With the support of the Council of Europe, EWL has launched a collaborative project to raise awareness on sexism with their members from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, and Spain.
The Project
In March 2019, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted the Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)1 on Preventing and Combating Sexism. It is a comprehensive catalogue of measures both to prevent and to condemn sexism, calling for specific action in specific areas: language and communications; internet and social media; media, advertising and other communication methods; workplace, public sector; justice sector, education institutions, culture and sport; and the private sphere.
The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) has over the years taken the position that sexism reinforced by gender stereotypes is one of the factors that runs counter to achieving gender equality and the full recognition of women’s rights. Despite the progress achieved in recent years, there is not a single country in the world where women are not exposed to the threat or reality of acts of male violence in every single area of their lives.
To raise awareness on sexism and begin the discussion on how to combat all forms of sexism in key sectors nine EWL members, the national coordinations from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, and Spain, collaborated in the project “Mobilise Against Sexism”.
Over the past months, and in spite of limited movements due to COVID-19, EWL members in the nine countries have been actively implementing activities in the target sectors. We met with national decision-makers, gathered with key actors such as local members, women’s organisations, civil society organisations, academics, lawyers, journalists and young feminists, organised webinars promoting the CoE’s campaign on Sexism: See It. Name It. Stop It., and ran social media and communication campaigns.
We worked on encouraging countries to pass this crucial legislation that condemns sexism and criminalises sexist hate speech. We also called for countries to monitor the implementation of anti-sexist policies at national level and report back periodically to the Council of Europe.
To learn about what has been achieved so far, read the highlights from each of nine countries that have participated in the project. You can find their stories in this section.
To learn more about the Council of Europe’s campaign See it. Name it. Stop it. click here.
