Did you know that just three stops on the London Tube map are named after women?
Well, that fact is being highlighted by TfL themselves, as they join forces with City Of Women to create an interactive Tube map made up entirely of women activists, artists, medics, athletes and more.
For International Women’s Day 2022, the partnership between TfL, City Of Women and Haymarket books have released the map to shine a light on the brilliant women that have shaped the city.
The list includes household names from Amy Winehouse to Virginia Woolf to Audrey Hepburn to Vivienne Westwood to Florence Nightingale to Zadie Smith to Emmeline Pankhurst. And, it also hails some perhaps lesser-known brilliant figures that have shaped the city, including the first female London tube and bus drivers, Hannah Dadds and Jill Viner. You can view the map, which includes words on each woman celebrated, on the interactive site here.
Londoners can thank Reni Eddo-Lodge (author of Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race) and actress Emma Watson for this excellent project. Inspiration came from a similar move in New York by Rebecca Solnit and Josh Jelly-Schapiro, who reimagined the subway in their book Nonstop Metropolis.
Speaking about the project, Reni Eddo-Lodge said: “As a Londoner, I’ve walked the streets of this city for decades, not conscious of the fact that so many of the city’s place names have a fascinating etymology.
“These iconic places are named after pubs, and parks, gates and members of the monarchy, but I was excited to give the map a feminist refresh. Our map switches the focus to women and non-binary people, contemporary and historic, who have made indelible marks on the city’s trajectory. I hope it helps you think about your surroundings differently!”
Alongside the reimagined map, TfL are also celebrating International Women’s Day 2022 by launching an exhibition of female staff portraits. For six weeks at Victoria station, the exhibition will show 56 women who work across the network, with the theme of “breaking the bias” in the transport sector.
You’ll see women who work in work in architecture, engineering, city planning and coding, and many other roles, and later in the month, the exhibition will be shown at West Croydon Overground station, Poplar DLR station and Hammersmith Bus Station.
View the map, buy a copy of it, or read about City Of Women London’s project here.