Dutch feminists rename street Beyonce Boulevard

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A Dutch feminist collective is making moves by swapping signs and renaming roads in honour of women pop stars, mathematicians, writers and revolutionaries, in an attempt to change how 88 percent of streets in the biggest cities of The Netherlands are named after men.

De Bovengrondse have erected street signs with the names of women from the fields of politics, activism, music, art and sport in 11 Dutch cities and on 43 streets. The new blue and white signs are placed below the original name to highlight the difference.

Speaking to Dazed, Bregje Hofstede, a founding member of the group, said that they chose 12 women to represent 12 percent of the streets in cities such as Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen and honoured the likes of Beyonce, writer Mary Wollstonecraft, mathematician Ada Lovelace, activist Tania Leon and painter Judith Leyster.

A Dutch feminist collective is making moves by swapping signs and renaming roads

Hofstede, who is a journalist at Dutch publication The Correspondent, said: ‘These 12 women had to suggest some of the breadth, richness and diversity of the women currently absent [or almost absent] from the cityscape.

‘[We want to] raise awareness about the ways in which women’s achievements are often undervalued or invisible, using the example of street names. Since everybody lives in a street!’ When analysing Amsterdam’s street names, women who were honoured in street signs, were Greek goddesses or wives of famous men.

‘That leaves out a lot of women who did so much to help build this country,’ she said. Hofstede went on to say that their mission goes beyond signs and 88 percent figure is also reflected in male experts in Dutch media, with 70 percent of television speakers and guest being male.

‘What makes street names particularly interesting, is precisely the fact that they are so mundane. You see them, hear them announced on public transport, you write them down, never once thinking about them. Yet they form a kind of canon of “Important People”, people we collectively revere.

‘By repeating these names every day, we all internalise them. Imagine if 88 per cent of those names would be women’s. What message would that send to a girl growing up? What if more people literally felt at home with the names of great women?’ she said.

Hofstede added that street names also reflect political choices and while they tell a part of history, the whole story is not revealed. In addition to his, De Bovengrondse also participated in a debate surrounding the lack of public toilets for women in Amsterdam and are working with migrant domestic workers across the country.

Who are De Bovengrondse?

De Bovengrondse, which roughly translates to ‘the above ground’, is an open group that comes together to work towards the goal of gender equality by exchanging ideas and setting up projects. When the group meet every month, they plan actions and campaign to further their feminist pursuit.

Streets named after celebrities

In addition to her street in the Netherlands, Beyonce had a boulevard officially named after her in Bermuda in 2013 after construction workers nicknamed a street leading to the National Sports Centre ‘Beyonce Boulevard’ because she had performed at the 2008 Music Festival.

‘We had to tidy up the driveway for her to come through to perform — it was a construction site at the time, the site’s Facility Manager Trevor Medeiros told Bermuda’s Royal Gazette. He continued: ‘Somebody called it Beyoncé Boulevard and everybody started using it.

‘So many people use the name when giving directions to visitors that it finally got its own sign. It’s nothing really official. It’s an internal thing that we put up ourselves.’

According to Mental Floss, other celebrities who have streets named after them include Martin Luther King Jr., ballet choreographer George Balanchine in New York City, as well as newsman Peter Jennings in the same city.

Other notable streets include Bob Hope Drive, Astaire Avenue, Garland Drive, Lamarr Avenue, Skelton Circle and Hepburn Circle in California. Alongside this, Sam Cooke has been honoured in Chicago, Dave Grohl in Ohio, Flaming Lips in Oklahoma, Korn in California and Tupac in Las Vegas, Nevada.