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this question, although tired and lazy, still crops up (along with the eye-roll) at conferences, in meetings, and in project planning. Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression (bell hooks: 2000). It is a social justice movement to end structural inequalities, and rectify fundamental imbalances for changing society for the better, for all. In 2017, the motivation for the two-volume Feminism and Museums: Intervention, Disruption, and Change (the basis of the current book) found a new urgency with the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, winning on a highly misogynistic, sexist and racist campaign. It is 2020, and Donald Trump and his damaging policies have not gone away, and other extreme right-wing agendas across the world have garnered strength and voice. The statistics I pointed to with regard to modern slavery, sexual exploitation, trafficking, forced marriage, violence and abuse have also not decreased. UN research evidences that “home” is still one of the most dangerous places for women and girls. Additionally, there are 70.8 million forciblydisplaced people worldwide; one person is forcibly displaced roughly every two seconds as a result of conflict or persecution. Sex and gender identity (and the intersection of race, class and ability) has been largely ignored in heritage discourse. There has been a lack of awareness around how gender perceptions and constructs work within hierarchies of power and how this shapes the expression and documentation of cultural heritage. The inequalities that exist within society are replicated within heritage and cultural practices; and, in turn, these practices reinforce and reaffirm social inequalities. UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre increasingly views its role in line with International Human Rights Law, prioritising opportunities for women’s empowerment and participation in the fields of heritage and creativity. Networks and movements such as Museums Are Not Neutral, Museums as Muck and Museum Detox are exciting, activist programmes addressing key issues of inequality, and led by those working within the museums and culture sector. Scholars such as Maura Reilly, Amelia Jones, Elke Krasny, Angela Dimitrakaki, Jenni Sorkin and Lara Perry have outlined quite thoroughly the historic and current feminist movements within the Western visual arts context, and Richard Sandell offers extensive work around museums and human rights. Reilly, Krasny and Jones also discuss feminist acts in the museum in Volume One of Feminism and Museums. Introduction 11

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