East End Women's Museum

The East End Women’s Museum is a small, virtual and pop-up museum in Barking and Dagenham. It tells the stories of women from east London past and present. The museum began in 2015 after a protest against a museum planned in Cable Street. It has no permanent building yet but runs temporary exhibitions and workshops in different places. These events appear online and in person across east London. The museum also hosts community talks and educational activities. The museum’s mission is to research, record and celebrate women’s voices. It aims to represent women who are often left out of history. These include women of colour, disabled women, lesbian and bisexual women, trans women, working-class women and older women. Only 14 per cent of English Heritage blue plaques honour women. The museum wants to challenge gender inequality and give women space to tell their own stories. Visitors find temporary exhibitions that travel around east London. Past shows have looked at women in social and political change, memories of Watney Market and suffrage stories. The museum also created a self-guided heritage trail with 14 locations tied to women’s history. These include the matchgirls’ strike site at Bryant & May’s factory in Bow and the Ford sewing machinists’ strike in Dagenham. The trail lets people follow the stories at their own pace.