the most unfiltered and authentic insight into their lives. On the other side, historical footage will also make voices and standpoints of men who dominated the political system of the post-war era be heard. Through newsreels, reports and parliamentary debates, we’ll follow the major events of European history. Along these, excerpts from advertisements, feature films and music will remind us of the image of women in the media and society – leaving us, from a today’s viewpoint, at times shocked, smiling or simply surprised. Shortlisted protagonists include: Alice Bah Kuhnke (SE), Ewa Bożena Kopacz (PL), Marga Klompé (NL), Christine Lagarde (FR), Melina Mercouri (GR), Anna Šabatová (CZ), Margaret Thatcher (UK), Simone Veil (FR), Ursula von der Leyen (DE).

Wikimedia Commons__Simone der Beauvoir_Credit Moshe Milner Fotograf: Moshe Milner HAEUX__AS-210_04 Unknown Author / HAEU, AS-210 MPECX__EP-096972A__General view on the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg Wikimedia Commons__Ursula von der Leyen presents her vision to MEPs (1)__16.07.2019 Wikimedia Commons__Ursula von der Leyen presents her vision to MEPs (2), 16.07.2019 © European Union 2019 - Source : EP MCEPX__EP-155109A__EP Plenary session - State of the European Union 2023 (1) MCEPX__EP-155109A__EP Plenary session - State of the European Union 2023 © European Union 2023 - Source : EP MPEC__19771201_Plenary__Plenary session in Strasbourg on December 1977 © Communautés Européennes 1977 – PE Wikimedia Commons__Alice Bah Kuhnke Kristian Pohl/Governingskansliet Wikimedia Commons__G7 Finance ministers IMF Staff Photograph/Stephen Jaffe Me Too Pakkin Leung@Rice Post