Monuments and Statues to Women: Arrival of an Historical Reckoning of Memory and Commemoration

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Monuments and Statues to Women: Arrival of an Historical Reckoning of Memory and Commemoration," at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, statues that symbolize oppression and dominant political power have been removed, destroyed, defaced, or reinterpreted. In recent years, statues and monuments to women are arriving in the midst of a larger and significant global reckoning about historical authority and representation, especially in women’s achievements in passing legislation for the right to vote. In this session, we explore questions such as: What forces and motives--political, mythological, or otherwise--have driven the installation of monuments and statues to women? What are, and have been, the impediments? What patterns of erection, installation, or commemoration to women, or various representations of women, or women figures, have occurred over time from antiquity to the 21st century? What is the past, present, and projected future of monument statuary to women in different countries and cultures? What forces affect these projections? Is the movement of “Breaking the Bronze Ceiling” sustainable?