EMPOWER.

FIGHT.

RESIST.
FIVE YEARS OF FEMINIST STRUGGLE IN EUROPE

2

MARY COLLINSF I G H T. R E S I S T.

3

EMPOWER.

4

MARY COLLINSThis book is a tribute to all the smart, amazing and bravefeminists, who have fought the last five years for a moreequal, more open, fairer European Union. It gives you a peakinto the diversity of topics we were able to work on together
with activists from all over Europe and beyond. With this book,we want to say thank you to all the breath-taking, strong anddetermined women and men we had the honour to work withbuilding a feminist Europe. You empower us. With you, we fight.
Together we will resist.
The last five years have shown that it matters. It is important whosits in the European Parliament; it is vital what kind of majorities
dominate. That is why the upcoming election is key. They will
decide in which direction Europe will head - back into the dark

5ages or forward towards a progressive future. Together with allof you, we want to set a feminist agenda for Europe.

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

* by “women,” we are referring to all people who
identify themselves as a woman*

EMPOWER.

C R E D ITS.
European Green Party
Rue Wiertz 31,
1050 Brussels – Belgium
info@europeangreens.eu
Funded by the European
Parliament. Sole liability
remains with the author.
Printed in Germany
Designed by
Laura Fabregat
Illustrations by
Felip Ariza
Text edition by
Caitrina Cody
Book coordination by
Lea Haas &Blanca de Riquer© 2019EMPOWER.
FIGHT.
RESIST.
FIVE YEARS OF FEMINISTSTRUGGLE IN EUROPE

“Never forget that a political, economic or religious
crisis will be enough to cast doubt on women’s rights.
These rights will never be vested.
You’ll have to stay vigilant your whole life.”
Simone de Beauvoir, French writer (1908-1986)T

he feminist struggle has often been seen as asided political priority, a battle many have tried tominimise by reminding us how much better off we arecompared to a century ago — that a a lot of progresshas been made and that the fight is nearly won. We needto challenge this. A little equality is still better than noequality, but a little equality is not an equality. There is nosuch thing as a little equality. It’s achieved or not.
The pay, pension and employment gaps are still there.
Access to stable work is more difficult for women who
tend to remain trapped in low-paid, precarious careers,and in-work poverty. Women’s ability to participate
equally in society is still affected by disproportionate
exposure to gender-based violence, with one in three
women in the EU the victim of sexual violence. Womenare under-represented at a political level and they arestill left out of main decision-making positions andprocesses, especially those whose marginalised political
position intersects with other forms of discrimination(such as migrant women, women with disabilities,
LGBTI* women or women from diverse origins, religions
or ethnicity).
Failing to respect women’s rights is a threat to society
as a whole. Taking control over women’s bodies, confining
them to their reproductive role, is a way for authoritarianleaders and regimes to demonstrate their power.

Asserting male dominance not only narrows women’s
space of citizenship, it narrows everyone’s and leads to aloss of democracy.
But these challenges are not left unanswered. We havewitnessed millions of citizens worldwide protesting thebacklash against women’s and LGBTI* rights or engaging
in political actions to advance the traditions and practices.
We have seen the rise of global solidarity and cooperation
and we, the Greens, stand proudly as an ally – as a politicalparty that takes the feminist struggle to the institutions,to the parliaments.We work hard to ensure that genderequality and attention to intersecting inequalities is at thecenter of all policies. Because gender equality is not only aproblem to be solved, it’s a solution and a tool to advanceour societies.
This book tells you the stories and voices of fierce
activists and experts. People who resist and organise
resistance to the women’s rights backlash; who advocate
for interlinking the fight for gender equality with key
struggles such as climate change, racism or tax justice;
who denounce the gender pay gap; who stand up to
secure sexual and reproductive rights; who will not rest
until gender-based violence is eradicated. We are happy to
be able to contribute and build a platform through which
their stories can be shared. Women are done with being
silenced and we, the Greens are and will continue to be theparty through which women can channel their voice.

Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, Executive
Committee Member of the European Green Party (EGP)INTRODUCTION.

ANF ro m th e str e e ts tothe parliame n t : t i m e
for a f emin ist ag e n da

In 2019, equal rights should be considered
fundamental for all women in the EU. In 2019,
we are still fighting for the self-evidence that every
woman deserves equal rights and the protection
thereof.
If there’s anything the last years have shownus, it’s that equal rights for women have becomea prime battleground for right-wing populists,
nationalists and neo-conservatives all over Europe.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s city councillors inVerona declaring their city pro-life, or whether
it’s the Coalition for Family in Romania pushingfor a referendum to ban marriage equality— the strategies are the same, the rhetoricinterchangeable. A strong, well-organised andimmensely well-funded coalition of so-called pro-life
defenders, collectively fighting the “gender-gaga”
and “LGBTI* madness”, is connected across thecontinent and beyond. 1

These developments do not stand without a
response. In recent years, we have witnessed a
new mobilisation — diverse groups, young andold feminists, anti-racism activists, and LGBTI*
campaigners have set out to fight back. From Poland’sBlack Monday protest against a total ban on abortionand climate activists demanding gender justice tofeminists across Spain striking on the 8th of March tobring the country to a standstill, activists are setting
the political agenda. Over the last five years, we havecarried these messages to the European Parliament
and worked on setting a feminist agenda.
The drive of activists has become our engine forfighting back — not only to counter the backlash, but
to advance.
... It’s all about the right to1“Restoring the Natural Order”: The religious extremists’vision to mobilize European societies against humanrights on sexuality and reproduction, 2018

“We have had the honour
OF MARCHING alongsideamazingly brave women’s
rights activists acrossthe European Union.”self-determination
In the last five years we have managed .... to include
the principle of access to safe and legal sexualand reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in all
major reports of the European Parliament. Together
with our colleagues from other parties, we haveestablished the “All of US” group, which fights forthe right to self-determination, irrespective of party
affiliation.
We have supported women in El Salvador in theirfight to change a criminal code completely banning
abortion with an urgency resolution of the European
Parliament. We supported the “She Decides”
campaign, which became a global movement tocounter the massive drop in foreign aid related tosexual rights and reproductive health. This drop
came about after Trump stopped all US-American aid
related to legal abortion services or referrals, while
also barring advocacy for abortion law reform.
AN INTRODUCTION

At the same time, we have supported local,
regional and national movements of women whofight for their right to self-determination. The
courageous battle of Polish women has inspired us
to not give in at European level.
... It’s all about power relations
Two and a half years ago, reports on sexual
harassment in the European Parliament hit the news.
While attempts have been made to label these as
tragic exceptions, we have made clear that it has
been and continues to be a structural problem. The
debates started by the #MeToo movement havenothing to do with sex: it’s all about power.
Let’s be clear – sexual harassment does not occur
because the harasser is not aware that it’s wrong.
It’s not a question of cultural misunderstanding or
misperception. Sexual harassment happens because
the harasser thinks that he or she can get away with
it. This has to change.

Of course, there’s not one single answer to changing
our societies in order to free ourselves from sexual
harassment — instead, there are numerous puzzle
pieces that must fit together. One crucial area, key
to restructuring power relations, is gender parity. We
need to work towards a society in which power is truly
shared by all genders. Over the last five years we haveseen close to no movement on the Women on Boards
Directive, which is designed to make sure at least 40%
of non-executive directors on company boards are
women. If we’re going to take the consequences of
the #MeToo movement seriously, this is exactly where
action is needed.
In the European Parliament, we have been fighting
for structural change. The #MeToo movement hasdone a tremendous job of keeping the issue on theagenda, making it clear that we will not settle fora bad compromise, and that we are tired of being
fobbed off with bureaucratic excuses. Time is up. The
European Parliament has a role model function, andit’s time that those who are responsible step up andlive by the promise of a zero tolerance policy towards
sexual harassment in the European Parliament.

.
... It’s all about legislative change
One thing is clear: the European Commission has
paid little to no attention to furthering genderequality within the EU. Not too long ago theEuropean Union led by example — milestones foranti-discrimination policy were put forward at theEuropean level, finally pushing Member States tomove forward. These times have clearly passed.
Throughout the last five years and earlier wehave been demanding that the European Union
Commission put forward a directive on fighting
gender-based violence. Violence against womenand gender-based violence continue to be one of
the most common breaches of fundamental rights
inside the European Union. It is the most brutal formof discrimination against women. And yet, up tonow, no such proposal has been put forward.
That the European Union did not ratify the
Istanbul Convention (the Council of Europe
Convention on preventing and combating violenceagainst women and domestic violence) is much
more than a missed opportunity. Right-wing
populists have instrumentalised the convention,

starting a nasty and — unfortunately, far too
successful — campaign against its ratification
because it “promotes the idea that gender is asocial construct”. The fact that conservatives
and some social democratic governments in
the Member States buy into the arguments ofright-wing populists is an absolute disgrace.
The Istanbul Convention is about one thing:ending violence against women. Nothing else.

14

Its ratification would change the lives ofwomen in the EU, making them safer, andbuilding a future in which they can live free ofany form of violence. This battle is not overyet; it’s a problem that won’t simply pass withtime, which is why we will continue to pressure
governments and the European Commission todeliver.

travelled to the headquarters of Ireland’s “Repeal
the 8th” campaign, joined the feminist strikes
in Spain and walked alongside feminists inGermany, fighting to finally allow access toabortion information. We have had the honourof marching, fighting and protesting alongsideamazingly brave women’s rights activists acrossthe European Union and beyond. This has been
our motivation to work hard for change in theEuropean Parliament and it will continue to be
our motivation for the years to come.
Attacks by the driving forces of theconservative backlash have become harsher, but
so has the counter movement — we are more,
and we are louder. The next five years will be key
for the kind of Europe we want to build. We areup for the fight to set a feminist agenda.

Over the last five years, we have visited
women’s shelters in Hungary and Greece,

Terry Reintke and Ernest Urtasun, Members of theEuropean Parliament and Greens/EFA Coordinators of the
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee

AN INTRODUCTIONC O N T E N T.

16

Mary Collins
A new world is on its way

20

Lena Jäger
Still fighting for equality

24

Gotelind Alber
Making EU climate policy
gender-responsive

30

Petra De Sutter
Join forces: on gender
reproduction and rights in Europe

36

Bertha de León
& Teodora del Carmen Vázquez
Fighting El Salvador’s abortion laws

42

Sarah Chander& Isabela Mihalache“I can’t imagine a feminismthat is not anti-racist.”

49

Sheroes Gallery

64

MetooEP
Time’s up! Our rights are
not a power gamble

70

Neil Datta
The new challenge tohuman rights facing the EU

76

Olivia Lally
Tax justice and gender equality

82

Gals4Gals
The struggle for women’s
rights in Poland

92

Almudena Rodríguez
A new paradigm withpeople at the centre98

Che Van DÿckDigital womancipation:a call to action

106

Patricia Jiménez
Femicide: combating a
global phenomenon

112

Emmanuelle Josse
Facing the struggles
of feminist parenthood

Name.
Mary Collins

Place of origin.
Ireland

Organisation.
European Women’s Lobby

feminist role model.
Frida Kahlo

feminist quote.
“It isn’t what we say or
think that defines us,
but what we do.”Jane Austen

MAR Y C OLLINS
A n e w w o r l d i s o n i t s way
The world is rapidly changing — only clear, decisive vision and strong female
leadership will help us weather the storm and emerge with new considerationfor ourselves and our planet, argues Mary Collins.

But it’s exciting too, as a new era awakens in
feminist, youth, social, and tax justice movements,
ecological wake-up calls and #MeToo. Steering
these choppy waters towards safe harbour will

require solid navigation skills and a clear vision ofwhere we are heading. We will definitely need more
women at the helm.
2019 is also European Parliament election year
and an opportunity to set that ship in motion or toturn it around. Is it a moment to look back before
moving forward, to ask what can or should be done
differently?
After almost ten years of economic governance,
the so-called European Semester, scarred byausterity and economic/monetary priorities, it’s

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

A

s 2019 begins, the feeling of standing on
shifting sands accelerates. This is bothdaunting and exciting. Daunting because our world
leaders are failing us, because of the backlash
against women’s rights in some countries, becauseof rising populism, and all the isms that make ourworld a hostile place, and because we’re failing totake the challenges of our planet seriously.

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EMPOWER.

“All future
investments must be
driven through thematrix of care.”20

legitimate to ask who has benefited and whether
it was worth it. While we may have saved the Euro
(thus far), we have lost many of our collective goods:
reduced public services, wage freezes and cutbacks
in many areas essential to our common needs —health, sexual and reproductive health and rights,
education, investments in public housing, etc. All of
this has led to an explosion in inequality and risingpoverty, with a disproportional impact on women.
The next decade must address these issues; infact, we must address them now. But how? One
thread that weaves through our present and our
future is care, both for each other and for our planet.

MARY COLLINS

All future investments must be driven through thematrix of care. This means (re)investing in publiccare services across the life cycle; implementing therecent political agreement on work-life-balance toensure that both women and men can become equal
earners and equal carers throughout their lives;
developing and implementing a gender-sensitive/
human rights-based approach to migration; andimplementing an action plan for an ecologicallysustainable planet.
Women have a vital role to play in leading the way.
To address the democratic deficit in 2019, vote forparity democracy, for more women at the helm as
the lighthouse is on the horizon.
It’s time to move ahead. In the words of Arundhati
Roy1, “a new world is on its way, on a quiet day, I canhear her breath…”
1 Indian author and human rights activist, winner of the
Man Booker Prize for Fiction (1997) for her novel The God
of Small Things.

Get your facts
straight!
The European Semester is a cycle ofeconomic and fiscal policy coordination
within the EU, and part of the
Cuts to spending European Union’s economic
on public services and governance framework.
social security have adisproportionate gen- Res earch shows thatder impact because if governments invested inwomen rely more on high quality, free universal
these services, ben- childcare, it would result
efits and tax credits in better childcare provision, higher tax revenue
than men do.
and a shift from spending
on benefits to spending on
public services. 1
1.

http://theconversation.com/austerity-isnt-working-for-everyone-especially-women-74115

Name.
Lena Jäger

Place of origin.
Germany

Organisation.
Frauen* Volksbegehren#keinenMillimeter

feminist role model.
Johanna Dohnal (firstAustrian Minister for
Women’s Affairs)

feminist quote.
“Women of the world
unite!”

