Die Guldinnen

< AT I EN >

DIE GULDINNEN in Judenburg

DIE GULDINNEN in Graz

DIE GULDINNEN in Vienna

DIE GULDINNEN
The female currency that compensates for gender inequality.
Introduced in 2011 as regional money within the existing Judenburg voucher system
Die Guldinnen, Video (1:55)

City Marketing Judenburg
List of Gulden/Guldinnen partner companies

Part of the project BEWEGTE STANDPUNKTE
Doris Jauk-Hinz (Die Guldinnen), Nicole Oberrainer (andersARTIG)
and Kerstin Rajnar_ frau mag rosa pink (PakeTRaum) as part of the
Artist in Residence Programme of the City of Judenburg, 2011.

DIE GULDINNEN in Graz since 2017

DIE GULDINNEN in Vienna since 2021

Pecuniary-system is the dominant symbolic value in market-based systems, where inequality between genders is inherent.

DIE GULDINNEN focuses the discrimination of women within the employment-market. To visualize this economic inequality, a female coin originating from a historical (male connoted) coin "DER GULDEN" was established. To compensate less economic value of women the coin was enlarged: DIE GULDIN (fem.) is 20 % larger than DER GULDEN* (m).
*the GULDEN (m): an important historical coin in Austria, made nearly 1000 years ago in Judenburg/ Styria/Austria.

1000 Guldinnen were produced for the Judenburg trade, counted and booked into the bank. The Guldinnen, which have been officially introduced since 17 August 2011, ensure continued awareness-raising for the value of women. 100 years of women's rights have not been enough to abolish existing inequalities; women still earn about 20% less than men for the same work. Today it is also awarded at sporting events to honour achievements and thus represents not only a financial but also an ideal and social value.

The Gulden (Latin florenus aureus), originally from Florence, was the currency in Austria from the 13th century in the Habsburg Empire, which at that time included Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Styria. The golden Gulden was produced in the trading town of Judenburg; gold deposits in the Alps were another reason for production in Judenburg.

The project DIE GULDINNEN has gone back the way and has transformed the male Gulden in 2011 in Judenburg according to its origin into the female Guldin and distributed. Since 2017, the silver female Guldin has been accepted in Graz as a female means of payment in about 30 stores so far. Also, some stores have been accepting the female Guldin as a means of payment in Vienna since 2022. And thus in Austria the Guldinnen are ntegrated in the financial system.

DIE GULDINNEN in Graz

Die Guldinnen oppose the accepted "masculinity" of means of payment and politics. Through their everyday use, THE GULDINNES become effective as an emancipatory medium.

„Es gibt zahlreiche Untersuchungen über die ungleiche Bezahlung von Männern und Frauen oder die berühmten >glass ceilings<, an die Frauen in ihren Karrieren stoßen, gerade im Finanzsektor. Diese Faktoren werden zwar quantitativ erfasst, zumeist von der Wirtschaftssoziologie. Aber es wird selten nach Gründen gefragt, warum sich der Finanzsektor als besonders resistent gegen Frauen erweist – und dies, obgleich Frauen seit 1900 nicht nur das aktive und passive Wahlrecht, den Zugang zu akademischer Ausbildung erhielten und in fast allen Berufen Fuß gefasst haben. Wenn ich die Frage nach den Gründen in einem Satz zusammenfassen müsste, würde ich es so formulieren: In der Logik des Geldes sollen Frauen das Geld nicht haben, sondern sein.“
Christina von Braun (Der Preis des Geldes, 2012, S. 15)

DIE GULDINNEN are available at Raiffeisenbank Zirbenland and at the tourist and information office on Judenburger Hauptplatz.

Photo:
Gertrude Moser-Wagner

Packaging design for the Guldinnen: Uwe Surtmann, Werbeagentur cre[ART]eam, Judenburg
Print: 1adruck, Judenburg

< back