In conversation with Nanna Hjortenberg

International Women’s Day - a reason, and a reminder. 

As our International Women’s Day series moves toward its final voices, the conversation turns to knowledge - and the systems that shape who has access to it.

When we spoke with Nanna Hjortenberg, the reflections moved between education, research, and the quiet strength of female friendships. As director at Gammel Strand, she works in a space where art, history and public discourse meet.

Her perspective returns to a simple but powerful idea: access to knowledge has always been one of the most transformative forces in women’s lives.

Where is progress real — and where is it merely performative?

I genuinely think we can talk about real progress in education, where women are becoming equally, or in some areas, better educated than men.

This however is true in our part of the world, whereas in many other parts of the world girls and women are deliberately kept from schools and higher education.
But education is a key for radical transformation 

WHICH WOMAN PAST OR PRESENT - WOULD YOU MOST WANT TO SIT NEXT TO AT A DINNER PARTY AND WHY?

I do have a list of icons - Virginia Woolf, Merete Oppenheim and Eileen Grey are on that list - but I think I would prefer them to remain icons I can admire from a distance.
As for the dinner party … my birthday is coming up and I plan to gather my best friends around my dinner table. And honestly I feel blessed to have a thigh knit group of women friends in my life.

And I think it is a superpower of women to grow close, intimate and supportive friendships .

If you could redesign one system to improve women’s lives, what would it be — and why?

I would redirect funding to enhance research in women’s health. A fact I find mindblowing: 4 % of the global grants for medical research is directed to women related diseases such as breast and ovarian cancer, endotrimenose, menopause etc.

To compare 2 % of global grants are put into research related to prostate cancer.

Not that I mind the 2% - they are put into important research - but 4 % to topics representing half the world’s population is way too little and sends the message that women’s health isn’t important.

Nanna'S FAVOURITE KINRADEN PIECES

BREEZE RING	HERA BRACELET	BOND RING

Listening to Nanna, we were reminded how quietly powerful certain forms of progress can be. Education. Friendship. Shared knowledge.

At the same time, numbers around health research reveal how much work still remains.

The final conversation from our International Women’s Day series will be published later today. Visit our Journal again to discover the last voice.

With Love,
KINRADEN