FrauenOrte NRW is a project of FrauenRat NRW that aims to make women from the past who made outstanding contributions to society more visible.1Laura-Schönneis, Tiziana (2023): Würdigung für besondere Frauen. In: Westdeutsche Zeitung, article of 13 December. Available online at: https://www.wz.de/nrw/wuppertal/wuppertal-wuerdigung-fuer-besondere-frauen_aid-103283787 (accessed 12 November 2025). To this end, sites in North Rhine-Westphalia are marked with commemorative plaques to provide information about the lives and achievements of these historical women.2n. a. (2023): „Frauenorte“ in NRW würdigen historische weibliche Vorbilder. In: Welt, article of 22 October. Available online at: https://www.welt.de/regionales/nrw/article248144620/Frauenorte-in-NRW-wuerdigen-historische-weibliche-Vorbilder.html (accessed 15 December 2025).
Aims
In public life, the lives and work of women who shaped the history of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia often remain invisible. Important historical women and their achievements have frequently been forgotten. To counter this lack of public awareness, FrauenRat NRW e. V. developed the FrauenOrte NRW project and presented it at a kick-off event in March 2023.3FrauenRat NRW (2023): Einladung zur Kick Off-Veranstaltung FrauenOrte in NRW am 29.03.2023. In: Website des FrauenRates NRW, post of 27 February. Available online at: https://frauenrat-nrw.de/was-wir-tun/projekt-frauenorte-in-nrw/234-einladung-zur-kick-off-veranstaltung-frauenorte-in-nrw-am-29-03-2023 (accessed 15 December 2025). 4FrauenRat NRW (2023): EINLADUNG Kick-Off Veranstaltung FrauenOrte in NRW. In: Website des FrauenRates NRW, invitation of 27 February. Available online at: https://frauenrat-nrw.de/images/aktuell-pdf/Einladung%20und%20Programm%20Kick-Off%20Veranstaltung%20FrauenOrte%20NRW.pdf (accessed 15 December 2025).
The project aims to honour historical women and their life achievements by establishing FrauenOrte. Bettina Weiß, Chair of the Neuss Equal Opportunities Advisory Board, for example, emphasises that the “communicated appreciation of the different women with their different identities […] can provide young women with inspiration as they develop their own strengths, wishes and goals.”5Janssen, Simon (2023): „Handlungsbedarf in fast allen Bereichen“. Interview mit Bettina Weiß. In: Neuß-Grevenbroicher Zeitung, interview of 31 October. Available online at: https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/neuss/neuss-bettina-weiss-vorsitzende-des-gleichstellungsbeirats-im-interview_aid-100162917 (accessed 12 November 2025).
Project sponsor
The project sponsor is FrauenRat NRW e. V. Founded in 1970 as an independent, nonpartisan and non-denominational association, it now represents several hundred thousand women throughout North Rhine-Westphalia as an alliance of around 40 women’s associations and groups. Its goal is to promote gender equality in every area of society. Murielle Guéguen has served as Chair since June 2024.6FrauenRat NRW (n. d.): Vorstand. In: Website des FrauenRates NRW. Available online at: https://frauenrat-nrw.de/wer-wir-sind/vorstand (accessed 15 December 2025).
Implementation
As with other projects of this kind, women and their life achievements are to be honoured. Plaques and markers are installed at the places where they worked, making these women visible, commemorating their work and thereby helping to shape the outlook of young women today. In several rounds, proposals for women to be honoured and for a cooperating institution to represent them were selected.7FrauenOrte NRW (2023): FrauenOrte entdecken. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/ (accessed 15 December 2025).
In October 2023, the then NRW Minister for Gender Equality Josefine Paul opened the first FrauenOrt NRW in Wülfrath, dedicated to mill operator Margarethe Müllemann.8kag/dpa (2023): „Frauenorte“ in NRW würdigen historische weibliche Vorbilder. In: Rheinische Post, article of 23 October. Available online at: https://rp-online.de/nrw/panorama/frauenorte-in-nrw-wuerdigen-historische-weibliche-vorbilder_aid-100017659 (accessed 15 December 2025). By October 2025, 52 FrauenOrte in 32 municipalities had been inaugurated for 57 women in cooperation with local partners.9Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (n. d.): FRAUENORTE NRW. In: Website des Ministeriums. Available online at: https://www.mkjfgfi.nrw/menue/gleichstellung/ziele-der-gleichstellungspolitik/gleichstellung-von-frauen-und-maennern (accessed 15 December 2025).
