The Netherlands - Seksisme. Herken het. Benoem het. Stop het.
In the Netherlands, the Mobilise Against Sexism project supported by the Council of Europe has been implemented by Nederlandse Vrouwenraad NVR, EWL’s national coordination in the country.
The Dutch Council of Women NVR launched different initiatives as part of the Mobilise Against Sexism project to prevent and combat sexism.
Among others, some representatives from Nederlandse Vrouwenraad NVR discussed everyday sexism with a group of students of the Applied University HKU Utrecht, who are working on a project on sexism as part of their degree on Social Interventions. The conversations focused on and what sexism does to a person, to their feelings of self-confidence and to their self-esteem, which results in behaviors such as never feeling safe on the street at night.
This was compared with feelings of alienation and of being an object instead of a human person. The concept of a “Human Zoo” popped up in these lively discussions. The Council of Europe’s quiz to discover whether one is displaying sexist behaviours or not was well received, as well as the campaign materials and the video that helped clarify and recognise the situations described in the campaign materials. The students held a presentation on their project and results in January 2021.
Futhermore, the Mobilise Against Sexism campaign was also discussed during the Young Feminist Weekend, a 3-day training initiated by the Dutch Council of Women NVR to bring 30 young women together and reflect on the future of feminism. One of the workshops during this training was on gender stereotyping and was presented by Sareh Haydari, a STEM student at a technical University. Because of the new Covid-19 restrictions, the training was transformed into a hybrid version, with several online sessions and a 1,5 day planned in person in 2021 at the original venue in The Hague. The group discussed sexism on WhatsApp and other social media, and the comments and interactions by the young feminists generated additional attention to the campaign.
Lastly, the Dutch Council of Women NVR continues to carry advocacy work on the implementation and monitoring of the Istanbul Convention, of which the CoE campaign Mobilise against sexism is a part.
To learn more about NVR’s initiatives against sexism click here.
To learn more about EWL’s collaborative Mobilise against sexism project and its implementation in other European countries click here.
To learn more about the Council of Europe’s campaign See it. Name it. Stop it. click here.