LENA J Ä GER
S ti l l fi g h ti n g fo r e q ua l it y
From gatherings in a Vienna sitting room to a nationwide networkof activists, the People’s Initiative on Women’s Rights in Austria has
grown in size and scale, reflects Lena Jäger. The next step for thispassionate group of feminists? Going beyond national borders totake the fight against the patriarchy to a global level.

With the inauguration of Donald Trump, amisogynist and right-wing populist would become
the most powerful man in the world, changing
the global political climate. In Austria, while theprogressive, pro-European camp won the 2016
presidential election, we didn’t realise at the timethat a right-wing conservative government would
take over in less than a year.
Step 2: United in fighting the backlash
A sense of change and upheaval was in the air. Manyof the more than one thousand women who joined
us for the long or short term felt threatened, wary ofa backlash, and feared the erosion of rights that had
already been achieved. That fear, and at the sametime, a strong belief that solidarity amongst women
can bring about change, led to the decision to launch asecond people’s initiative on women’s rights in Austria
in the anniversary year of the first initiative of 1997.

23

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

Step 1: How we started
In November 2016, a few days before the U.S.
presidential elections and a month before theelection of the Austrian President, a group of 30
women met in a Vienna living room. Both elections
were struggles between a sexist on the one handand a progressive voice on the other. Observing
developments in Poland and in other European
countries, none of us expected that abortion would
once again become an issue.

EMPOWER.

“The greatest enemy
we have encounteredis a fear of change.”24

It was to be a women’s initiative to meetthe demands of our digitised, internationallyconnected world, demands that reflect a new,changed feminism that is simultaneously tangible,
intersectional and understandable for all. One of themost important battles of politics in 2019: language— how to get in touch with people, build bridges
between them, and disarm the weapons of populists.
3. Our movement
We decided to tell stories, the stories of the womenand people who live in Austria and experienceinequality. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether skincolour, sexuality, disability or gender discrimination
are at play; the root of inequality is always, theoppression of many by few. We will find it in every
country and fight it.
In the end, language was the key. Instead of using
the term “non-binary” we said: “we want to decide
freely how we live and who we love, without genderroles and clichés. Detached from social norms, for aworld full of diversity.” These are some of the lines ofour preamble. And it worked.
LENA JÄGER

Several hundred women, people from all partsof the country, told their stories. Stories of single
parents, of women who heard all their lives that they
were “only women”. Stories of financial dependence
and precariousness or stories of women trying
to break through the glass ceiling. We listened,discussed and presented our demands.
Nine demands were developed in a participatory
process and in collaboration with experts. They aredemands that address economic inequality, such as
the social inequality of women, as well as demands
for the safety of the female body, which is still underattack.
4. Half a million supporters
In two years, we have emerged as a loud politicalvoice for women in Austria, receiving almost halfa million signatures in a country with almost 6.5
million voters. We have established groups of female
activists in seven of the nine federal states, reaching
Austria’s population in every corner of the country.
The greatest enemy we have encountered is afear of change, as well as a retreat into tradition andnationalism. It will take some time for women and allother marginalised groups to reach their goals, but
we won’t stop fighting — neither national borders, nor
the limitations of patriarchy will stop us.
It’s time to stand up and be listened to. We demandvisibility and participation for all population groups, inpolitics, business, society and culture. In all areas oflife. For genuine equality, for every one of us.

Get your facts
straight!
The Austrian gender equality petition acquired 481.959 votes and ranks 13th of all petitions
ever filed in Austria.
Austria has stagnated
The petition formulates and even regressed on
demands in 9 key areas: shar- gender equality, despite
ing power, erasing the gender passing an equal opportupay gap, equal sharing of care nities law in 1993. A 2016
work, fighting against female study shows that out of all
poverty, childcare infrastruc- mayors in Austria, only 7%
ture, gender-sensitive educa- are women.
tion and media work, fighting
violence against women, the right todecide over your own body, as well asa gender-sensitive asylum policy.

Name.
Gotelind Alber

Place of origin.
Germany

Organisation.
GenderCC-Womenfor Climate Justicefeminist role model.
I never had role models,
I was always my ownrole model. Pippi
Longstocking, rather
than anyone else

feminist quote.
“Life’s a bitch.
Now so am I!”
CatwomanGOTELIND AL B ER
M a k i n g E U c l imate po l i c y
g e n de r - r espo n si v e
Gotelind Alber, founder of GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice,calls for greater integration of gender into climate policy, alongsideincreased funding for gender-sensitive climate research projects.

27
ow can we make climate change policymakers aware that gender is an issue thatmust be taken into consideration, not only in the
global South, but also in the global North? We
founded GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice ten
years ago, as a worldwide network designed to dojust that: fight for the full integration of gender into
climate policy at all levels.
Comprising a diverse group of women from allover the world, with a majority of members from theglobal South, we placed emphasis on gender issues
in low-income countries, highlighting women’svulnerability to the impact of climate change andarguing that their needs and capacities must be
taken into account.
Reshaping the conversation
At that time, most of the discussion around gender
focused on vulnerability and adaptation; forexample, on the higher number of female fatalities
commonly seen during natural disasters, as wellF I G H T. R E S I S T.

H

EMPOWER.

as the additional burdens of care placed on themin times of drought, flooding and other extreme
weather events.
The gender dimensions of climate change are wellacknowledged in the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process— gender is a regular item on conference agendas
and a work programme on the subject has recently
been extended. A Gender Action Plan addresses theunderrepresentation of women in the process, theneed for gender-responsive climate policy, and theprerequisites in terms of gender tools and capacitybuilding.

28

However, the debate still centres on genderedvulnerabilities and climate change effects, though
we know that gender is clearly relevant to themitigation of climate change. We also know thatthe needs, behaviours, preferences and capacities
behind the drivers of climate change — energy,
mobility and consumption — are also genderdifferentiated and must, therefore, be considered inpolicies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The European gender divide
Most European policy-makers point to developing
countries when they debate gender and climatechange, ignoring the persistent gender pay gap,
gender pension gap and gender care gap that exists
in even the most advanced European countries— gaps that ensure the bulk of unpaid (and undersalaried) care work is still carried out by women.
GOTELIND ALBER“The biggest
unansweredquestion is: whereis the money?”Institutional settings in Europe and otherindustrialised parts of the world are still maledominated, not only in terms of the share of womenand men, but also when it comes to masculine
structures, norms and values.

A road map for the future
The EU Parliament has made steps in the right
direction, but there’s so much more to do. An annual
or biannual action plan or road map with concrete
steps, complemented by responsibilities, deadlines
and an efficient monitoring mechanism would help,
as might mandatory Gender Impact Assessmentsfor policy initiatives in the fields of climate change,energy and transport. Let’s make sure genderexperts are involved in these assessments, so we
can avoid trivialising the issue by ticking boxes
without gaining deeper understanding.
A number of research projects at European
levels clearly show that women are more prone
to energy poverty, while men have larger carbon
footprints due to their mobility behaviour and foodpreferences. To make progress we must include
men and masculinities, and in the process motivate
more men to challenge the status quo and support
feminism.

Research must do more. Efforts have been
made to integrate gender into EU research funding
and researchers have been trained on the genderdimensions of environmental topics, but wecan’t stop there. For example, the 2018 calls for
EU research projects (under the Horizon 2020
programme) on low-carbon energy and transportmentioned gender quite often; one, in particular,
focused on women and mobility. But there arestill too few researchers ready to engage with thesubject and too few evaluation panel members with
the necessary expertise to fully include gender intheir appraisals.
The Gender into Urban Climate Change
Initiative
I have worked for many years with the Climate
Alliance of European Cities on urban climate
policy and as an independent researcher with anincreasing focus on gender and climate justice.
Realising that the urban climate policy community
was lagging behind when it came to gender, I knew I
needed to combine both topics.

29

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

The EU and its institutions must take genderand climate justice into account in their policies,
support other countries to do so, and push for thefull integration of gender into all aspects of climate
policy at UNFCCC levels.

EMPOWER.

In 2015, I successfully raised funds for a genderand urban climate policy project, Gender into Urban
Climate Change Initiative (GUCCI). Supported by
the International Climate Initiative of the German
Environmental Ministry, it has recently been
extended to cover 14 pilot cities in Mexico, India,
Indonesia and South Africa.

30

We work with women’s organisations in thesecountries to help carry out gender assessmentsof the cities’ institutional settings, processes andclimate policy approaches. Based on the resultsof the assessments and after consulting withstakeholders, policy recommendations for the cities
are developed, while advocacy work targets urban
decision-makers and practical pilot projects arebeing launched.
Once the project is finalised in 2020, we will invite
these women’s organisations to undertake a kind ofSouth-North knowledge transfer — teaching European
cities and initiatives how to carry out genderassessments, explaining their discoveries andrecommending gender-responsive policies.

GOTELIND ALBER

The pitfalls ahead
The biggest unanswered question: where is themoney? It’s hard to get funding for projects like
GUCCI; increasingly, funding goes to much larger
projects, often too big to handle for a relatively
small NGO without an income. Moreover, funding
considered to be gender-sensitive primarily goes
into the economic empowerment of women, forexample as micro-entrepreneurs in the renewableenergy sector. While this is a noble cause indeed,
funding like this often fails to generate reliable
income for such women. Energy and climate policy
simply can’t become more gender-responsive if therest of the world continues with business as usual.
Another challenge we face is the increasing noise
made by climate change deniers; denying climatechange often goes hand-in-hand with strong antigender attitudes. Both problems, climate change
and gender inequality, need seismic structural shifts
within our societies to challenge norms, privileges,
preferences, and habits.

Get your facts
straight!
Persistent gender inequalities and the different social and economic reality between genders conditions women’s responsibilities, vulnerabilities, and opportunities to respond and adapt to climate change.
All aspects of climate change have a gender dimenWomen are responsible
sion: the causes, the imfor more than 70% of waThe UN Framework
pacts and the policies
ter chores and manageConvention on Climatethat respond to climate
ment worldwide. In regions
Change (UNFCCC) did
change can have differmost affected by climate
not mention any gender orent effects on womenchange, 70% of all womensocial issues. Women’s orand men.
work in the agricultural secganisations have been the
tor but they do not particikey to puttinggender on the
The first ever Genpate in developing climate
climate agenda during theder Action Plan
policies.
last 15 years.
under the UNFCCC was
adopted in 2017 at COP23 in Bonn
(Germany). It aims is to serve as aroadmap to ensure that gender equality is integrated in all climate change
debates and actions at national andinternational levels.

Name.
Petra De Sutter

Place of origin.
Belgium

Organisation.
The Department of
Reproductive Medicine,
University Hospital Ghent,
Head of List European
Elections Groen(Flemish Greens)feminist role model.
Simone Veilfeminist quote.
“Good girls go to heaven,bad girls go everywhere.”
Jim Steinman

PETRA DE SUTTER
Jo i n For c es: O n g e n d e r,r eproduction a n d ri g h ts i n E u rope
Petra De Sutter outlines her passionate perspective on the idealsof feminism, nurtured through her work as a gynaecologist andmember of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Wary of accelerating right-wing aggression towards LGBTI* andwomen’s rights, she urges the diverse campaigns of the European
Union to unite behind one common goal.

It is impossible to underestimate just how
important human rights, the rule of law anddemocracy are within our everyday lives. As thebasis of the rights and liberties of all men andwomen, they protect minorities and the mostvulnerable in our societies.
As a member of the Parliamentary Assemblyof the Council of Europe (PACE) since 2014 —parliamentary watchdog for these core values inwider Europe — I have learned that they are thelegacy of the Age of Enlightenment. On a more
personal level, through my work as a gynaecologist,
women’s rights and sexual and reproductive rights
are very dear to me.
On a daily basis I fight for better access tocontraception and safe abortion, and against
early marriage and female genital mutilation, in
Europe and in the world, along with my fellow

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

33

EMPOWER.

parliamentarians of the European Parliamentary
Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights andDevelopment (EPF). As a running candidate in thenext European elections, I strive for equality and an
inclusive society, with human rights acting as the
beacons for my political journey.

34

Communities around the world unite
In the aftermath of the decision by President “grabthem-by-the-pussy” Trump to reinstate the Global
Gag Rule (which cuts funding for all organisations
supposedly associated with abortion), the “She
Decides” movement highlights the large communityof people willing to fight for every woman to havethe right to decide whether, with whom, and at whatmoment to have children. As a fundamental right,
this is essential in order to end early marriage,
expand opportunities for young women and achieve
gender equality. This is just one example of thefights fought throughout the last years for a more
feminist society.
That people of the same sex cannot marry or
start a family in many European countries, and thattoday, even in a country such as France, lesbian
couples have no access to assisted reproductive
technologies is simply wrong. Forced sterilisation
for transgender people is a serious human rights
violation and must be abolished everywhere as soon
as possible.

PETRA DE SUTTERFighting for Equality
We have successfully voted in some resolutions andtabled a lot of written declarations during the last few
years in PACE, securing the rights of transgender andintersex persons, and condemning the persecutionof LGBTI* people in the Chechen Republic andelsewhere. But it hasn’t always been straightforward.
One of my own reports on surrogate motherhood
failed to pass because of the violent reactions ofconservative right-wing politicians, who did everything
they could to squash debate on the subject.
I hoped to propose an international legal
framework to protect children born throughsurrogacy arrangements, one that would help end
medical tourism and exploitation. But everything
was done to block the report. From procedural
games in order to delay and discredit me as
rapporteur, to aggressive and coordinated personal
invective on social media, the attacks did not stop
until the debate was over and the final vote lost.
Each time the report was discussed I received hate
tweets, while twice I witnessed demonstrations byreligious fundamentalists in the street before theCouncil of Europe office in Paris.

“Feminists and
LGBTI* activists
in their fight forequal rights andnon-discrimination.”