FrauenOrte
(As of December 2025)10FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Die Frauen. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/biografien/ (accessed 15 December 2025). 11FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Landkarte FrauenOrte NRW. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/karte (accessed 15 December 2025).
| Municipality | FrauenOrt |
|---|---|
| Ahlen | Herma Blum |
| Arnsberg | Csilla Freifrau von Boeselager |
| Bergisch Gladbach | Julie, Maria and Olga Zanders |
| Bielefeld | Dr. Anne-Marie Morisse |
| Else Zimmermann | |
| Bochum | Elisabeth Treskow |
| Ursula Schafmeister | |
| Bonn | Dr. Elisabeth Selbert |
| Johanna Elberskirchen | |
| Prof. Dr. Maria von Linden | |
| “Silent Heroines” (Katharina Bayerwaltes, Sibylla Cronenberg, Frieda Mager) | |
| Margarethe “Stitze Männ” Stitz | |
| Dortmund | Marie Reinders |
| Düsseldorf | Else Gores |
| Ilna Wunderwald | |
| Essen | Abbess Mathilde |
| Dr. Nelli Neumann | |
| Princess-Abbess Maria Kunigunde of Saxony | |
| Dore Jacobs | |
| Gelsenkirchen | Elisabeth Hennig |
| Elisabeth Nettebeck | |
| Helene Badziong | |
| Gütersloh | Sabine Gramlich |
| Helmern/Willebadessen | Abbess Benedicta von Spiegel |
| Herford | Frieda Nadig |
| Hiddenhausen | Christel Schikowski |
| Dorothea “Dörle” Meier | |
| Hörstel-Riesenbeck | Rosa Verlage |
| Höxter | Anja Niedringhaus |
| Cologne | Dr. Freya von Moltke |
| Fygen Lutzenkirchen | |
| Krefeld | Anna Tervoort |
| Leopoldshöhe | Dora Hohlfeld |
| Ilse Häfner-Mode | |
| Mülheim | Abbess Maria von Reuschenberg |
| Münster | Catharina M. Linck/Anastasius L. Rosenstengel |
| Oberhausen | Fasia Jansen |
| Ratingen | Dr. Hilde Bruch |
| Sophie Brügelmann | |
| Recklinghausen | Dr. Anneliese Schröder |
| Schwerte | Luise Elias |
| Sophie Ludwig | |
| Solingen | Bettina Heinen-Ayech |
| Mevlüde Genç | |
| Telgte | Christine and Angela Terfloth |
| Vlotho | Annemarie von Lengerke |
| Werl | Hedwig Dransfeld |
| Wesseling | St. Katharina Kasper |
| Wülfrath | Margarethe Müllemann |
| Wuppertal | Dr. Cläre Tisch |
| Else Lasker-Schüler | |
Regina Bruce
Networks and partnershipsIn addition to the FrauenOrte NRW project, there are other FrauenOrte projects in other German states. The projects in Brandenburg, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt are networked with one another.12FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Das Projekt FrauenOrte. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/frauenorte/ (accessed 15 December 2025). At the 2nd Equality Day in Berlin in November 2024, the five state projects from Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, NRW, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt jointly advocated for the visibility of women and women’s history.13FrauenOrte NRW (2024): Erstmals warben fünf landesweite Frauenorte-Projekte gemeinsam für Sichtbarkeit von Frauen(geschichte). In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/erstmals-warben-fuenf-landesweite-frauenorte-projekte-gemeinsam-fuer-sichtbarkeit-von-frauengeschichte/ (accessed 15 December 2025). All of these projects pursue a shared goal: through their work, they seek to make “women’s history more visible as part of state and regional history.”14FrauenOrte Sachsen-Anhalt (2023): FRAUENORTE IN NRW gehen an den Start. In: Website der FrauenOrte Sachsen-Anhalt. Available online at: https://frauenorte.net/frauenorte-in-nrw-gehen-an-den-start/ (accessed 15 December 2025). There are also partnerships with regional stakeholders, for example with the women’s network of ADFC NRW, which incorporated a FrauenOrt into a cycling tour focused on women’s history, and with Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, which included the plaque for artist Ilna Wunderwald in an event where her works were also part of an exhibition.15FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Kooperationen. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/kooperationen/ (accessed 15 December 2025). Advisory boardThe selection of FrauenOrte NRW is made by an eight-member advisory board appointed by the board of FrauenRat NRW. The advisory board works on a voluntary and independent basis. Its members include scholars with expertise in women’s history as well as social actors committed to equality in a variety of ways. The advisory board reviews applications for FrauenOrte and recommends whether a FrauenOrt should be implemented or rejected, or whether further research is required. The final decision on including a FrauenOrt in the project rests with the board of FrauenRat NRW. Members of the advisory board during the first project phase were: Prof. Dr. Gisela Muschiol, Head of the Centre for Theological Gender Studies at the Chair of Medieval and Modern Church History in the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the University of Bonn; Shary Reeves, presenter, actor and former Bundesliga football player; Dr. Uta C. Schmidt, Network for Women’s and Gender Research NRW; photographer Anna Spindelndreier; Dr. Nina Steinweg, GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Centre of Excellence Women and Science (CEWS), Cologne; Meike Stühmeyer-Freese, ambassador for pay equality at the Westphalia-Lippe Rural Women’s Association (wllv); Prof. Sibylle Stürmer, Professor of Filmmaking at Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Cologne campus, film producer and member of the General Assembly of the Cologne Chamber of Industry and Commerce; and Dr. Gabriele Uelsberg, member of the Presidential Board of the House of History of North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation.16FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Fachbeirat. