Denmark’s culture ministry has allocated a bit more than €6 million to start promoting more gender equality in statues around the country, noting that that in Copenhagen there are more statues of mythical beasts than of women.
That’s five women, 26 animals and 70 men in Copenhagen, and 31 women of 321 statues around Denmark.
The ministry has now created an expert committee to nominate women who have been “overlooked in the public space” as an inspiration for future projects. Two recent additions have been statues of actress Betty Nansen and writer Lise Nørgaard, who died in 2023.
The culture minister has suggested that pastry chef Karen Volf; Nielsine Nielsen, Denmark’s first female physician; and Bodil Begtrup, the country’s first female ambassador, could be memorialized by the new committee.