An emerging campaign of violence
Indeed, there is a growing right-wingultraconservative movement in Europe, working
against both women’s and LGBTI* rights. These
groups (operating in a network called “Agenda
Europe”) believe that the “natural order” of society
must not be disturbed; giving women equal rights tomen does not fit in with their bigoted world view –that women should stay at home and look after thechildren and that men should be the breadwinnersof the family. Of course, in their view, a family
consists of a man, a woman and their children. One
such ultraconservative initiative “Mum, Dad & Kids”
attempted to ask the European Commission todefine marriage as a “permanent and faithfull unionof man and woman with the purpose of starting afamily”. This openly homophobic campaign failed toreceive enough support but shows the violence withwhich reactionary groups attack progressive values.
Both feminists and LGBTI* activist are theenemies of such groups because gender equality,
same-sex marriage and definitely transgenderism
are all seen as the same attack on the “natural”(divine) order on which societies should be based.
According to their diktat, progressive feminists

35

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

must join forces

EMPOWER.

and LGBTI* activisits adhere to what they callthe “gender ideology”, an attempt to abolish thedifferences between the genders. (Though this ispure nonsense, it’s important to understand this wayof thinking, in order to understand and anticipate
their actions.)
Towards common goals and a shared visionThat’s why feminists and LGBTI* activists mustjoin forces in their fight for equal rights and nondiscrimination. We are in this together. Equality anddiversity go hand in hand, and European politicians
can act as the champions in our common battle
against the regression of our values.

36

It goes without saying that the right-wing
conservative, conservative Agenda Europe network
is supported by reactionary movements fromoutside Europe, both from the United States andthe Russian Federation. Both Trump and Putin
indeed seem to share similar views where genderis concerned; they are joined by powerful men all

PETRA DE SUTTER

over the globe, such as Erdoğan and Bolsonaro, butalso within Europe by politicians such as Orbán and
Le Pen. It was Orbán who wanted to abolish genderstudies at universities (in addition to his harassmentof the Central European University, which is now
moving from Budapest to Vienna). In Poland, thegovernment wants to tighten its anti-abortion
legislation and cut the reimbursement of in-vitro
fertilisation.
There remains an enormous amount of work
to be done in the domains of gender equality and
LGBTI* rights. I believe all progressive Europeansshould join forces and proactively help move ouragenda forward, an agenda of rights and liberties
for all. Let’s go against the dogma and patriarchyof our grandparents’ era to establish an agenda ofinclusion and diversity that will shape the Europeof tomorrow. We should do this through dialogue if
possible, but as activists if necessary.

Get your facts
straight!
Marriage Equality is only a reality in 13
Member States of the European Union; 14
Member States allow for joint adoptions ofsame-sex couples.
More than one in four LGBTI*
individuals have either expe- In the 2019 contrarienced physical/sexual vio- ception atlas, Poland
lence or threats within the last scored lowest in the Eufive years, according to a 2012 ropean Union; in 2017 thesurvey conducted by the Funda- nation ended free accessmental Rights Agency (FRA).
to emergency contraception, with the emergency contraception pill
no longer available without prescription.

Names.
Bertha de León andTeodora del Carmen
Vázquez

Place of origin.
El Salvador

Organisation.
Colectiva Feminista parael Desarrollo Local andAgrupación Ciudadana
para la Despenalizacióndel Aborto

feminist role model.
Judith Butler

feminist quote.
“We women do
not wish to have powerover men, but to haveit over ourselves.”
Mary ShelleyBertha de León
& Teodora delCa r me n V á z q ue z
F i gh ti ng El Salvado r’s abortio n laws
Teodora del Carmen Vázquez was jailed in El Salvador in 2007 after
suffering a stillbirth, spending ten long years behind bars. Here shetells her story, while human rights lawyer Bertha de León decodes
the nation’s draconian anti-abortion laws, calling for urgent reform.

After three days, a judge at my preliminary
hearing determined that I would go to jail while an
investigation was conducted. Nine days after myarrest, they took me to prison. After three months
I had another hearing, when the lawyer asked myfamily for more money, money we did not have. I
was alone, with no lawyer, when they sentenced me
to 30 years in prison — that was also the day mythree-year-old son was left without a mum.
When I entered prison, I thought that my life wasover. However, once inside, I decided I wouldn’t let

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

Teodora’s story
My name is Teodora del Carmen. I was detained forten years and seven months in Ilopango Prison in El
Salvador for the crime of aggravated homicide after
suffering an obstetric emergency. I was arrested on
the night of the 7th of July, 2007 — after I called thepolice and an ambulance, which did not arrive. My
stillborn baby was born at my workplace; I passed
out, and when I awoke I was already in detention.
They told me it was because I had killed my baby,
even though I had called them asking for help.

39

EMPOWER.

“We will not stop
until no more
women enter prison
for this abortion.”40

the prison get into my head. I saw my son oncea year — though for the last four years I couldn’t
because we did not have the money for a permit. In
the ten years I was in jail, I never saw any womenwith money sentenced to 30 years for an abortion; inthere, we were all poor.
In 2012, I met the lawyers of the Citizens’
Association for the Decriminalisation of Abortion;
they told us they were interested in our cases
and began to investigate. That day, a flame wassparked that would eventually lead to my releaseon March 15, 2018. Thanks to the efforts of theseorganisations, some of us managed to get out andregain voices that had been silenced for years.
I won’t recover the ten years I lost, but now I work
hard to be a voice for girls who are still detained

and to bring justice for the “17 And More” (apolitical campaign dedicated to securing freedom
for the women detained under El Salvador’sabortion laws). We will not stop until no more
women enter prison for this crime and until thewomen who are still behind bars are released. We
are the reflection of the suffering of the women of
El Salvador, but we also shine with the light of thegreat work of activist groups and associations.
El Salvador’s criminal code: a systematic
violation of human rights
My name is Bertha de León, and I have defended
many women who have been unfairly criminalised asa result of El Salvador’s 1998 abortion law.
In April 2018, we were invited by members of theGreens/EFA, Ernest Urtasun, Bodil Valero, Terry
Reintke and Molly Scott Cato, to attend a conference
on behalf of the Citizens’ Association for the
Decriminalisation of Abortion in the country.
Accompanying me to the event, entitled “Our
Bodies Our Lives”, were Teodora del Carmen
Vásquez, recently released after ten years in prison,and Maria Teresa Rivera, also newly released. Ourparticipation constituted a significant opportunity in
our struggle to decriminalise abortion in El Salvador,
where it is currently prohibited in all cases.
El Salvador’s Criminal Code
Until 1998, a woman was legally entitled to decideto terminate her pregnancy for three reasons: if herlife was at risk; if the pregnancy was the result of

B e r t h a d e L e ó n & T e o d o r a d e l C a r m e n Vá z q u e zThis right ceased to exist when the Criminal Codewas amended with Article 133 criminalising all
terminations of pregnancy, as a result of pressure by
religious and conservative groups. Prison sentencesof two to eight years were introduced for the womenconcerned, with six to twelve years for doctors
carrying out abortions.

> Jennifer Maria Rivas Ganuza, aged 17, was initiallysentenced to 15 years in prison for the offence ofattempted aggravated homicide. Her newborn had
been rescued alive and uninjured from the cesspit
into which Jennifer had given birth.

The total criminalisation of abortion affects
thousands of women. Particularly impacted arethose living in conditions of poverty without accessto safe and free abortions where their health and life
are at risk, and in cases of rape; thus it constitutes asystematic violation of human rights.

> Sandra Isabeth Alfaro, aged 19, was unjustly
prosecuted for aggravated homicide. She miscarrieda foetus of fewer than 20 weeks and suffering fromanencephaly in the toilet at school, the miscarriage
caused by a serious urinary tract infection.

The current criminal code does not adequately
address the offence of abortion, generating great
legal insecurity for women and a violation of judicial
guarantees. The state fails to comply with its
obligation to legislate or to repeal laws that result inviolence against women.

> Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz, aged 20, wasdetained in Ilopango Women’s Prison, having beensentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravatedhomicide. She gave birth in a latrine, with thenewborn dying as a result of meconium aspiration
syndrome.

Telling their stories
Many women are criminally prosecuted for having
experienced obstetric complications, like Teodora
del Carmen Vásquez. Convicted without evidence,
Teodora served ten years in prison until her sentence
was commuted by the Supreme Court of Justice.

> Imelda Isabel Cortez Palacios, in custody in San
Miguel penitentiary since April 2017, was charged
with attempted aggravated homicide after her
newborn daughter was rescued from the latrine where
Imelda had given birth. During the court case, it wasestablished that the baby had been conceived as a

41

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

rape or incest; or if the foetus was suffering froma serious congenital malformation. Accordingly,
medical practitioners were also legally entitled totreat such cases.

At the European Parliament, we sought to raiseawareness of the need to reform El Salvador’s antiabortion law, by providing a voice for the following
women, prosecuted without even the most basic legal
safeguards. I list their names here because, over andabove being a lawyer, I am a witness to the injustices
experienced daily in El Salvador that our deputies,
institutions and leaders have decided to ignore.

EMPOWER.

result of the repeated aggravated rapes that Imelda
had been subjected to by her stepfather as of the ageof twelve.
Currently, 20 women are being held in various
prisons in El Salvador for similar cases, having
suffered a systematic violation of their right tojudicial safeguards, due process, the presumptionof innocence, material defence and the principleof legality by the institutions of the criminal justicesystem.

42

Fighting state violence
Women’s organisations have nevertheless brought
action to declare the total criminalisation of abortion
unconstitutional, such as constitutional complaint
18-98 of November 20th 2007, regarding inadequate
regulation:“The Assembly must regulate potential casesof conflict between the right to life of the unborn
and the rights of the pregnant mother, and thedecision regarding the recourse for constitutional
protection (Amparo) 67-2010 followed case-law inthis regard, while in connection with the recourse
for constitutional protection regarding the BEATRIZ
case, the Legislative Assembly has yet to comply
with its obligation to legislate on the exceptions
allowing abortions under certain circumstances.”
This absolute prohibition is a severe form ofstate violence against women in poverty, whoserights, inter alia, to health, life, personal integrity,
personal freedom, reproductive self-determination

are compromised, and who are subjected to unfair
criminal trials without even the most basic of legal
safeguards.
Garnering international support
For the Citizens’ Association for the Decriminalisationof Abortion in El Salvador, taking part in European
Parliament conferences and carrying out awarenessraising activities remains vitally important to ourstruggle. Such efforts give us legitimacy in an
extremely conservative and violent country, where weare stigmatised for standing up for such rights. They
also make our struggle more visible at an international
level, enabling more women and civil society
organisations to join and support us.
It’s also extremely significant that contact wasmade with the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador
from within the European Parliament through official
channels, calling for priority to be given to thediscussion and analysis of the reform of the penal
code on the basis of medical criteria and facts.
Letters were sent to different state institutions,stressing the need to respect and guarantee thehuman rights of women, while statements weresuccessfully promoted in Parliament regarding thetotal criminalisation of abortion in El Salvador and its
impact on the human rights of women — actions weare grateful for.
While we have not yet achieved the legal reform
we seek, the solidarity shown to us gives us thestrength to continue fighting for the legitimate
defence of women.

B e r t h a d e L e ó n & T e o d o r a d e l C a r m e n Vá z q u e zGet your facts
straight!
As of 2018, Teodora del Carmen Vázquez was the 16th woman tobe freed as a result of appeals by reproductive rights groups andlawyers working under hostile conditions perpetuated by powerful anti-abortion groups.
Founded in 2009, the Citizens’ Association
for the Decriminalisation of Abortion seeks to
Since 2009, 33 women haveraise awareness to change the Salvadoran legbeen released due to pressure
islation regarding abortion, to legally defend
applied by women’s rights orwomen who have been charged or convictedganisations in El Salvador.
for abortion or related offences, and to promote
To date, 23 women remain insexual and reproductive health education.
prison as a result of the country’s total ban on abortion.
26 countries in the world
still ban abortion altogether, withno explicit legal reason for exception (even if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, and regardless of theconsequencey to their health): Andorra; Malta; San Marino;
Angola; Congo-Brazzaville; Congo-Kinshasa; Egypt; Gabon;
Guinea-Bissau; Madagascar; Mauritania; São Tomé & Príncipe;
Senegal; Iraq; Laos; Marshall Islands; Micronesia; Palau;
Philippines; Tonga; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Haiti;
Honduras; Nicaragua; and Suriname.

Names.
Sarah Chander
Isabela Mihalache

Place of origin.
United Kindom
Romania(Ethnicity: Roma)

Organisation.
European Network
Against Racism

feminist role model.
Jayaben Desai,
strike leader Grunwick
dispute in London in 1976
Oprah Winfrey

feminist quote.
“I cannot imagine afeminism that is not
anti-racist.”
Angela Davis“Feminism is the radical
notion that womenare people.”
Rebecca WestSarah Chander& Isabela
Mihalache“I c an’ t imag i n e a femi n ism
th at is n ot a n ti-rac ist ”
Sarah Chander and Isabela Mihalache of the European
Network Against Racism examine the interconnected nature ofinequality, positing that the intersectional relationship between
anti-racism and feminism is a defining issue for our times.

ational governments, EU institutions, andfeminist organisations increasingly wave theflag for gender equality in Europe. However, for too
long, these efforts have overlooked women of colour.
As a movement of grassroots anti-racist
organisations, the European Network Against

Racism (ENAR) works for equality for all. This
has included exploring the multiple layers of
discrimination experienced by women from racial,ethnic and religious minorities across Europe. In
our work, we see that the relationship between
anti-racism and feminism is a defining issue for ourtimes. Inherent to the fight against racism is also

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

N

45

EMPOWER.

the fight against the patriarchy — and it’s a fightthat’s intersectional1.
What do we mean when we say that patriarchy
and racism are interconnected? These struggles arenecessarily connected because women of colour are
not impacted by only one. For example, women thatare visibly Muslim are targeted for hate crimes at ahigher rate than are Muslim men. In the workplace,
Muslim women wearing the veil are subject todiscrimination that does not impact women who
don’t wish to manifest their religious beliefs. ENAR
has long fought for Islamophobia experienced by
Muslim women to be categorised as a feminist
issue, as well as an issue of racism.

