Feminist News: 365 Days of Activism | | | | Welcome to the Feminist News, a newsletter brought to you by the European Women's Lobby. For more regular updates about our work and the topics of women's rights and gender equality, follow us on Twitter! Corrigendum: The incorrect date of the Women of Europe Awards was listed in the previous version. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, 8 December 2022 in Brussels. | | End VAW. 25 November marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (VAW) and the start of the 16 Days of Activism to end VAW. On this occasion, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) urged the EU and all European countries to make Europe a safe place for all women and girls by adopting EU legislation on preventing and combating all forms of violence against women and girls. Grim reality. In the EU, 1 in 3 women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence and 1 in 2 women have experienced sexual harassment since the age of 15. Women’s organisations have been warning about the alarming spikes in the number of cases of violence against women and girls during the times of crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the ongoing economic crisis and the rise of authoritarianism across the globe. Violence can be inflicted by intimate partners and range from sexual violence to sexual exploitation, online violence and hate speech. Key progress. Concretely, the EWL is calling on the European Parliament and the EU Council to step up their efforts to enhance and swiftly adopt the Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. The proposal issued by the European Commission in March 2022 is a major step and a key opportunity to fill significant legislative gaps on VAWG across the EU when it comes to sexual exploitation of women and computer crimes, two of the Eurocrimes listed in the EU treaties. The Directive brings significant improvements to the legal definitions of key forms of violence. Remaining gaps. Currently, there are still gaps when it comes to legislation against sexual exploitation of women. All aspects of sexual exploitation of women should be covered, including sexual violence, sexual harassment, the commercialization of women’s bodies in prostitution, surrogacy and pornography; and other forms of abuse over women’s sexuality and reproductive health, such as forced abortion, forced sterilization and forced marriage. Furthermore, the EWL has a concrete set of recommendations to ensure a strong gender-sensitive perspective. Read the updated analysis of the Directive here. | | | Women changing Europe. The Women of Europe Awards are jointly organised by the European Movement International (EMI) and the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), building upon the national awards of several National European Movement Councils. Launched in 2016, the Awards highlight the contribution of women in promoting and advancing European issues and increase the involvement of women in debates about Europe and its future. Seventh edition. In 2022, the Women of Europe Awards’ will celebrate its seventh anniversary. While the role of women in the European project remains largely unrecognised, the awards aim to acknowledge and showcase their inspiring initiatives which lend a voice to women across Europe and defend European values such as democracy, inclusion and diversity. Time to celebrate. The Awards Ceremony will take place on Thursday, 8 December at the BelVue Museum in Brussels. The Ceremony will also be live streamed on social media accounts of the European Movement international and the European Women’s Lobby. You can find the list of this year’s nominees and jury members here. Side event. Ahead of the award, we will also host an online event on 6 December from 15h00 to 16h00. The event will discuss how anti-gender movements use online tools to organise internally, get funding, recruit supporters and spread disinformation, anti-women’s rights narratives, and harmful gender stereotypes. The registration link is available here. | | All eyes on Iran. At the men’s World Cup which is currently taking place in Qatar, the Iranian national team and their fans drew attention with their messages of support to the ongoing protests for women’s rights in Iran. In their opening game, the team refused to sing the national anthem as Iranian fans, including many women, proudly displayed their pro-revolutionary symbols, slogans and attire. Support from the field. Reports even surfaced that Iran had threatened the players' families with imprisonment and torture if the players fail to "behave" ahead of their final game on Tuesday. Iranian captain Ehsan Hajsafi shared with the media his concerns for the current conditions in the country and expressed support to the families of victims of the violent crackdowns. Rising tensions. Ahead of the match with Iran on Tuesday, the U.S. Soccer Federation sparked tension by using the Iranian flag without its emblem of the Islamic Republic in the pre-match social media posts. The change, the federation said, was made for 24 hours to show support for women protesting for their rights in Iran. | | | - On 1 December 2022 at 10h00 CET, the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament will hold a public hearing entitled 'Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation', in association with the Civil Liberties Committee and the Legal Affairs Committee. This public hearing will address different forms of discrimination of LGBTI persons in some Member States.
- On 2 December from 14h00 to 16h00 CET, ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December, the World Health Organisation will launch its Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities.
- On 6 December from 15hoo to 16h00 CET,, the European Movement International and the European Women’s Lobby will host an event titled “The Threat of Ant-Gender Movements in Europe.”
- On 8 December, the Women of Europe awards ceremony will take place in Brussels.
- On 10 December, we will mark the International Human Rights Day and the end of the 16 Days of Activism.
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