Since 1993 the Dutch Women's Thesaurus (DWT) is used at the IIAV and other women's information centres in the Netherlands and Belgium. It was developed by the University of Utrecht and the IIAV. In 1996 the IIAV decided to develop a European version. Together with RoSa (Brussels), Amazone (Brussels), Fawcett Library (London), Biblioteca/Centro di Documentazione delle Donne (Bologna), NIKK (Oslo) and KVINFO (Copenhagen), the IIAV started a project in which the DWT was adjusted into translated the European Women's Thesaurus (EWT).

In 1998 the project was completed, the result was the publication European Women's Thesaurus. The aim of developing a common European indexing system was to give a tool to women's libraries and archives in Europe to enable them to create a gender indexing system. The European Thesaurus is developed for information centres who have as their special focus the collecting and disseminating of information on the position of women and women's studies. The European Women's Thesaurus enables them to facilitate dissemination of information on equal opportunities between women and men, especially in regards to the modern means of communication (e-mail and Internet). The EWT will also facilitate integrated searches in public catalogues of libraries.

An indexing system needs to be developed continuously. The IIAV works with former and new European partners in maintaining the EWT.

Read more about the background of the Dutch Women's Thesaurus and the indexing system and terms.

For questions or more information e-mail: [email protected]