46

For Roma women, structural violence enacted by
the state was inherently gendered and racialised;
for instance, through coerced sterilisation in theformer Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Sweden. The
measure was meant to control the growth of theRoma population. For women of African descent thelack of representation in political institutions acrossEurope. Is an issue of underrepresentation on thebasis of gender, race, social status and sometimes,
nationality. Out of 751 Members of in the European
Parliament, there is currently one sole black woman.
It is important, therefore, that our movements
respond to racialised and gendered oppression.
1 A concept originating from black feminists in the U.S,

intersectionality is the awareness that mainstream feminist approaches do not necessarily address the multiple
forms of discrimination and oppression faced by some
women.

Sarah Chander & Isabela Mihalache“Women of colour
are simultaneously
invisible andhyper-visible inEuropean politics.”

Most policies geared towards gender equality,
however, have not taken an intersectional approach.
In fact, women of colour are invisible within policymaking and in practice at the level of European
politics. Most EU policies on gender equality assume
universal experiences for all women but because
women are not a homogenous group, they are
not affected by discrimination and a misogyny inthe same way — they have different backgrounds,
profiles and experiences.
Assessing EU gender equality policies from anintersectional perspective, we see that in their
universalism, they primarily serve white, middleclass, straight, cis women.

One of the most alarming trends to this end is the
instrumentalisation of women’s rights in racist andIslamophobic political discourses. We know thatthe far-right has increasingly attempted to utilise
women’s (and LGBTI*) rights to nurture hostility on
migration and security issues.

Furthermore, policies to achieve gender balancein leadership positions are unconcerned with othergrounds of equality. The European Commission’s
2012 proposal of a target of 40% of women in
management positions made no reference to theunderrepresentation of minority women. There arealmost no women of colour in leadership at theEuropean Commission, and very few working as
MEPs in parliament.

This was recently reflected in mainstream
politics when the European Parliament’s Women’s
Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) Committee
passed a resolution on the role of women inpreventing radicalisation. This resolution flagged
Muslim women as some of the most vulnerable
to radicalisation, thus further stigmatising Muslim
women. The resolution made no reference at all towomen radicalised in far-right movements, placing
the burden of terrorism instead onto Muslim
communities and women in particular.

At a political level, the lack of representationof women of colour is reflected in how poorly
our issues are addressed. Mainstream politicaldebates largely ignore women of colour: when ourissues are deemed sufficiently political, it is usually
through the paternalistic, exclusive and sometimes
racist lens of mainstream feminism, with little
respect to the agency of the women concerned.

Women of colour are simultaneously invisible
and hyper-visible in European politics. We are
hyper-visible when we are painted as victims or as
threats. We are invisible when it is time to hear our
voices, proffer a seat at the policy-making table andgive us representation.
How do we change this?
At the political level, we need to push for an
unapologetic, anti-racist and feminist discourse,

47

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

The invisibility of women of colour in European
policies is apparent in numerous fields. For
example, the EU’s communications on the gender
pay gap highlight that women in the European Union
earn on average 16% less than men for each hour
worked. Such headlines completely ignore the factthat many ethnic minority women are paid less thanwhite women and ethnic minority men. They also
ignore the struggles of migrant female sex workers
and other undocumented workers for whom theneed for de-criminalisation, rights, protection andsafety makes calls for equal pay seem distant.

EMPOWER.

holding politicians firmly to these standards.
The European Parliament should be upholding
the values of equality, dignity and respect, andmaintaining the vision of a society free fromdiscrimination. It should not be marginalising andignoring women of colour, but instead, working
toward dismantling structural inequalities andempowerment. We also need to acknowledge thepressure that comes with being one of very few
minority women in political positions; the pressure
to fit into white institutions; the pressure to carrythe cause and leave a legacy.

48

We have a long way to go to ensure women ofcolour experience equality in practice. This must
include equal access to high quality, inclusive
education, healthcare, employment, housing, better
protection of women inside the justice system,an end to the exploitation of women in all areas,and political representation. We also need topush further the debate at EU level and the legal
application of positive action by Member States,
which for now remains an option for the Member
States to decide on and to design.

Sarah Chander & Isabela Mihalache

At the movement level, the struggle has been
to deconstruct old narratives around equality
and introduce a new language about racism andfeminism in the context of white supremacy
and dominance in power structures, including
European institutions.
Last year, ENAR moved to become a feminist antiracist organisation, ensuring we uphold women’s
rights and foreground women of colour in our
movement.
Our challenge is to achieve recognition andjustice for different groups of minority women
without creating hierarchies between them. Instead,
we need equity and solidarity with and between
women of colour in the feminist and anti-racist
movements.
American political activist Angela Davis said, “Icannot imagine a feminism that is not anti-racist.”
Equally, there is no anti-racist fight without womenand no progressive politics without centring
feminism and anti-racism. We need a complete
overhaul of the way we organise and the way weenvision equality. Tackling the interconnectednature of inequality is where we must start.

Get your facts
straight!
According to a 2018 European Union
Agency for Fundamental Rights Survey, nearly one in three respondents of AfIn France, 81.5% of Islamopho- rican descent (30%) experienced what theybic violence recorded by the Col- perceived as racist harassment in the five
years before the survey.
lective Against Islamophobia in France in In the Netherlands, 11%
78% of Roma in Slovakia
2014 targeted wom- of Afghani-Dutch Muslim
women
not
wearingahead
and 73% in the Czech Repuben, most of them
scarf
said
they
had
experilic experience discriminawearing a visible relienced
discriminationonthetion when looking for a job.
gious symbol.
basis of religion, compared to73% of Afghani-Dutch who dowear a headscarf; for Moroccan-Dutch these figures are
In Germany, a 15% versus 39%.
survey found that
59% of Muslim women respondents were insulted,
verbally abused or accosted.

G A L L E R Y.

SH E R O E S .

Feminist Strike,
Spain 2019 I
By Imagen en
AccionFeminist Strike, Spain 2018 I
By Telesurenglish
S H E R O E S G A L L E R Y.

Women’s Marchon Washington,
January 2017

I By Voanews

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

I By Mobilus In Mobili

EMPOWER.

Protest against
the criminalisation of LGBT
rights, April
2018 UK I By
Alisdare Hickson

Action calling for the
release of women
incarcerated due tothe criminalisation ofabortion in El Salvador

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

Demonstration againstpresidential candidate
Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil,
September 2018
I By CPERS Sindicato

EMPOWER.

Women holding
posters that
read “Thereis no comingback fromour feminist
struggle” and“No to intervention to ourlives.”- Women’s Day Marchin Istanbul, 2017
I By The Centeron Conflict andDevelopment(ConDev)

March 4 Choice,Dublin, 2016 I By
Workers Solidarity
Movement

S H E R O E S G A L L E R Y.

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

Women National Strike, Brussels, 2019
I By Sebastian Raible/ @FreakkaerF

EMPOWER.

Black March,
protesting
against the billto ban abortion,
Poland, 2017 I
By GalsforGals Lodz
S H E R O E S G A L L E R Y.

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

Polish women action in front of
the European Parliament plenary,Strasbourg, 2017 I By Greens/EFA

EMPOWER.

Prague Pride,
August 2017
I By Catherine Shiflett

S H E R O E S G A L L E R Y.

Women’s Marchin Tahir, 2013
I By Gigi Ibrahim

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

Bring-back our
girls Campaign,
2014 I By Michael
FleshmanEMPOWER.

Feminist strike,Argentina 2018
I By Fotografías
Emergentes

Feminist camp in Argentina supporting the reform of the abortion
law, February 2019 I By Soledad Di PasqualeF I G H T. R E S I S T.

Swedish deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin signing areferral of Swedish climate law while mocking Donald
Trump’s all male government photo, 2017 I By AFP

EMPOWER.

S H E R O E S G A L L E R Y.

EMPOWER.

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

Names.
Blanca de Riquer,
Jeanne Ponté, Arantza
Calvera, Amelia Martinez,
Elzelien Van Der Steen

Place of origin.
France, Netherlands
and Spain

Organisation.
MeTooEP

feminist role model.
Gloria Steinem

feminist quote.
“The future depends
entrirely on what eachof us does every day.”
Mahatma Gandhi

METOOEP
Time’s up! Our rights are
not a power gamble
Blanca de Riquer, Jeanne Ponté, Arantza Calvera, Amelia
Martinez and Elzelien Van Der Steen explain the birth of
MeTooEP, a movement designed to give a voice to the victims ofsexual harassment and abuse within the European Parliament.

“Me Too wasn’t built to be a viralcampaign or a hashtag that is here
today and forgotten tomorrow. It was acatchphrase to be used from survivor tosurvivor to let folks know that they were notalone and that a movement for radical healing
was happening and possible.”— Tarana Burke, Founder of Me Too in 2006

On International Women’s Day 2018, a group ofEuropean Parliament workers decided to launcha petition calling for an end to sexual harassment
and abuse in the European Parliament. Within
five days, we collected 1,000 signatures fromacross the political spectrum. This was the start of
MeTooEP, a movement of workers of the European
Parliament, representing different political views,
nationalities, opinions and professional roles.

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

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EMPOWER.

That day, we decided to join forces to fight against
sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault in theEuropean Parliament and other institutions of power.
By organising ourselves as a movement, we findourselves with a stronger yet independent collective
voice to protest against the lack of progress andmeasures to effectively combat sexual harassment
and abuse in our workplace.

68

Shedding light on a silenced reality
Six months earlier in October 2017, the European
Parliament adopted a strong resolution calling for
better internal measures to address the problem
of sexual harassment within the institution, to be
enforced immediately, and to create a safe spacefor victims to report such abuses of power. A large
majority voted for three concrete measures to be put
in place: an external and independent assessmentof the situation regarding sexual harassment andabuse in Parliament, including an evaluation of
the European Parliament’s two anti-harassment
committees; the introduction of mandatory training
on respect and dignity for all staff and Members toensure that a zero-tolerance approach becomes thenorm; and an evaluation of the need to restructure
the two harassment committees to ensure
independence and gender balance.
With such a strong resolution adopted by sucha big majority, we assumed that the political willclearly existed to deal with the problem.
We were wrong.

METOOEP

Despite powerful political declarations, nothing
happened. Sexual harassment was still not taken
seriously, and the requested measures remained
hollow phrases.
When we got tired of listening to excuses such as“it was just a joke”, “you’re being too sensitive”, “itonly happened once”, “politics works like that”, “thisis about cultural differences”, or “politicians are likethat and you won’t be able to change it”, we decided
that we had had enough. A sense of resignation isthe biggest danger, so we took action. We wanted
to start shedding light on a reality that remained
beneath a cloak of silence in our workplace.
In October 2018 we decided to launch the
MeTooEP blog (metooep.com) to collect anonymous
testimonies from victims of sexual harassment.
By sharing personal stories, we hoped to break theculture of silence in our workplace. An instrument
designed to support victims, the blog would
encourage them to speak out, reassure them thatthey are not alone, create a space for solidarity andcollective awareness and explain through real cases
what sexual harassment is.
In the first month after the launch of the blog,
more than 40 victims had anonymously shared theirstories, demonstrating that the abuse of power andgrossly inappropriate behaviour, including sexualassault, are widespread: around official events, in
offices and during buisness trips.

“By sharing personal
stories, we hoped to

Actions speak louder than words
We intensified and diversified our MeTooEP
campaign for the implementation of the necessary
measures, knowing that a majority of members of
the European Parliament (MEPs) voted in favour ofthese requests back in October 2017. We organised
conferences, participated in events and set up
countless meetings with the European Parliament
Vice-Presidents, with the presidents of almost allpolitical groups and with European Parliament
President Antonio Tajani. In addition, we drafted
amendments to numerous European Parliament
reports asking for anti-harassment measures,
encouraged Member of the European Parliament
to vote in their favour, gained Europe-wide media
exposure and organised demonstrations in front of
the European Parliament plenary chamber.

break the culture ofsilence in our workplace.”

After 18 months of campaigning, we have gained
quite an amount of political influence and media
attention — yet, for the victims of sexism, sexual
harassment and sexual assault in the European
Parliament not much has improved. Committees
dealing with harassment have received few
complaints about sexual harassment. Why? Weknow that some Member of the European Parliamentand people in high positions can misuse theirpower to oppose these measures and to protect
the perpetrators of harassment. The culture inthis hierarchical institution will only change if its
leadership and authorities are willing to embrace
reforms.
That is why our latest initiative is an election
pledge for all candidate Member of the European
Parliament. By signing the pledge, they commit

69

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

The multitude of testimonies also showed that
the EP’s official data on sexual harassment (onlyone case in four years) did not reflect reality. Clearly,
the victims’ perception of the existing support
structure is not positive, and they do not feel safe or
encouraged to come forward with complaints about
sexual harassment or to seek help. This was a clear
signal for us to step up our efforts to transform theinadequate anti-harassment structures.

EMPOWER.

themselves to actively fighting sexual harassment
and implementing the above measures. By meansof the pledge, voters will be able to elect candidates
who take the problem of sexual harassment
seriously, who commit to actively, preventing anddenouncing sexism and sexual harassment andwho — crucially — never remain silent or accept any
justification for such acts.

70

So far, the presidents of the main five politicalgroups of the European Parliament have signed
the pledge, as well as the EP President. Ahead of
the European Parliament election, we expect many
Member of the European Parliament and candidates
to sign up; they can be sure that we will hold them totheir word and will request to act accordingly once
they have been elected.
The power of collective solidarity
The fight against sexual harassment and abuse
is a shared goal that must become a priority for
all institutions. As MeTooEP, we have spoken out
because we do not want others to suffer in the same
way as the victims who came forward with their
testimonies. Victims must feel safe to speak out
and the structures of the European Parliament, as
well as other EU institutions, must provide adequate
support and safeguards for them. This should not be
a political issue! After all, each and every one of us
can become a victim of sexual harassment.

