Over the course of its development mountaineering/alpinism has experienced an outstanding linking with male values and concepts of (heroic) masculinity. As a result women mountaineers and their achievements were marginalized or downright disregarded. With its 2015 exhibition “Ich, am Gipfel. Eine Frauenalpingeschichte” (“Me, on Top. An Alpine History of Women”) Frauenmuseum Hittisau focused on the issue. International experts on women/gender and alpine sports from Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Poland and Switzerland are going to attend the workshop “Women & Mountaineering” hosted by the museum. The lectures will be published in a special edition of the “International Journal of the History of Sport”.
In recent years a number of studies and books were dedicated to the issue of gender as category in mountaineering history analyzing gender relations and the circumstances of women mountaineers under new aspects. The workshop provides a platform for the presentation of the results and discussion in a circle of experts.
Rosa Diketmüller will present When Female Climbers Compete. Gendered Stories about Successful Women "On the Top".