Hello everyone!
This Women’s month, as I uploaded my last trip’s photos to Maps, I realized that one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I went to, after finding it on Maps, was made by women: Saffa-Insel (Saffa Island).
The same as when it comes to facts or compliments about women just talking about beauty and superficial matters, as soon as I learnt what the island means and the work put into the people who created it, the nice looks of the island faded into the background.
But not the sentiment of sitting there admiring Zurich’s views and wind, and now also thinking of all the women who did the same as they constructed the place.
You can also check my review of the island, and a peaceful video I posted on Maps.
SAFFA, the name of the artificial island, means Swiss Exhibition for Women’s Work and it took place in Zurich in 1958. It also happened in Bern 30 years before. Both times, purely made by women.
The chief architect of the island was a woman of course, and her motto was: “Life circle of women in family, occupation, and country”. The island and exhibition encouraged women seeking employment before marriage and motherhood, and then the return to employment. Meaning, going back to work and not just stopping your career because of marriage or a child, and also showing that women could work in different areas, not just the stereotypical ones.
You can read more about SAFFA here.
Saffa’s motto and meaning is something that was very important to share during those times, but unfortunately it’s still relevant as some women end up in abusive relationships because of stopping their career for their family, and women are still expected and encouraged to go into careers where there are more women. As an example, in the last ten years people, including teachers, were telling me not to specialize in Electronics in High School. In Electronics too, in University, women are still disrespected by some professors too.
Going back to the topic of the month: Women’s History. I get into the same thoughts every year: Why does our gender matter so much? Why is our gender mentioned alongside our accomplishments and professional titles when there’s news? I just think of us all as human. But also, why is it sometimes written “men” when they mean the human race? Switching words like (his)tory to (her)story can seem dumb, but don’t they also make you wonder?
I have to remind myself every year that in an ideal world it wouldn’t matter, but that isn’t our case.
We have to remember history so we don’t repeat it, and remember how Women, and people with other characteristics, were erased from it. Literally, by removing women’s names of inventions, or women using fake male names in order to get published. From my line of work too: most programmers used to be Women and many had great accomplishments in the area, but despite that, by the way it’s talked about it seems like it had always been an area in which we are a minority.
Fortunately, we can find places and facts like this thanks to Google Maps (and Google itself of course!), to remember history, and share our findings here on Connect.
*** Have you been to a place, or found a place on Maps, that also made you start thinking about this or other topics?**
*** Or have you ever also discovered a place has so much meaning that you thought, because of what you found on Maps?**
Please let us know in the comments! I would love to learn 
Thank you for reading!
That gave me a nudge to start the series !