UN Women Sweden Breathes New Life into 100-Year-Old Protest Signs

UN Women Sweden are breathing new life into century-old protest signs in a bold new initiative – Signs of the Times – to reignite the fight for gender equality.

By reviving original protest signs from women’s rights demonstrations dating back 50 to 100 years, UN Women Sweden aims to remind that the fight for equality is far from over. And that many of the old messages in these classic protest signs remain strikingly relevant today - a reality underscored by the organisation’s latest global report, which reveals that one in four countries is seeing setbacks in gender equality. Across the world, women are still fighting for fundamental rights: abortion, equal pay, and freedom from violence.

In an initiative that encourages people to take a stand for gender equality, historic protest signs - featuring messages like 'Abortion Is a Women’s Right!' (1972), 'Equal Pay Now!' (1954) and 'Women Against Violence Against Women!' (1981) - have been carefully extracted from historical photographs and digitally restored using AI, and are available for download on UN Women Sweden’s website.

The initiative is also supported by a campaign encouraging people to use these classic signs in modern demonstrations. Visitors are also invited to support UN Women Sweden’s work through donations.

"By spotlighting historic protest messages, we want to remind people that the fight for gender equality is far from over. Many of the slogans are the same today as they were 50 or even 100 years ago. It’s a reminder of both the distance left to cover and the enduring strength of those pushing for change. UN Women works globally to change laws, support women’s rights organisations, drive public advocacy, and ensure that women’s rights remain on the agenda every single day, through initiatives like this, says Ulrika Grandin, director of UN Women Sweden.

Several of the historic signs have already been carried at demonstrations in Sweden, underscoring the absurdity of having to repeat the same messages generation after generation, the urgency of the global issue and the need to accelerate progress.