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/fachbeirat/ (accessed 15 December 2025). FundingThe FrauenOrte NRW project is funded by the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Until her resignation as minister on 27 January 2025, Minister for Gender Equality Josefine Paul served as patron.17FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Das Projekt FrauenOrte. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/frauenorte/ (accessed 15 December 2025). The first project phase ran from May 2022 to December 2025. Publications
Web links
This article was created in cooperation with FrauenOrte NRW and FrauenRat NRW. Machine translation: This article was translated automatically from the German original. |
- 1Laura-Schönneis, Tiziana (2023): Würdigung für besondere Frauen. In: Westdeutsche Zeitung, article of 13 December. Available online at: https://www.wz.de/nrw/wuppertal/wuppertal-wuerdigung-fuer-besondere-frauen_aid-103283787 (accessed 12 November 2025). ↩︎
- 2n. a. (2023): „Frauenorte“ in NRW würdigen historische weibliche Vorbilder. In: Welt, article of 22 October. Available online at: https://www.welt.de/regionales/nrw/article248144620/Frauenorte-in-NRW-wuerdigen-historische-weibliche-Vorbilder.html (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 3FrauenRat NRW (2023): Einladung zur Kick Off-Veranstaltung FrauenOrte in NRW am 29.03.2023. In: Website des FrauenRates NRW, post of 27 February. Available online at: https://frauenrat-nrw.de/was-wir-tun/projekt-frauenorte-in-nrw/234-einladung-zur-kick-off-veranstaltung-frauenorte-in-nrw-am-29-03-2023 (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 4FrauenRat NRW (2023): EINLADUNG Kick-Off Veranstaltung FrauenOrte in NRW. In: Website des FrauenRates NRW, invitation of 27 February. Available online at: https://frauenrat-nrw.de/images/aktuell-pdf/Einladung%20und%20Programm%20Kick-Off%20Veranstaltung%20FrauenOrte%20NRW.pdf (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 5Janssen, Simon (2023): „Handlungsbedarf in fast allen Bereichen“. Interview mit Bettina Weiß. In: Neuß-Grevenbroicher Zeitung, interview of 31 October. Available online at: https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/neuss/neuss-bettina-weiss-vorsitzende-des-gleichstellungsbeirats-im-interview_aid-100162917 (accessed 12 November 2025). ↩︎
- 6FrauenRat NRW (n. d.): Vorstand. In: Website des FrauenRates NRW. Available online at: https://frauenrat-nrw.de/wer-wir-sind/vorstand (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 7FrauenOrte NRW (2023): FrauenOrte entdecken. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 8kag/dpa (2023): „Frauenorte“ in NRW würdigen historische weibliche Vorbilder. In: Rheinische Post, article of 23 October. Available online at: https://rp-online.de/nrw/panorama/frauenorte-in-nrw-wuerdigen-historische-weibliche-vorbilder_aid-100017659 (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 9Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (n. d.): FRAUENORTE NRW. In: Website des Ministeriums. Available online at: https://www.mkjfgfi.nrw/menue/gleichstellung/ziele-der-gleichstellungspolitik/gleichstellung-von-frauen-und-maennern (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 10FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Die Frauen. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/biografien/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 11FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Landkarte FrauenOrte NRW. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/karte (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 12FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Das Projekt FrauenOrte. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/frauenorte/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 13FrauenOrte NRW (2024): Erstmals warben fünf landesweite Frauenorte-Projekte gemeinsam für Sichtbarkeit von Frauen(geschichte). In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/erstmals-warben-fuenf-landesweite-frauenorte-projekte-gemeinsam-fuer-sichtbarkeit-von-frauengeschichte/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 14FrauenOrte Sachsen-Anhalt (2023): FRAUENORTE IN NRW gehen an den Start. In: Website der FrauenOrte Sachsen-Anhalt. Available online at: https://frauenorte.net/frauenorte-in-nrw-gehen-an-den-start/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 15FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Kooperationen. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/kooperationen/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 16FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Fachbeirat. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/fachbeirat/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎
- 17FrauenOrte NRW (n. d.): Das Projekt FrauenOrte. In: Website der FrauenOrte NRW. Available online at: https://www.frauenorte-nrw.de/frauenorte/ (accessed 15 December 2025). ↩︎