METOOEP

The European Parliament has the resources toimplement effective measures to fight against sexual
harassment and abuse. We won’t accept smallchanges that, in the end, result in nothing. We needto keep asking for structural changes to transform
our society. Prevention, education and raisingawareness are crucial. We can see the feminist
movement at work across Europe; the European
Parliament should take this as inspiration and set
their own example.
Now is the time to say: enough — no moretolerance, silence, or acceptance of harassment
and sexual abuse. Once and for all, we have tostop tolerating a sexist culture that enables men
who believe they are entitled to harass others, as
though they have a natural entitlement. We mustfight the structures and situations that prop up
these attitudes and not silence ourselves if we ever
witness inappropriate behaviour. The revolution of
thousands of people who have seen that they are
not alone; the sentiment of empowerment whenexperiencing collective solidarity; and the echoes ofvoices that will not remain silent anymore — these
are the preludes of a soon-to-arrive cultural changethat must affect every person, society and institution.

Get your facts
straight!
In October 2017, Members of
the European Parliament voted
in favour of resolution 2017/2897
Data show that 55% of(RSP), which called on the Eurowomen in the EU havepean Parliament to implement
been sexually harassed in
specific measures totheir lives, of which 32% say
prevent and combat all 85% of femal Members
the perpetrator was their1of Parliament (MPs) informs of harassment.
boss, co-worker or client.
Europe have suffered
In March 2019, the introduction of man- psychological violence indatory training on sexual harassment for parliament; women MPs
MEPs was again supported by a majority, under 40 are more likely
but still remains to be implemented.
to be harassed. Female
parliamentary staff endure
more sexual violence thanfemale MPs, while the majority of European parlia1. According to European Union Agency
ments don’t have mechafor Fundamental Rights statistics
2. Study by Inter-Parliamentary Union
nisms to enable women to(IPU) and the Parliamentary Assembly
speak out. 2.
of the Council of Europe (PACE)Name.
Neil Datta

Place of origin.
Various, but
Brussels by choice.

Organisation.
European Parliamentary
Forum for Sexual andReproductive Rights

feminist role model.
Simone Veilfeminist quote.
“Feminism is not justabout women; it’s about
letting all people leadfuller lives.”
Jane Fonda

NEIL DATTAThe new challenge toh uma n r i g h ts fa c i n g t h e E U
In a year that will bring enormous challenges for the EU, Neil Datta
explains that only constant vigilance and action will ensure that
extremist right-wing groups fail to gain a dangerous foothold
across our international communities.

I

t’s time for anyone who believes in equal humanrights for all to stand up and be counted — for
there’s a battle on the horizon that must not be
underestimated. Never before in the history of
the European Union has it been faced with such aseries of major internal and external challenges,
ones that could dramatically impact its position
on progressive issues.

These challenges include the riseof illiberal democracies within the EU,
the likely emergence of a new politicalparty landscape, Brexit, the influence ofRussia, and the greater presence of atransnationally organised, professional antiSexual and Reproductive Rights movementin Europe.

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

73

EMPOWER.

74

Agenda Europe
Agenda Europe is a network of religious
extremists in Europe operating from threeplatforms: a blog, annual clandestine summits
and a common manifesto entitled “Restoring
the Natural Order: An Agenda for Europe”. For
this ultra-conservative group and others like it,
restoring the so-called “natural order” would
involve re-criminalising same-sex relations andpartnerships, divorce, gay adoption, abortion,sterilisation, contraception, in-vitro fertisation,ante-natal diagnostics, euthanasia, stem cell use
and more.
The group’s increased activity at both national
and European Institutional level has drawn theattention, and concern, not just of progressive
groups and actors, but also of human rights
bodies that have started to describe thisphenomenon as a “backlash against women in
Europe”.
Agenda Europe, which is behind over 15
legislative initiatives across Europe, has managed
to unite over 100 anti-human rights, anti-women’s
rights and anti-LGBTI* organisations from over
30 European countries. In short, the campaign
is a concerted effort to chip away the recent

NEIL DATTA

expansion of human rights across Europe, and theirfirst targets are those who wish to exercise theirsexual and reproductive freedoms.
Dramatic change facing the EU
The European Union plays a vital role in fighting for
more equality, and retaining an open society againstright-wing, populist attacks. Founded on values ofrespect for human rights, freedoms, democracy,
equality, and the rule of law, the Union has thus
far proven capable of weathering the storm of ahandful of illiberal democracies and populist surges
within the European Union.
But there’s a momentous wave of change facing
the union, with European Parliament elections,the designation of a new European Commission,and newly-appointed presidents of the European
Council and the European Central Bank — all taking
place against the backdrop of discussions aroundthe next Multi-annual Financial Framework (a fiveyear budget plan for the years 2021-2027).
While legal provisions relating to abortion, sexualand reproductive health are primarily a matter for“Agenda Europe is aconcerted effort toexpansion of humanrights across Europe.”

the Member States, the European Parliament canstill express its opinion on these matters; it has
made clear progress towards enhancing women’s
reproductive choices both in the European Unionand elsewhere. For example, the Parliament
adopted a report on the EU’s Gender Action Plan
2016-2020 on women’s empowerment in May 2018,
and in July, adopted a report on the fight againstchild marriage.
Playing an international role
The European Parliament also has the importantrole of approving the entire EU budget together with
the Council, and therefore the capacity to safeguardpriorities like equality, poverty eradication and theSustainable Development Goals.
With the 2017 reinstatement of the Mexico City
Policy in the U.S, better known as the “Global
Gag Rule”, the EU now has a once-in-a-decade
opportunity to put itself forward as a global leader
in family planning funding, to fill the estimatedvacuum of $8.8 billion of U.S global healthassistance that Trump’s policy has incurred —ensuring that life-saving funding for family planning,
contraception and maternal health does notdisappear. To do so, we’d need an ambitious andprogressive Parliament.

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F I G H T. R E S I S T.

chip away the recent

EMPOWER.

76

However, the EU’s next legislative term will also
be one in which the anti-sexual and reproductive
rights movements that have coalesced overthe previous five years are able to come in fully
developed. These anti-sexual and reproductive rightmovements have grown over the past few years on
two different planes, the first at a national level in
an attempt to recreate themselves as grassroots
movements that can influence politics from below,
often by organising assaults on so-called “gender
ideology”: these are the anti-gender movements.
The other approach is to become professional
advocates, like any other stakeholder group or
sectoral representative in the EU lobby sphere, theprime example of which is the “Agenda Europe”
network.
Signs of hope
The good news is that people are beginning totake this threat seriously. Last year, the European
Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive
Rights released a report on Agenda Europe, which

garnered impressive international attention. The
report travelled far and fast, receiving coveragein many different languages. I was invited tonumerous events to speak on panels on the topic
and to present my findings to packed rooms ofconcerned listeners.
How Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,
environmental policies or implementation of theEU multi-billion Euro budget will fare in a radicallychanged EU landscape, when even basic concepts
such as human rights, democracy and rule of law arequestioned, is unknown and unprecedented.
However, those who uphold progressive values canand should prepare. While a great deal is at stake inthe year 2019, we remain vigilant and ready to standup for the rights of women and LGBTI* people toguarantee equal human rights for all.

NEIL DATTA

Get your facts
straight!
The European Parliamentary Forum is a
network of members of parliaments from acrossEurope who are committed to protecting the sexual and reproductive health of the world’s mostvulnerable people, both at home and overseas.
The Agenda Europe strategy is
Agenda Europe is a
producing concrete results, such asprofessional advocacy
the 2016 Polish bill to ban abortion,
network, with membersbans on equal marriage in several
that meet in secret. It’s
Central European countries and overdirectly responsible fora dozen comparable
implementing a detailed
acts at national level The Mexico strategy to roll back huand in European in- City policy, man rights.
stitutions, aiming to sometimes relimit women’s and ferred to as theglobal gag rule, is a U.S govLGBTI* rights.
ernment policy that blocks
federal funding for non-governmental organisations thatprovide abortion counsellingor referrals, advocate to decriminalise abortion or expand abortion services.

Name.
Olivia Lally

Place of origin.
Ireland

Organisation.
European Network of
Debt and Development(Eurodad)feminist role model.
I can’t identify a single
person – my role models
are the people I see every
time we mobilise against
another oppression;
the people who resist
patriarchy in their daily
lives and commit theirtime and energy tocollective action for an
equal future

feminist quote.
“I am not free while any
women is unfree, evenwhen her shackles arevery different frommy own.”Audre LordeO L I V I A L A LLY
T a x justi c e a n d g e n de r e q ua l it yOlivia Lally argues that taxation is one of the most powerful methods inexistence to reduce the inequality gap between rich and poor and between
men and women. By ending large-scale international tax dodging, introducing
transparency and tax justice, and investing in quality gender-responsive
public services, she believes governments can help to fulfil women’s rights.

79
orld over, women experience multiple,
intersecting forms of oppression anddiscrimination — based on sex and gender,
economic position, location and social status,
ethnicity, sexuality and religion. This is not an
accident; the exclusion and inequality womenexperience reflect our histories, cultures, politicalchoices and, critically, our economic policies.
News headlines rightly focus on discrimination andsystemic inequalities faced by women, but one pointthat is often overlooked is the many ways in which

the tax system, like other policies and structures,
offers a transformative tool for redistribution andfinancing gender equity.
However, the tax system’s transformative power
is consistently undermined by current tax laws
and practices, and these, in turn, perpetuate andexacerbate the inequalities faced by women.
Growing up in a poor community in Ireland, I’ve been
active in many fights for social justice and equality.
Common to all is the excuse provided by successive

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

W

EMPOWER.

“Tax systems at
national and global
level are exacerbating
women’s inequalities.”80

governments for inaction — they can’t finance thechange needed.
A recent example is the fight to decriminaliseabortion in Ireland, where our cruel and restrictive law
forbid abortion, even in cases of rape, incest and whenthe mother’s health was in danger. In the lead up to
the referendum, one of the most effective arguments
was that Ireland’s under-resourced and struggling
healthcare system simply couldn’t provide additional
healthcare services to women. At the same time thatmy home country can’t afford to run hospitals safely
and pay nurses well, Ireland is appealing the European
Commission’s decision that they must recover €14.3
billion from Apple, which the Commission says shouldhave been paid in taxes.

Large-scale tax avoidance and evasion bymultinational companies and wealthy individuals
continue to deprive governments of revenue, which isdesperately needed to fund quality gender-responsive
public services for women and girls. Moreover, formany women — especially those living in poverty —regressive and discriminatory tax policies represent
an added burden.
When tax revenues are progressively collected,
they offer a predictable and sustainable source ofincome for governments to finance women’s rights
and other priorities of the Sustainable Development
Goals, including eradicating poverty, reducing
inequality and addressing climate change. The
good news is that there is growing internationalawareness of the importance of tax justice forwomen’s rights and the many and complex impacts
our tax systems have on women’s equity.
Going, going, gone:
How revenue losses hurt women
Women depend on public services to a greater extent
than men, due to the inequality they experience,
the resulting care burden they bear, as well as theneeds arising from pregnancy and childbirth. When
governments fail to provide adequate care services,
this often results in women stepping in to care forchildren, older people and their family’s health. Right
now, it’s estimated1 that women spend 2.5 times

1 Unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures

OLIVIA Lally

Women’s exclusion and transparency
At the outset of any discussion of women’s
rights, it is essential to recognise women’s
underrepresentation in decision-making. The barriers
women experience in progressing to decisionmaking levels in the public and private sectors mean
they are typically under-represented as, for example,
policy makers and at senior level in large companies.

Women’s limited access to board rooms andhigh-level offices also has direct implications fortheir ability to access important information about
the impacts of our tax systems, since a lot of thisinformation is secret. This, for example, includes
information about where multinational corporations
are doing business, and how much tax they arepaying in each country where they operate. Currently,
the European Union is considering a proposal to
make this information public — so-called “publiccountry by country reporting”. This proposal is vitalto ensure that everybody will get access to theinformation we need to assess the fairness of our
tax system, something the European Green party has
consistently supported and called for.
Racing to the bottom: Shifting thetax burden
Despite the promises to make multinational
corporations pay their share of tax, the world’s
governments have become locked in a very costly
and destructive race to the bottom on corporate
taxation. One government’s decision to cut taxes forcorporations leads others to follow suit, and if thecurrent trend continues, the global average corporate
tax rate will hit 0% in 20524.

2 https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2017-55.pdf3 https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/wir2015_

en.pdf4

https://eurodad.org/files/pdf/1546849-tax-gamesthe-race-to-the-bottom.pdf

81

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

more time on unpaid care and domestic workthan men, drastically limiting the time they haveavailable to pursue education and employment.
We know women have been hit harder by austerity
and a lack of funding is a common excuse for notproviding the change that women need worldwide.
Yet, our best estimates suggest that governments
worldwide lose a staggering US$5002 billion annually
due to corporate tax avoidance, with conservative
estimates suggesting $70-1203 billion lost fromdeveloping countries. When companies avoid tax,
they deprive governments of revenue to fund public
services like subsidised childcare, quality healthcare
and education. These are essential for women’sequality. Taking concrete actions to address thesehuge revenue losses is a key step towards tacklinginequalities faced by women and girls.

EMPOWER.

While corporations are being asked to pay less,regressive tax policies like consumption taxes
have been used to fill the gap from the missing
corporate tax income. For example, the use of valueadded taxes (VAT) have increased starkly. VAT isconsidered a regressive tax, because it applies thesame rate to everyone, regardless of their income,wealth or employment status. This means a wealthybusinessman and a poor woman pay the exact same
VAT on products like infant formula. To put this incontext, women continue to face barriers entering
the labour force, and globally are estimated to earn
77% of what men earn while paying the same VAT.

82

Tax justice for women’s rights
The good news is that there is growing internationalawareness of the importance of tax justice forwomen’s rights and the many and complex impacts
our tax systems have on women’s equity. One
recent development was the European Parliament’s
adoption of a new Gender Equality and Taxation
Policies report, jointly lead by Ernest Urtasun
member of Greens/EFA in the Parliament and Marisa
Matias of Group of the European United Left-Nordic
Green Left. It recognises the interconnectedness

OLIVIA Lallyof the struggles for gender equity and tax justice,and the need for European governments and theEuropean Commission to take concrete action to
analyse and address the explicit and implicit genderbiases of our tax system. Critically, the reportaddresses the way in which the tax systems at
national and global level are exacerbating women’s
inequalities, and calls for states to introduce
transparency through public country by country
reporting, support democratic tax reform at the
global level, and undertake regular gender audits on
all fiscal policies.
Tax is a key building block of societies. It is oneof the most powerful tools we have to reduce theinequality gap between rich and poor — inside a
country and between countries — and between men
and women. Equally, taxes are the most sustainablesource of government revenue to pay for the public
services that societies rely on. Governments now
need to put an end to large-scale international tax
dodging, introduce transparency and tax justice, andinvest in quality gender-responsive public services
and fulfilling women’s rights.

