EWL News

News typewritter Latest news from the European Women’s Lobby in Brussels

EWL News
Women Changing Europe: EWL Strategic Framework 2022-2026

Posted on 9 February 2022 |

EWL launches today its new Strategic Framework "Women Changing Europe: Building a Feminist Vision for the Future of Europe Strategy 2022-2026".
This strategy was developed during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic with all aspects of our work and our mission being impacted significantly. Over the course of this period, the EWL adapted to the restrictions brought about by the pandemic, sharpened its actions in a radically changed world, enabled online spaces for the women’s movement to come (...) Read more
EWL News
More than 70 MEPs call on the EU Commission to take bold action to end violence against women and girls

Posted on 8 November 2021 |

Brussels, 10 December 2021
In early 2022, the European Commission is expected to put forward its proposal for an EU Directive on all forms of violence against women and girls. This is a great step in combatting and preventing this violence and an opportunity not to miss. To ensure the proposal is as ambitious as needed to protect all women in Europe from all forms of violence, EWL has gathered support from Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in a pledge calling for a strong Directive (...) Read more
EWL News
Europe needs an EU horizontal Directive to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women and girls!

Posted on 20 October 2021 |

Male violence against women and girls (VAWG) is as an international long-term pandemic and has been recognised a fundamental human rights violation whose impacts know no borders. It happens across Europe, affecting over 250 million women and girls, and yet due to a lack of European harmonisation of legislation, the remedies and prevention methods taken by governments are haphazard and a lottery for the women and girls experiencing violence.
Violence against women and girls threatens the (...) Read more
EWL News
International day of the girl-chid: EWL’s commitment to empower and uplift girls

Posted on 11 October 2021 |

[Brussels, 11 October 2021] For today’s International Day of the Girl-Child, EWL wants to shed light on one of the main goals of our work: the empowerment and uplifting of girls.
This year more than ever, as we witness the achievements of all the amazing girls out there who are changing the world for the better, we would like to reiterate our commitment to advocate for girls’ rights and concretely contribute to their empowerment through our initiatives.
There are millions of girls who came (...) Read more
EWL News
No woman left behind: calling on the EU to end sexual exploitation and trafficking

Posted on 5 October 2021 |

[Brussels, 5 October 2021] On the International Day Against Prostitution, EWL launches the Her Future is Equal Briefing Paper, outlining the harms and reality of violence and oppression at the core of the prostitution system, and our proposals to prevent future harm.
As stated in the Paper, prostitution is estimated to affect one million women in Europe, 1/7 of which are trafficking victims, amounting to 140,000 women in total. These women face daily risks of violence, control and harm: (...) Read more
EWL News
EWL Statement on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan

Posted on 17 August 2021 |

[Brussels 17 August 2021] We see with horror the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, and stand in solidarity with all women and girls in the country. There is an immediate threat of murder and violence from the Taliban for women activists, women’s rights defenders, women in the civil society and all women entrepreneurs, researchers and decision-makers in Afghanistan. It breaks our hearts to foresee the rollback of women’s rights in the country after years of hard work by Afghan women to access (...) Read more
EWL News
EWL welcomes Mae Ocampo as its Acting Interim Coordinator

Posted on 4 August 2021 |

[Brussels, 4 August 2021] The European Women’s Lobby welcomes the decision of its Executive Committee to offer the position of Acting Interim Coordinator to Mae Ocampo, EWL Programme Director until the new EWL Secretary General takes position in the coming months. Mae will be taking over from Secretary General Joanna Maycock, who leaves EWL after 7 years of excellent work for women’s rights in Europe and equality between women and men.
Mae Ocampo joined EWL in 2018 as Programme Director. She (...) Read more
EWL News
Celebrating Joanna Maycock: 7 years as EWL Secretary General

Joanna Maycock announced her departure after seven years of inspired feminist leadership as Secretary General of the European Women’s Lobby.

Posted on 2 August 2021 |

After years working on women’s rights in Africa and Asia, Joanna joined the European Women’s Lobby in 2014 during an eventful and exciting time for Europe and for women’s rights, with a rising mobilisation of women and girls demanding their rights globally and in Europe.
In a moment when Europe had stopped progressing on women’s rights through a combination of complacency, a lack of political will, Euroscepticism and deeply ingrained gender stereotypes exacerbated by austerity and at the (...) Read more
EWL News
Over 130 feminist activists meet online for our annual General Assembly

Posted on 30 June 2021 |

[Brussels, 29 June 2021] From 4-7 June 2021, the European Women’s Lobby held its annual General Assembly, the second to be held online in EWL’s herstory.
Our annual General Assembly is an essential part of the democratic life of our network. It brings together representatives from across EWL’s 48 full member organisations and our supporting member organisations, alongside staff from the EWL Secretariat in Brussels, to reflect on and plan our work together. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that, (...) Read more
EWL News
EWL Gender Budgeting Platform: A Tool to Channel Resources into Women’s Rights

Posted on 21 June 2021 |

On 22 June 2021, 14h30-16h30 CET, EWL will hold a launch conference for its gender budgeting platform, a tool to support women’s civil society and to demystify and better socialise gender budgeting across Europe. The event will be livestreamed here below and on our YouTube channel.
Gender budgeting is a method to address gender inequalities. It recognises that budgets impact women and girls’, boys and men’s lives differently and that women face specific obstacles resulting from the (...) Read more