Introduction

The introduction explores how the study of women in world fairs offers fruitful new questions both in the field of women’s and gender history and that of exposition studies. Exhibitions positioned nations and their empires side by side; they attracted travelers from the entire world; they showcased the fruits of modern technology; and they created sites for people to meet and debate the issues of modernity. Somewhat paradoxically—given the emergence of a women’s movement during the age of the great exhibitions—few studies have focused either on what the World Fairs represented for women, or on the ways women used these spaces to promote their work or their ideas. This introductory chapter suggests the ways the introduction of women challenges existing narratives about the fairs from the last quarter of the nineteenth century until the 1930s, and it offers a brief presentation of the different themes explored within the twelve chapters of the volume. Four sections structure the organization of the volume that highlight the ways women participated in world fairs: through the experience of exhibition as artists or collectors, through the promotion of professional goals or achievements, through the staging of their own marginality, or through speaking up for women’s causes. The exhibitions entailed competition, domination and silencing, as well as dialogue and mutual improvement for both men and women. Tracing the changing nature of women’s engagement in these exhibitions brings to light the significance of transnational encounters in the forging of modern female subjectivities.