I have worked at Glasgow Women’s Library, in both paid and unpaid roles, for nearly 24 years. That sounds like a long time, but I can remember the first time I walked in to GWL as if it was yesterday.
I initially came across this remarkable organisation as a bushy tailed student at Glasgow School of Art, where I studied Fine Art Printmaking in the early 1990s. At the time, GWL was based in tiny shop front premises just around the corner. I was quite shy and felt nervous when I first ventured in to the Library but, greeted so warmly by fabulous founder members Kate Henderson and Adele Patrick, I immediately felt right at home. Once I graduated I became a volunteer at GWL (well, actually we were all volunteers, since we had no paid workers for the first decade of GWL’s 25 years!).
My role now, as part of the senior management team, is to lead in strategic and organisational development. There’s no typical day at GWL and I love the diversity of people who visit and attend our events.
To say that GWL is unique doesn’t begin to touch upon just how special it is. Yes, it’s the only Accredited Museum in the whole of the UK dedicated to women’s history, and a designated ‘Recognised Collection of National Significance’. And yes, we are multi-award winning and accessed by people from around the world as well as from around the corner. But it’s our role in transforming the lives of women that is most profound, and seeing how this impacts on their families and broader communities reminds us that what we do at GWL is vital.
Many items in GWL’s museum, archive and library collections also remind us that we can work together to change the world for the better. I love our large collection of original Suffragette memorabilia and this is one of my favourite items: a ceramic Arcadian China bell advocating ‘Votes for women’, and bearing the Glasgow Coat of Arms. The two sides of the bell depict an older woman hoping for a better future and declaring to the younger woman, ‘This one shall have a Vote’.
Now, more than ever, we all need to show that equality, diversity and inclusion are intrinsic to our core values. I feel proud to be a part of GWL, and proud to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