Get your facts
straight!
Governments worldwide lose a
staggering US$500 billion annually due tocorporate tax avoidance. 1
Cuts in public
Men dominate in almost all positions sector jobs haveof economic decision-making at national had a drastic effectlevel, with all but one EU Member States’ on women’s employcentral banks led by a man. Only 19.6% ment, as women conof deputy and vice governors of Member stitute on averageState central banks are women, while 69.2% of EU public
women represent only 20% of the board sector workers. 2
members of national
Globally, women are estimatcentral banks. 4
ed to earn 77% of what men earn,
while paying the same VAT. 3

1. https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2017-55.pdf
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284550875_The_price_of_austerity_the_impact_on_women’s_rights_and_gender_equality_in_Europe
3. http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures
4. Data from the European Institute for Gender Equality

GALS 4 GALS
T h e st r u g g l e fo r w ome n ’ srights in Poland

84

Gals4Gals Łódź (Lodzkie Dziewuchy Dziewuchom) is a Polishfeminist collective that formed part of the country’s Black Monday protest
against a bill aiming to ban abortion. Members of Gals4Gals Łódź consider the
victories and challenges of three years of campaigning, both as individuals
and as a collective – reflecting on hard-won progress, they examine theirpersonal motivations and experiences of women’s rights in Poland.

GALS4GALSName.
Aleksandra Knapik

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódź/Łódzkie Dziewuchy
Dziewuchom

feministrole model.
Beata Katkowska,
Lonely Black Sailfrom Gryfice(a woman who
protests all alone ina small town during
Black Friday)

feminist quote.

“W

hen we helped to organise the Black Protest in 2016 in Poland,
it was the first time we felt part of something huge. It wasan event that had a great impact on the government, through massprotest with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, and it
prevented our conservative, alt-right government from restricting theabortion law. “Supported by Terry Reintke, Member of the European
Parliament, Gals4Gals Łódź united Polish women to achieve a universal
value for women’s rights, incorporating ourselves into the network of
EU politicians, specialists and activists. Looking back, the experienceempowered me and fuelled my activism.

“I am, I think,I decide.”
Jestem Myślę
DecydujęName.
Katarzyna Gauza

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódź/Łódzkie Dziewuchy
Dziewuchom

feministrole model.
Sophie Wilson(transwoman who
designed the instruction set of the
ARM processor, usedin most 21st century
smartphones)

feminist quote.
“The socialist who
is not a feminist
lacks breadth. The
feminist who is nota socialist lacks
strategy.”
Louise Kneeland“Ifight for human rights on many levels, but as a feminist
and a transwoman, women’s rights and transgenderrights are personally important to me. From my perspective,
the European Union should have a stronger influence onlawmakers in Member States regarding women’s rights,
reproductive rights, and LGBTI* rights. These groups facediscrimination at many levels in their own home countries,
but with populist, traditionalist, right-wing governments, there
is little hope for change by itself within the Union States,
especially within Eastern Europe.

Name.
Agnieszka Gralak“The European
Parliament could
and should becomea guarantor ofwomen’s rights.”

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódź/Łódzkie Dziewuchy
Dziewuchom

feministrole model.
I do not have one but
if I did, I would wish
to have her present
while I was a childand while growing
up. She would showme which elementsof the world are theproducts of sexism,
violence and rape“

culture and teach me
to recognise them.

The European Parliament
could play a very special rolein the fight for women’s rights. For
example, the sense of solidarity
and words of support thatGals4Gals Łódź received in 2016
— when the Polish government
wanted to criminalise abortionand introduce a total ban —strengthened our resolve.

feminist quote.
“Why do people say“grow some balls”?
Balls are weak andsensitive. If you
wanna be tough,grow a vagina.
Those things cantake a pounding.”
Betty WhiteName.
Katarzyna Iwaniuk

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódź/Łódzkie Dziewuchy
Dziewuchom

feministrole model.
My mother, Zofia
Iwaniuk

feminist quote.
“There is no tool fordevelopment more
effective than theempowerment of
women.”UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan“W

hen it comes to feminism and the fight for more equality, mypersonal struggle has been centred around grappling with thevast difference in living standards that exists between the women ofWestern Europe and those in Poland. Here the struggle is omnipresent,with gender inequality existing in every area of social life: political,
medical and in the wider public space, where I too have felt insecure asa woman. Women in the West and East of the EU live different lives, andthe difference itself is overwhelming. Elevating reproductive rights into
human rights within all EU Member States is absolutely critical. As thewell-known Polish academic Professor Monica Płatek once said: “They
who control people’s reproductive lives are in control of these people’s
lives entirely.”

“

Name.

A

t a time when populists and conservative
communities are working hard to limit our rights,
the European Parliament could and should become aguarantor of those rights. Without recognising them as
fundamental human rights, inalienable and inviolable
throughout the European Union, women’s rights will still
be used by individual Member States as a bargaining
chip in their fight for power.

”

Magdalena Gałkiewicz

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódź/Łódzkie Dziewuchy
Dziewuchom

feministrole model.
Suffragettes andcurrent feminist
leaders all over theworld, especially in
the Middle East, Asia,
Africa and SouthAmerica.

feminist quote.
“The animals of
the world exist for
their own reasons.
They were notmade for humans
any more thanblacks were madefor whites, or
women for men.”
Alice Walker

Name.
Iwona Majak

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódź/Łódzkie Dziewuchy
Dziewuchom

feministrole model.
Maria
Skłodowska-Curie

feminist quote.
“You cannot hope tobuild a better world
without improving
the individuals.
To that end,
each of us must
work for his own
improvement and,at the same time,share a general
responsibility for
all humanity, ourparticular duty
being to aid thoseto whom we think
we can be mostuseful.”“Prolonged strain and lack ofquantifiable success can be
hard to deal with and sustained
activism can even lead to burnout— sometimes the fight for women’s
rights seems like it can’t be won
within one generation’s life.

“C

onnecting with the parliamentarians Terry Reintke andErnest Urtasun in 2016 enabled Gals4Gals Łódź tounderstand the power of European institutions and to learn totrust their political influence. Travelling to Brussels to attend
the “European Ideas Lab” to give a workshop on women andpolitics in Poland was a tremendous experience for us — weexperienced a whole new level of activism on a European level.
Bonding as a group, we also made connections that opened
new possibilities for our activism, something that would never
have happened without Terry’s support.

”

Name.
Gosia Wochowska

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódźfeministrole model.
Collectively, theleaders of the
Women’s Marchworldwide.

feminist quote.
“When women
support each other,incredible things
happen.”Kaur RupiName.
Anna Migala

Place of origin.
PolandOrganisation.
Gals4Gals, Łódź/Łódzkie Dziewuchy
Dziewuchom

feministrole model.
My motherfeminist quote.
“Nevertheless,she persisted.”“W

ith financial support from Wemove.eu and the
Feminist Trust Fund we expanded the reach of ouractivities and evolved as a Gals’ movement in Poland.
We strongly believe that well-directed EU funds can solve
civic problems and win feminist struggles: thanks to the
Feminist Trust Fund, we can now study the language of theanti-choice propaganda.

”

Get your facts
straight!

Currently in Poland, abortion is only
permitted if the mother’s health is at risk,
there’s a fetal abnormality, or the pregnancy
On 3rd of October 2016, results from rape or incest. Even then, womPoland’s parliament consid- en report that it’s extremely hard to find a docered a bill that would ban tor who willabortion in all cases except perform the Up to 45% of Polishcitizens would vote towhen the mother’s life is procedure.
make abortion law morethreatened. The
Three
days
beforeliberal than it is today.
proposedlaw
included prison the vote, women’s
terms for women rights groups and individual women across Poland, mobilised by theand doctors.
Polish Women’s Strike, organised
what is now considered to be oneof the largest protests in the history of the country. Thousands ofwomen and men in Poland went on
strike to protest against the bill proposal in a demonstration that became known as “Black Monday”.

The fight goes on. Gals4Gals Łódź has been fighting for women’s rights in Poland for almost three
years now. And, thankfully, public opinion about the abortion law is changing. We’ve learned that raisingawareness can lead to a better social understanding of issues like reproductive rights. While the battle
might be lost at Polish parliamentary level, the real war for women’s rights, has just begun.

Name.
Almudena Rodríguez

Place of origin.
Spain

Organisation.
L’Associació de Drets
Sexuals i Reproductius

feminist role model.
Audre Lorde& Silvia Federici

feminist quote.
“Feminism is arevolution, not arearranged marketingstrategy... Feminism isa collective adventure,
for women, men,and everyone else.
A revolution, wellunderway. A worldview.
A choice. It’s not amatter of contrasting
women’s small
advantages with men’s
small assets, but ofsending the whole lot
flying.”
Virginie Despentes

A l mude n a
Rod r í g ue z
A n e w pa r a d i g m w i t h
p e o p l e at t h e c e n t r e
Almudena Rodríguez defines the struggle for body sovereignty and highlights
the achievements of the Association of Sexual and Reproductive Rights instrengthening feminist alliances and denouncing fundamentalists. She
explains that only by breaking down privilege and patriarchal structures can
we reach a feminism that provides equality to all.

T

he struggle for body sovereignty for all womenand hetero-dissident people has been my key
battle over the last years. It’s a battle I have sharedwith my feminist colleagues at l’Associació de Drets
Sexuals i Reproductius, who have facedthis struggle
over the last thirty years. This is a polyhedral
struggle with varying angles. It claims for the rightto make our own decisions concerning our bodies
and to fully enjoy them without being enmeshed inheteropatriarchal and capitalist violence.

This struggle not only aims to obtain the rightto abortion, free of stigma and hidden violence,but it’s also dedicated to restructuring thecurrent economic model to put people at thecentre of it. A model where caring for people isconsidered a central element of the economy.
Above all, the struggle for body sovereignty
requires to smash each and every patriarchal
structure be it in the social, economic, culturaland political spheres.

F I G H T . R ES I S T .

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To truly win this fight we need much more than
the safeguarding of the right to abortion with law— we also need cultural transformation within oursociety, putting an end to the culture of privilegethat the few enjoy.
Strengthening the feminist network
Only by creating new feminist alliances in Europe
and globally can we achieve what we desire. We
will only succeed if we work together, always
remembering that our struggle is also against
racism, the criminalisation of poor people, thecriminalisation of land, the destruction of theenvironment and the current heteropatriarchal andneoliberal system.

96

Institutional feminism, for the privileged, isa feminism that supposedly fights for equality
but continues to only fight for the few, not the
many. Instead, we must work with a sense ofintersectional feminism, in order to respect andfurther recognise the existence of diverse typesof feminism: autonomous, decolonial, Muslim andRoma feminism among many others.
Under the current suffocating climate ofneoliberalism and of criminalisation of groups
confronting the system, women´s bodies and thosestanding in opposition to the heteronormative
system become the clear centre of attacks offundamentalist groups.

almudena rodríguez

Denouncing fundamentalism
We are under attack from fundamentalism of all
types, which is why the Association of Sexual andReproductive Rights, along with the many otherfeminist collectives in Catalonia and the Spanish
state, has decided to face such groups head on. The
time has come to be courageous and “forget thepragmatism that comes from the well-off ones” as
the journalist and writer Rosa Maria Artal once said.
We now host events with space for debate andreflection, and denounce fundamentalist groups
online, finding out who they are, how they work,
and which public institutions are financing them.
We have condemned these groups from within
political institutions like the Catalan Parliament,
Barcelona City Council and regional government,
calling on the government to take the fight against
fundamentalists more seriously.
The more progressive groups of the European
Parliament must show courage and directly
confront them. It’s time to leave behind the politicalinterests and objectives that uphold patriarchal
structures — and clearly support the European
citizens on the ground involved in these fights formany years. Political engineering is now pointless;the moment has come to take a risk. Feminist
groups have acquired knowledge in this struggle
and must be recognised as principal actors in thefight against extreme right fundamentalism.

“We are underattack fromfundamentalismof all types.”

The Association of Sexual andReproductive Rights
More spaces for grassroots organisations andfeminist collectives must be opened; for suchorganisations working on a daily basis with
communities, constantly striving to realise their rights.
We need to encourage and place our trust in a true
co-creation of policies. We need to avoid fashionablespeeches that speak of a supposed equality, without
prompting any actual change. Because ultimately,
feminism is transformative, liberating and disruptive
to the status quo.

The discourse of the Association of Sexual andReproductive Rights is feminist, intersectional,
anti-neoliberal, and consistently against patriarchal
structures. With the objective to disseminate this
discourse we attended a European Parliament
event called “Together against the backlashon reproductive rights in Europe!” invited byErnest Urtasun. There we showed that only byworking closely with women on the ground andunderstanding their lived experiences can weguarantee and protect their rights.

F I G H T . R ES I S T .

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We have initiated and continued to strengthen
strategic alliances with feminists from all over.
We have also linked with our Polish, Argentinianand Andorran sisters currently involved in thefight to protect the right to abort, and with ourLatin-American feminist colleagues, who inspire
us to go for something new every day.

98

Not just for the few
The year 2018 was an important year for the
Spanish feminist movement — the women’s
strike was an overwhelming experience, anapparent awakening of feminism for many
young women. While moments like these havethe power to change everything, such successcannot stay with the privileged feministsof the few, those who talk of equality andempowerment while forgetting other womenand abandoning the class struggle against
neoliberalism and against racism.

