Usually it takes concrete occasions to start long overdue actions. In our case, it was the repeated occupation of a new TV format and a panel of experts in Vorarlberg predominantly with men. As a result, a civil society initiative consisting of almost 40 women formed in the fall of 2020 with the goal of making the existing expertise of female experts in the state of Vorarlberg visible through various projects.
One of these projects is the creation of a database of female experts for Vorarlberg, which Brigitta Soraperra (director, cultural mediator), Ruth Swoboda (museum director, inatura Erlebnis Naturschau), Bettina Steindl (managing director CampusVäre — Creative Institute Vorarlberg GmbH) and Andrea Spieth (organizational consultant, Trigon) tackled.
The result is a unique cooperation with speakerinnen.org, which led to a dedicated subpage on this international platform. Thanks to funding from the state of Vorarlberg — Functional Area Women and Equality in the Office of the Vorarlberg Provincial Government — and the Vorarlberg brand, it was possible to go online with vorarlberg.speakerinnen.org at the end of 2021. In doing so, Vorarlberg women are brought to the fore both locally and internationally as experts, speakers and representatives of this region.