To mark International Women’s Day, we present a find from Switzerland: the “RosaRote Seiten” [pink-red pages]. This “Directory of women’s spaces in Zurich– past, present and future” was published in 2015 as a supplement to the feminist magazine RosaRot (issue 49).

“Is Zurich a city of resp. for women? Where did women meet in the past? Where do they meet today?” – those were the initial questions by the editorial collective to its readership on the topic of “Frauen(t)raum” [a wordplay blending dream and space].

The 56 pink-coloured pages include entries on circa 130 historical and current women’s spaces around the Limmat, divided into five categories: ‘change & move’, ‘tell & remember’ (e.g. the women/lesbian archive), ‘protect & support’, ‘play & sweat’, ‘network & linger’.

After 1989 and 1994, this is already the third directory of women’s projects in Zurich. According to the editorial, it arose from the need “to network current feminist activities”. At the same time, the directory documents a piece of women’s history that continues “here and now”. A work in progress…

Image: “Directory of women’s spaces in Zurich – past, present and future”, Supplement to: RosaRot – Zeitschrift für feministische Anliegen und Geschlechterfragen, No. 49, Zurich 2015, p. 56, SMU, archive.