We must alert other sectors of society to thisproblem and the way it co-opts and corrupts
feminists’ concepts and language, emptying it ofpolitical content. We must show that the success of
our feminism is the only pathway that can protect
us from the reactionary fundamentalists.
Challenges ahead
The biggest challenge before us is to put thebrakes on and fight the rise of the extreme right andfundamentalists. We must build a new paradigm
with people at the centre. In order to do this, theAssociation of Sexual and Reproductive Rights,
together with our feminist colleagues, will continue
to work towards creating new alliances.
We will repeat over and over again our message:
that without recognition, the exercise of our sexualand reproductive rights, and body sovereignty, it
will not be possible to construct a new inclusive,
democratic society, free of violence and privilegesthat only exist for the few.

almudena rodríguez

Get your facts
straight!
One out of three young person states
they have suffered sexist violence in thelast twelve months, according to the Associa- According to antion of Family Planning of Association of SexCatalonia and the Balear- ual and Reproductive Rights survey,
ic Islands.
six out of ten people
On the 8th of March 2018, the Inter- do not know theirnational Women’s Day, Spanish women sexual and reproorganised the biggest women’s strike in ductive rights.
history, with more than 5.3 million people
seconding the strike to some degree. The
2019 women’s strike continued the same
trend with more 1,500 events organised
and massive demonstrations in morethan 500 Spanish cities and villages.

Name.
Che Van DÿckPlace of origin.
USA

Organisation.
Founder of the Digital
Leadership Institutefeminist role model.
Gloria Steinem

feminist quote.
“Stand for somethingor fall for anything.”
Irene DunneC h e Va n D ÿ c k
D i g i ta l W o m a n c i pat i o n : A C a l l t o Ac t i o n
Che Van Dÿck, founder of the Digital Leadership Institute, examines the ways
in which the world’s women are being marginalised by the digital disruption
today, and explores our options for closing the gendered digital gap.

In the 2013 preamble to the Women 2020 report,
I wrote the following: “No strategy for Europethat aims to be smart, sustainable and inclusive canbe achieved without the contribution of Europe’s
women as economic actors of the first order, as
agents of positive social change and as leaders inpolitics, academia and business. If Europe’s uniquepromise to the world is the richness and diversityof its human capital, Europe’s women represent our
greatest opportunity for delivering on this promise toEurope and to the world.”

Since I wrote the above, little has changed toincrease the contribution of women to a smart,sustainable and inclusive Europe. Here and aroundthe world, oligarchs have assumed critical leadershiproles; marginalisation of people on the basis ofrace, origin and socio-economic background has
become the order of the day; and the war on womenhas continued unabated — often encouraged bychauvinism of the highest order. In an environment of
increasing disenfranchisement of the 99%, the dismal
dearth of women in decision-making has been the

F I G H T . R ES I S T .

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harbinger of a greater slide into tyranny of the rightand of populism across the board.
Whether for influencing elections, channelling news
— real and fake — or showcasing people from all overthe political spectrum, the battleground for society’s
hearts and minds today is increasingly digital. And tosay that the medium itself is indifferent to the battle isto seriously underestimate the power of technology,
which itself is ruled by another elite fraternity: youngor old, but always white and male.

102

That a digital “disruption” is occurring at thesame time as this apparent political upheaval is nota coincidence and they may even enjoy a causal
link. The rift between educated and non-educated,blue-blooded and common, the haves and thehave-nots, has existed since before the Social
Contract that allegedly held chaos and self-serving
brutishness at bay. But in the Digital Age — that notcoincidentally also bears witness to the ushering
in of the Anthropocene Era — these differences are
exaggerated, exacerbated, publicly tried, and thenexecuted with a digitally-induced mob frenzy fromboth the Left and the Right.
Digital underbelly
In an online world where such extremism feeds
party politics, voices that plead for reason, unity,
cooperation and solidarity are often drowned in aflood of ones and zeros that either creates digitalecho chambers for the like-minded, or polarises
those with opposing viewpoints, or both. Subtle
and even subversive manipulation of the digitallandscape by those who control digital media
Che Van Dÿck“The engagement of
women and girls indigital sectors is bothan economic and asocial imperative.”creates scenarios where fanatics with delusions ofgrandeur accede to power, and disruption of a realkind occurs: political, economic and social.
For those with a real politik agenda, who would
ostensibly reap the reward of a new world lack oforder, the benefits far outweigh the cost of “hacking”
our democracies. Consolidating digital means,overtly or otherwise, in order to manipulate elections,
global financial markets, power production or vital
resource distribution, leads to a zero-sum situation,
where tyrannical puppets with right-wing agendas
hold hostage the silent, democratic majority. Cue
ensuing erosion of real democratic processes, andthe risk of democracy itself falling victim to digitalterrorism of the lowest form. As the pattern repeats,by polarising and destroying democracies fromthe inside out, one by one around the world, global
destabilisation occurs.

Digital domination
In Europe today, a woman is less likely than a man to:> Enjoy online access> Be digitally skilled, even in a rudimentary way> Study Computer Science formally or hold atechnical or leadership role in a digital field of
any kind.
Since 2005, demand for IT experts in Europe hasgrown eight or more times the job market, to over
3 million people working in digital sectors. At thesame time, participation by women in these areas
has flatlined in terms of absolute numbers andeven dropped as a relative percentage of all IT
professionals to under 17%. In the same period, theDigital Scorecard for Europe shows a persistent lag
in digital skill levels of Europe’s women, representing
about 12 million more digitally unskilled women thanmen, and a staggering total of 150 million European
women with no or low digital skills.
In 18 European countries, men enjoy greater
online access than women, they are far more likely
to formally study Computer Science across theboard, and they hold 80% percent of technical andleadership roles in Europe’s ICT organisations. In
Europe, tech entrepreneurs are four times more likely
to be men than women, and in some places the ratioof male to female tech starters is closer to 100:1.
Finally, men make up 97% of corporate CEOs andhold 85% of board roles in Europe’s private sector,
including in tech. In a word, digital leadership in
Europe and around the world, is dominated by men.
Despite this, a 2016 European Commission study
found that full participation of women in Europe’s
ICT sector would annually contribute as much as €16billion to the economy and would provide a quick win
to address the exploding digital skills gap that could
leave as many as 1 million IT jobs unfilled in Europe
by 2020. This, coupled with the risk of increased
exclusion brought about by digitisation, makes
engagement of women and girls in digital sectors
both an economic and a social imperative.
Digital disruption
Domination of the digital society by men continues
in a context in which our lives and livelihoods are
becoming increasingly digitised as well, and where
the rate of that digitisation is also increasing.
The advent of the internet, mobile devices andcloud-working has put huge connectivity andcomputing power in the hands of individuals, andmarket leaders even in traditional sectors of theeconomy are reinventing themselves as “digital”.

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Whose endgame is this? Is it ours? Is it yours?
If not, we need to act. With nothing short of oursocial-democratic rule of law at stake, it is important
to consider just how much Europe’s and the world’s
women are being marginalised by the digital
disruption today, and to understand our options toclose the gendered digital gap and put an end tothe misogynist and elitist brand of power that thistransition is engendering.

EMPOWER.

The onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,
characterised by digitisation of the world’s power
and production facilities across a vast landscapepopulated by massive amounts of data, is set tofurther dwarf the “consumer” digital transformation
already happening. To all of this add innovations
like machine learning and AI — where the rate ofautonomous innovation is uncharted and The
Singularity may even already be upon us — and wehave a doomsday scenario for evil-minded tyrants
and naive frat boy ingenus alike, where the only othercommon denominator is a shrill absence of women.

104

The digital disruption has not gone entirely
unchecked however. To date, Europe has celebrated
some key successes in the battle to safeguard our
personal data and privacy from massive digitalappetites, perhaps with some thanks due to adiligent group of high-powered female “tech titans”
in Brussels. An increasingly sophisticated and welloiled lobby machine rolling out in Europe, coupledwith digital capital owners themselves losing
control of the disruption, means that our ability
to influence the direction, nature and depth of thedigital transformation down the road will certainly
diminish. For this reason, and the unansweredrisks to democracy and rule of law itself, greater
accountability in the leadership of our digital society,in the form of increased diversity of that leadership,
is critical and urgent.

Che Van DÿckDigital bubble
Fortunately, traction for inclusive digitaltransformation is growing at the European level,
encouraged largely by successes in achieving genderbalance in initiatives like European Code Week that,since 2013, has reached nearly 1 million people,
half of whom are girls and women. A revitalised
Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition is also now actively
seeking pledges to increase participation of girls
and women in digital studies and careers in Europe,
placing the priority on this matter that it deserves.
The list of women policy-makers in Europe whohave championed digital gender equality is a longand impressive one, including the editors of thispublication and also EU Commissioners Redding,Kroes, Geoghegan-Quinn, Thyssen, Jourova andGabriel. The biggest challenge facing these digital
inclusion advocates has not been in getting
gendered messaging into European and even global
discourse on tech, but in ensuring that it receive
sustained attention, resources and treatment beyond
their respective missions.
To this end, the recent success of Mariya Gabriel,current European Commissioner for the Digital
Economy and Society, in including indicators on
participation of girls and women in digital sectors in
the Digital Scorecard for Europe is a particular reason
to celebrate. In this way, we will begin to measure
what we treasure, and the data itself — like thatshared above — can create the starting point for an
appropriate course of action to level the digital playing
field. These inroads, as significant as they may be,Digital Womancipation
All hope is not lost. Digital technology did also
facilitate the Women’s March, the largest massdemonstration of humans on the planet in herstory.
It also fostered the #MeToo movement that gave
a new voice to victims of toxic masculinity, anditself added to a lexicon whose mere existence
and digital propagation creates a new paradigm
in empowerment for the persecuted. Digitaltechnology, and the internet specifically, also led
to the “rainbow wave” — now historical 2018 midtermU.S.Congressional elections.
Using digital tools to foment the kind of positivechange we want to see is only a start. While the techworld is still a virtual male locker room, unwelcoming
and even hostile to women, it is into this very lion’s
den that women must now enter — to become
designers, builders, and yes, leaders of our digitalsociety. To accomplish this, as a first step we mustcollectively become more active in promoting aneutral internet to ensure that owners of digitalmeans cannot close these channels at will and stifle
the voices of those with less means. Actions that
promote digital human rights are also essential for
ensuring that access and affordability of the internet
remains a top global policy priority.

We women must also individually pursue studies
and career paths, especially entrepreneurship,that focus specifically on critical technologies —blockchain, AI, machine learning, data science,cybersecurity — without ever considering that“it’s too late” or “these things are not for me.” Infact, harnessing the power of mature women in
the workforce, those “in transition,” and the verysame who are systematically marginalised by the
patriarchy because of gender, age and/or race,
presents its own opportunity: for the womenthemselves to become more economically andpolitically self-sufficient, and for our society tobenefit from the diversity and plurality of greater
female voices and vision in decision-making.
Digital role models
The benefit of having more women in leadership— to disrupt the old boys’ club, “bropreneur”
startup scene, and technology sectors acrossthe board — has been well documented. Despite
the preponderance of evidence, however, nothing
has changed for over a decade. The conditioningof women themselves into accepting that they
are second-rate citizens or that their interests
are inherently tied to success for the white, maleminority, is a key consideration in tackling thisimbalance. Regardless of the cause, more visible
women role models — real and fictional — inleadership, entrepreneurship, and in strategic STEM
sectors, is a critical factor in tipping the balance.

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are not enough to counter the risks to our society,economy, and even our democracies, however, thatarise from permitting a single worldview to dominate
the narrative of our digital society at the exclusion of
all others.

EMPOWER.

Thankfully, the media and entertainment industries,
themselves challenged by the digital disruption that,at least for a time, threatened the very foundationof these arcane misogynist hierarchies, seem to be
slowly getting the message. With the physical battle
over female autonomy being taken aggressively into
the virtual realm, however, greater safeguards forgirl and women role models — actors, journalists,
politicians — who enjoy even a minimal level ofvisibility online, must be given attention. The Istanbul
Convention, championed by the Council of Europe, isa global milestone in this direction, of which we as
Europeans can be duly proud. It goes without sayingthat our democratic political structures — the very
ones currently under threat — are also those thatmust serve to protect even the most vulnerable whoenter the online and offline lion’s den.

106

Digital social innovation
Hurdles notwithstanding, it is imperative thatwomen assume greater decision-making power inthe private and public sectors, in the latter case byalso leveraging the very digital platforms designed
to hinder such outcomes. As the adage goes, “if you
are not at the table, you are on the menu.” It is time
for women to be both at the table and calling theshots. Naturally, this also requires a certain amountof solidarity among women, and a genuine effort byeach of us, to the woman, to set and deliver personalcommitments to bootstrap each other in ourcollective path to the top. Too long has the patriarchy
succeeded in exploiting differences among womento keep us out of leadership and on the sidelines
regarding decisions that affect us all collectively andintimately.
Che Van DÿckAs a survivor of the attacks on Brussels, I waschallenged by Jerry Springer to articulate a nuclear
option as the sole remedy for countering terrorism
and radicalisation in the world. My response then,as now, was that more women in leadership, notjust in keeping the peace but in avoiding conflict
outright, is the only path to greater understanding
and to addressing the underlying socio-economic
and geopolitical struggles for which radicalisation is
only a symptom. My position was not popular then,nor is it now, in a period when exploiting base humanfears to threaten the very fabric of our democraticsocieties has become the norm.
This is exactly the situation that must change.
As Neelie Kroes, my own long-time role model,
once said: “Social innovation will eat technologicalinnovation for lunch.” An ambitious global movementof women seeking to improve our plight as a
species, and that of our fellow creatures and planet,
is certainly the kind of social change that would be
innovative under the status quo. Such a movement
enabled by technology is a reality as appealing as it
is intimidating, and therefore entirely worth pursuing.
Hence, something else I wrote in 2013 still also
holds true: “Full participation of women in theeconomic, social and political life of Europe…
is arguably the single most important factor
contributing to realising a smart, sustainable andinclusive Europe. To reformulate a line from (then)
U.S. President Obama’s State of the Union address:“Success for Europe’s women is success for Europe.”
If it was not audible before, this message is now loudand clear.”Get your facts
straight!
Since 2005, the Digital
Scorecard for Europe shows apersistent lag in the digital skill
levels of Europe’s
A 2016 European
women.
Commission study
In Europe, tech en- found that full particitrepreneurs are four pation of women in Eutimes more likely to be rope’s ICT sector would
men than women.
annually contribute asmuch as €16 billion to
the economy.

