Members News

Members News
Feminist Collaboration in Europe, a blog article by Engender Scotland

Posted on 2 August 2019 |

[Brussels, 23 July 2019] This is a blog article by Emma Ritch, director of Engender, which is Scotland’s feminist membership organisation. Engender sits on the United Kingdom Joint Committee on Women, which represents the UK at the European Women’s Lobby. The article was published on Engender’s blog and here, she talks about the importance of our work with our feminist sisters across Europe.
We know that Brexit is on the minds of women in Scotland at the moment. The Conservative leadership (...) Read more
Members News
Brexit must not equal a regression of women’s rights, by WEN Wales

Posted on 18 July 2019 |

[Brussels, 12 July 2019] This is an article by Catherine Fookes from WEN Wales, one of the members of EWL’s National Coordination in the United Kingdom. It was published in IWA click on Wales blog.
As part of UKJCW, WEN Wales recently co-ordinated a letter to the Conservative leadership hopefuls asking them to outline their positions on women’s rights and to commit to safeguarding them as priorities post-Brexit. Specifically, we asked them if they would enshrine all the rights women (...) Read more
Members News
Six month suspended jail sentence and a fine for ‘sugar daddy’ dating billboards

Posted on 28 May 2019 |

[Brussels, 20 May 2019] In September 2017 controversial billboards appeared in Brussels. Touring the areas near the Free University campus, they encouraged female students to subscribe to the dating website RichMeetsBeautiful to “improve their lifestyle” or “have a zero euro student loan by dating a sugar daddy”, showing a picture of a young women in lingerie sliding her bra strap down.
The Dutch Council of Women of Belgium, among others, immediately protested these adverts. The storm of (...) Read more
Members News
One year post Repeal in Ireland

Posted on 20 May 2019 |

[Dublin 16 May 2019] Under the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution abortion was banned in almost all circumstances. One year ago, on the 25th May 2018, the Irish people voted by a landslide to remove the 8th. The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) was one of the three organisations, alongside the Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment and the Abortion Rights Campaign, which formed ‘Together for Yes’, the national civil society ‘Yes’ campaign. Women’s rights are always hard fought, (...) Read more
Members News
Orla O’Connor from the National Women’s Council of Ireland named in TIME 100 list of influential people

Posted on 17 May 2019 |

[Brussels, 2 May 2019]
We are delighted to announce that our colleague Orla O’Connor from the National Women’s Council of Ireland, together with Grainne Griffin, a founding member of the Abortion Rights Campaign and Ailbhe Smyth, Convenor of the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, have been named in TIME magazine’s annual list of the [100 most influential people->http://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2019 in 2019 in recognition of their work for the Together for Yes (...) Read more
Members News
Deutscher Frauenrat statement on the WLB directive

Posted on 17 May 2019 |

Deutscher Frauenrat (National Council of German Women’s Organizations), our member from Germany , together with Federation of Trade Unions, the Men’s Forum and two other German associations of family organisations released a public statement on the now agreed upon Work Life Balance Directive.
They argue that the new directive brings progress on a EU-wide level but nothing new for the advancement of Work Life Balance and gender equality policies in Germany.
For further information, please (...) Read more
Members News
WILPF calls for a peaceful feminist Europe

Posted on 7 May 2019 |

[Brussels, 13-14 April 2019] On the weekend of 13 and 14 April, one month ahead of the upcoming European elections, members from all Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) sections in Europe, from East-West-North-South, from EU and non-EU countries, met in Brussels to discuss growing right-wing discourses, splitting societies, fostering exclusion and pushing for anti-democratic developments.
Guided by their feminist analysis of root causes of conflicts, the participants (...) Read more
Members News
Social Platform’s General Assembly of 4 April 2019

Posted on 24 April 2019 |

[Brussels, 4 April 2019] Social Platform unites 49 networks of civil society organisations, including EWL, working with and for some of the most marginalised groups in society. At their General Assembly on 4 April, members elected a new Management Committee more committed than ever to continue advancing a strong vision of Europe that leaves no one behind.
With a diverse membership, one of the things that brings Social Platform together is the confidence in the power of solidarity, civic (...) Read more
Members News
Ireland: Ratification of the Istanbul Convention marks a momentous International Women’s Day

Posted on 8 March 2019 |

[Dublin, 8 March 2019. Press release by NCWI - the National Women’s Council of Ireland] NWCI today welcomed the International Women’s Day ratification of the Istanbul Convention, after a long campaign by women’s groups and organisations working to end violence against women.
Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI said,
“This International Women’s Day is a landmark day for women in Ireland, with the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women, or (...) Read more
Members News
The abolitionist law strengthened, the way open to its full application

Posted on 1 February 2019 |

[Paris, 1 February, 2019] Herstory is made! Our members in France Coordination française pour le Lobby Européen des Femmes with feminist groups Mouvement du Nid France and Osez le féminisme ! react to the decision of the French Constitutional Court this morning which upholds the French #EndDemand law on prostitution of 2016 as constitutional! The law decriminalises those affected by the prostitution system and prohibits the purchase of sexual acts. It also ensures there are funded exit & (...) Read more