WUNRN
2008 WIDE ANNUAL CONFERENCE -
FEMINIST VISIONS FOR A JUST EUROPE
The Financial Crisis Says Feminists
Were Right All Along!
The 2008 WIDE Annual Conference
entitled: Feminist
Visions for a Just Europe" was held in The Hague, The Netherlands,
between October 9th to 11th. This years conference was
hosted by WO=MEN, the Dutch Gender Platform.
The Conference gathered 200
feminist activists, academics, experts and gender equality professionals
providing a unique opportunity for alliance building, strategising and
collective action between feminist advocates from different countries in the
world.
The Conference was held in the
shadow of the current financial crisis. To feminist gathered at the Conference, the crisis does not come as a surprise. Most feminists
have been very clear in their critique of the neo-liberal economic policies
including the deregulation that have led to the current crisis. These policies
have had, and will continue to have, detrimental impact on the lives and
livelihoods of women all over the world.
As pointed out by Ewa Charkiewicz from the
Feminist Think Thank, it is shocking to see how
governments in Europe and elsewhere have quickly mobilised billions and
billions of Euros and dollars to bail out banks and provide guarantees for
corporate players - while at the same time they have been reluctant to allocate money for
addressing the world’s food crisis. Women make up 70 % of the world’s poor and
are thus severely affected by the food crisis.
In
the many different sessions the WIDE Annual Conference focused on: development policy, trade, migration, peacekeeping, feminisation of labor, and decent
work policy.
The Conference reflected on the
role of different feminisms in the struggle for an alternative Europe. Feminisms are diverse –
and feminists around the world face different
challenges and realities. EU policy impacts women both within and outside
Europe. The Conference’s aim was to strengthen synergies amongst
feminist individuals and organisations struggling for gender equality and
social justice for women in, within and outside Europe.
Brid Brennan from The Netherlands
warned against the serious threats that the new EU’s policy of migration poses
to the rights of migrants, Kinga Lohmann from Poland stated that despite
positive achievements, the impact of EU enlargement process in genuine improvement of women’s status was
far from satisfactory. According to Lohman, the European Neighborhood Policy is
very weak in contributing to gender equality. Nicola Bullard from Thailand
regretted that there is a weak gender analysis in the policy debates around the
climate change.
Above all, this conference
underlined the need to continue with the important contributions feminists can
make in shaping a better world with less structural inequalities. Wendy
Harcourt, WIDE chair, stated: “WIDE will continue to do critical analysis,
and keep on building the capacity of women. It is important to work on
development from a feminist perspective, to be included in the trade debate,
and to exchange different experiences in order to understand how we can respond
better. After this conference, we should continue our debate in order to foster
developing alternatives for a more just world”.
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Not for publication: for further
information around the Conference please contact; WIDE, Bénédicte Allaert,
benedicte[at]wide-network.org, +32 2 5459071 (mob. +32 475 698685), WO=MEN,
Zairah Khan, zkhan[at]wo-men.nl.
WIDE is a European network of women´s
organisations, development NGOs, gender specialists and human rights activists.
WIDE monitors and influences international economic and development policy and
practice from a feminist perspective. WIDE´s work is grounded on women´s rights
as the basis for the development of a more just and democratic world order. See
for more: www.wide-network.org. One
can find Conference presentations at the site.
WO=MEN (pronounced women equals men), The Dutch Gender Platform, is a network of men and women, individuals and organizations, mostly based in the Netherlands. By bringing people together and creating awareness on gender equality as a fundamental right, we have committed ourselves to equal participation of women and men worldwide. You can join our struggle by becoming a member or a subscriber to our online resources at www.wo-men.nl
Gea Meijers
WIDE - Globalising Gender Equality and Social Justice
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2-545 90 71
Email: gea@wide-network.org
http://www.wide-network.org
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