Name.
Patricia Jiménez

Place of origin.
Peru and Belgium

Organisation.
Global Dialogue
Programme of theHeinrich Böll Foundation,
EU Officefeminist role model.
Rita Segato

feminist quote.
“The impunity thatcovers feminicide is themacho response of thepatriarchal state toviolence against
women.”

P at r i c ia J im é n e z
F e m i n i c i d e / F e m i c i d e : C o m b at i n g
a global phenomenon
Patricia Jiménez has worked since 1998 for the Heinrich Böll Foundation at theEuropean Union office. In her contribution, she explores the awareness that has
been generated in the EU over twelve years of campaigning on feminicide andthe difficulty this institution in implementing its political commitments in theirrelations with third countries. While progress has been made, she explains, there is
still a long way to go before feminicide can be eradicated around the world.

T

he term “femicide” was coined by writer andactivist Diana Russell in 1970. She wanted to
draw attention to the systematic violence against
women which, in its most extreme form, results in thekilling of women. It is the greatest obstacle to genderequality and the most widespread violation of humanrights, affecting all social levels in different ways.

the country between 1999 and 2006. Mexico was no
exception in the region: in Guatemala, 1,188 women
were murdered between 2001 and August 2004, while
2,933 women were murdered in El Salvador in 2001.
In Honduras, 442 women and girls suffered violent
deaths between 2002 and 2005, and in Nicaragua,
203 women were murdered between 2003 and 2005.

In the 1990s for the first time, women’s rights
campaigners vocally condemned the many murdersof women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, highlighting
the impunity surrounding them. According to official
figures, some 6,000 women and girls were killed inEurope was also no exception. Though there are
no formal statistics on feminicide in the EU, the EU
Agency for Fundamental Rights survey on genderbasedviolence showed in 2014 that one in three
women has experienced physical and/or sexualF I G H T . R ES I S T .

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violence since the age of 15. Thus, this dramatic
reality was taking place in both regions, even though it
was not something covered by the European media.
In 2006 the Heinrich Böll Foundation decided towork in cooperation with civil society organisations
and the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament (EP)to give visibility to this outrageous reality, condemn
the impunity surrounding it, and call for universal
accountability, requesting governments to fulfil their
human rights obligations and protect women. Our
goal was to spark a dialogue process with the EUthat would equip us in the fight against feminicides
in Latina America. However, along the way the sadreality that violence against women is also a serious
problem in Europe emerged.

110First steps of our advocacy campaign
Since the introduction of the 2004-2009 legislature,
Green/EFA Members of the European Parliamentalready familiar with the issue of feminicides in
Mexico and Central America have tried to bring the
topic to the attention of the European Parliament.
The parliamentary way was to bring a so-called Own
Initiative Report (INI) report before the Committee on
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM).
After initial strong reluctance and denial of thephenomenon by conservative Members of the European
Parliament, the FEMM committee finally decided toaccept the proposal, with the creation of the first draft
assigned to the Greens/EFA group. The drafting process
was opened to civil society groups, which suggested
content and made requests for EU action.

Patricia Jiménez

In this context, the FEMM committee and the
Subcommittee on Human Rights organised a
conference in 2006, under the slogan “No more
killing of women!”. This conference was instrumental
in combating the conservative forces trying toboycott the subject and led to the adoption of apioneering European Parliament resolution on themurders of women (feminicides) in Central America
and Mexico.
It was the first European Parliament document on
the matter and the beginning of the European Union’srole in fighting this phenomenon. The resolution
called on the EU institutions, Member States, Mexicoand the countries of Central America to makeeradicating violence against women and feminicide
an aim in all areas of their relations.
This was the start of an intensive process of
dialogue and lobbying that brought together anumber of Members of the European Parliament, theHeinrich Böll Foundation and various civil society
organisations and women’s rights defenders.
The Conference on Feminicides,
an annual tradition
To push for our agenda, from 2008 we started toco-organise an annual international conference on
feminicides, taking place one year in Europe andthe following in Latin America. This conference
gave feminist organisations, activists, academics
and experts from Europe and Latin America theopportunity to annually report on violence against
women and feminicide to representatives of the
EU and their respective countries. Ten international

conferences on feminicides and a multitude of otherworkshops were organised over the last ten years,
connecting a vast network of experts and activists,
creating and disseminating knowledge, and setting
clear demands that were shared by experts, civilsociety, representatives from different institutions
such as the UN, and policy makers.

Also, with enthusiasm we received the news thatin the 2012 report, Rashida Manjoo, UN Special
Rapporteur on Violence against Women, wrotethat feminicide or “...gender-related killings are theextreme manifestation of existing forms of violenceagainst women.” She maintained that “culturally
and socially embedded, these manifestations
continue to be accepted, tolerated or justified — with
impunity as the norm. States’ responsibility to act
with due diligence in the promotion and protection of
women’s rights, is largely lacking”. In her statement,
Ms. Ranjoo corroborated feminist theories according
to which feminicide is linked to patriarchal culturesand state’s impunity perpetuates it. This international

dialogue process with the
EU that would equip them inthe fight against feminicides
in Latina American.”recognition motivated us to continue with our EU and
Latin-American policy dialogue campaign.
A clear outcome: a new chapter on
gender-based violence
The first EU-CELAC1 Summit in Chile in 2013,
planned to include a chapter on gender (Chapter 7)
in their 2013-2015 Action Plan. The basis of thechapter would be to create a formal bi-regional
dialogue with two priority areas: women’s
participation in politics and in the economy. Here we
saw a great opportunity, and through our efforts andthose of a number of different lobbying mechanisms,
we made it possible for a third priority area to be
included — the eradication of violence against
women. The adoption of a chapter on gender in the
EU-CELAC Action Plan clearly stated political will toaddress the issue of violence against women as apriority in their bi-regional activities.

1

Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

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F I G H T . R ES I S T .

First results: European and international
commitment to combat feminicides
In 2010 the Spanish Government — which at the time
held the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU— invited a delegation of women’s rights defenders
from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to a joint
meeting of the EU Council’s working parties on humanrights, and Latin America and the Caribbean. This
meeting resulted, for the first time, in the inclusionof a paragraph on combating gender-based violencein the Fifth EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit
declaration in 2010.

“Our goal was to spark a

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After this great success, our strategy focused on
the implementation of this chapter, so that thesenice words would not be lost in the wind. First, wemanaged to adopt a new urgency resolution on
feminicide in the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary
Assembly (EuroLat), asking that the gender dialogue
be defined with the participation of women’sorganisation and civil society representatives fromboth regions and to guarantee funds for its effective
implementation.

112

Next steps!
Given that the European External Action Service(EEAS) has a crucial role to play in the implementationof chapter 7, but has not yet been able to do so, we
have been advocating for a New Framework for
EU-Latin America Cooperation to Promote Gender
Equality and Eradicate Violence against Women andFeminicide. The Council of Europe’s Convention on
preventing and combating violence against womenand domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention)— which came into force in 2014 — and the InterAmerican Convention on the Prevention, Punishment
and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belémdo Pará Convention) — which came into force in1994 — are, in our view, the most suitable regulatory
frameworks to guide the implementation of thegender chapter.
The cooperation of the two bodies or mechanisms
responsible for the implementation of the twoconventions could facilitate the achievement by EU
and Latin American countries of recommendations
made by the same bodies. The only and best way
to achieve this is for the EEAS to put forward thePatricia Jiménez

participation of these mechanisms in the bi-regional
dialogue within chapter 7.
Conclusion
This advocacy campaign has clearly shown theimportance of persistent lobbying by civil society
organisations, of connecting common struggles indifferent regions and of cooperation between feminist
organisations to achieve common goals. Although
there is still work left to do to achieve real, mindful
cooperation between the EU and Latin America on thefight against gender-based violence, we can say thatfeminicides have moved from being invisible in the
EU political agenda to become an area of action. The
intensification of massive demonstrations calling foraction against gender-based violence, seen in both
Latin America and in Europe, and the international
campaign #NiUnaMenos – “not one less” are both key
signs of huge success in this battle.
However, we can also observe that hard-won genderequality rights are under serious threat. Religious
and conservative doctrines are strangling gendermainstreaming in public policy (e.g. education andhealth), anti-feminist speeches are being replicatedand some politicians are even daring to put into
question the very notion of gender-based violence.
These tendencies seem to have been orchestrated
and coordinated on both sides of the ocean. It’sin this context that all our lobbying strategies,
feminist and civil society networks and contact with
progressive decision-makers need to continue andto be interconnected. A time for intensified global
coordination to combat this backlash is coming; wemust be ready.

Get your facts
straight!
2,795 women were killed in 23
countries of Latin America andthe Caribbean in 2017.
The Istanbul Convention (IC) is thefirst instrument in Europe to set legallybinding standards on preventing and combating violence against women and girls
at an international level. All EU member
states have signed it but still seven (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom) have not yet ratify it.

Feminicide/femicide is “the violent death of women based on
gender, whether it occurs within
the family, a domestic partnership,or any other interpersonal relationship; in the community, by any person, or when it is perpetrated or tolerated by the state or its agents, by
act or omission” (MESECVI, 2008)#NiUnaMenos (“NotOneLess”) is an Argentinian fourth-wave grassroots feminist
movement, which has spread across several
Latin American and European countries that
campaign against gender-based violence.

Name.
Emmanuelle Josse

Place of origin.
FranceOrganisation.
AP. F – Collectif pour une
parentalité féministe

feminist role model.
Louise Michel

feminist quote.
“I’m tired of being
treated like asecond-class citizen.”
Rosa Parks

E mma n ue l l e J osse
F a c i n g t h e st r u g g l es off e m i n i s t pa r e n t h o o dEmmanuelle Josse, founder of the AP. F - Collective for feminist parenthood,argues that women’s status as mothers leaves them at a permanent
disadvantage in the professional sphere. The collective’s focus on the
introduction of equal leave for a second parent at the birth of their child isdesigned to help relieve women’s burden of care.

The sphere of productive work covers the processof making consumables goods, whereas the sphere of
reproductive work includes all the activities by whichpeople are “made”. Taking care of them by providingthem with food, for example, guiding their education,
providing support during illness, etc. — in short,everything that makes a decent life for a person. Thisis the whole point of care, which combines free workin the domestic sphere with low-paid work carriedout, once again, by women, who are often racialised
and from working class backgrounds. We decided tocreate the AP. F - Collective for feminist parenthood inorder to provide a political response to these tensions.
One of our first battles is the introduction of parental
leave for the second parent that is equal to that of themother: 16 weeks in France. We emphasise the notionof “second parent” because it’s important to take into
account the diversity of families, particularly homoparental families.

115

F I G H T. R E S I S T.

P

arenthood and the burdens of family life still
fall mainly on women, in accordance with theheteropatriarchal model that exists at the momentin France and Europe. The exploitation of women’s
free work in the domestic sphere undermines theirautonomy and sense of wellbeing. In the professional
sphere — where work is paid for — women’s status as
mothers leaves them at a permanent disadvantage,
while growing tensions between these two spheres
falls squarely on their shoulders.

EMPOWER.

“Growing tensions
between two spheres
falls squarely on theshoulders of women”.

116

At present in France, the second parent is entitledto only 11 days of leave when their child is born. Not
only is this amount of leave not enough, the leaveitself is optional, with only seven out of ten fathers
taking it. As a result, after experiencing pregnancy andchildbirth, many women quickly find themselves alone
caring for a child who requires constant attention. To
make matters worse, this is also a time when womenfind themselves more vulnerable: according to the
Collège des Gynécologues Obstétriciens Français,motherhood has painful psychological consequences
for 15 to 20% of women.
In addition to being exhausting, this mono-careleads to a raft of other inequalities in the domestic
space. It’s a twofold issue — both a public healthconcern and a problem for gender equality.
The 11 optional days for the second parent granted
by French legislation is not the most unfavourable
or least advantageous arrangement in force within
the European Union. But, within the framework of the
EMMANUELLE JOSSE

social Europe to which we aspire, surely the mostadvanced countries in terms of social law, suchas Sweden, should be taken as a model. In recent
months, European institutions have addressed
the subject of parental leave at the time of birth,
but the proposals made are based on the lowest
standards in the European Union — which counts asmembers seven countries that do not have a legal
paternity leave scheme. The Directive on Work-Life
Balance validates the principle of paternity leave of aminimum of ten days (paid at the same level as sickleave in the Member State).
To move forward, we need to mobilise three typesof actors. First of all, the public, some of whomalready aspire to an evolution of the existing legal
framework — younger generations want a longer
leave guaranteed by law. Secondly, companies,
which tend to consider that the issue of working life/
personal life rhythms is not a subject that concerns
them; and finally, the political leaders who often holdback, assuming that such a measure will be costly
for the State, rather than a real step towards moreequality.
The task is therefore immense! Conservative
forces refuse to question the heteropatriarchal
model for moral reasons (“this family model shouldbe the only valid one”) or for economic reasons (“forseveral centuries women have been taking on carework in an invisible manner, why should that changenow?”) But we remain full of optimism, sure in theknowledge that our fight corresponds to the growing
aspirations of European women who call for a moreegalitarian parenthood.

Get your facts
straight!
Motherhood has painful
psychological consequences for 15 to 20% of women,
European working women
spend almost three times as according to the Collège desmuch time in unpaid care work Gynécologues Obstétriciens
than men (22 hours per week Français.
A positive relationship hasof unpaid work,
compared to the The Directive on been shown between men’s enWork-Life Balance
gagement in unpaid work andnine hours done
establishes
for
all
EU
women’s employment rates1.
by men).
Member States the rightto a Paternity Leave of There is ample
a minimum of ten days evidence that
(paid sick pay level), to leaves paid below
a Carers Leave of five 80% of salaries
days per year per person are not taken up
and introduces the pay- by most men.
ment reference in two
out of the four months
per parent of the existing Parental Leave.