genderequality

Virtual Discussion: Women* & Leadership

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Dear friends, 

IUSY Feminist Working Group has the pleasure to invite you to a virtual discussion on Women* & Leadership, which will take place on the 5th of November at 2PM CET/14:00 CET. 

WHAT: Virtual discussion Women* & Leadership

WHEN: 5th November at 2PM CET / 14:00 CET

WHERE: Zoom / Live on IUSY Facebook page 

Context 

Following the discussion about the women*’s participation in social matters, the IUSY Feminist Working Group launches its second online event, a panel discussion entitled “Women* & Leadership”.

Due to their unique experiences, based on a history of the struggle for political, economic, social and identity rights, women* are powerful agents for change. Women* play a fundamental role, not only in social movements, but also in leadership positions, in establishing and fighting for a progressive agenda, improving gender equality, but also political, economic and social advances for the whole community. 

However, we still observe that women* are under-represented in decision-making politics, as well as in businesses or local communities, facing several challenges to reach leadership positions. 

Due to the multiple global crises, the world has been facing (economic, social, political, health-related, war-related), it is possible to observe the rise of strongman politics/authoritarian male leadership and the consequential struggle for women* leadership, representation, and equality at different levels.

Thus, this panel discussion has the following objectives: 

  1. To understand the main challenges women* face in leadership positions, especially in decision-making politics.
  2. To comprehend the implications of gender, ethnicity and class divides in women*’s representation and leadership.
  3. To discuss possible measures that governments, parliaments, regional and global institutions, as well as political parties and organisations can take to improve gender representation in leadership positions.

About guests 

Kesha Ram recently won the Primary Election to serve Chittenden County in the Vermont State Senate at the age of 34. With her likely election in November, she is poised to become the first woman of color and youngest woman in history to serve in the Senate. Prior to that, she served four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives on behalf of Burlington, where she was elected as the youngest legislator in the country at the time. In 2018, she graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Master in Public Administration. She has worked for the City of Burlington as the Civic Engagement Specialist and for Steps to End Domestic Violence as the Legal Advocacy Director. She also served on the boards of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and the Vermont Natural Resources Council.

Benedicta Lasi is a Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY). She is a Lawyer and Executive Director of the Center for African Legal Studies at the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) Ghana. 

Benedicta holds a first degree in Political Science and Sociology and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Ghana. She holds the BL qualification from the Ghana School of Law. She additionally holds a Master’s degree in Conflict, Peace and Security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC) and a Master’s in Economic Policy Management from the Economics Department of the University of Ghana. She is a member of the Ghana Bar Association. 

Alícia Homs (Balearic Islands, Spain – 1993) and since May 2019, Member of the European Parliament.

Graduated in a BA in Political Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a Masters in Diplomacy and International Public Administration by the Centre of International Studies of Barcelona. She worked as an intern in the European Parliament and as an advisor in the regional ministry for Employment, Trade and Industry in the Government of the Balearic Islands.

In August 2019, she was elected president of the Young European Socialists (YES), one of the most important juvenile political organisations in Europe. She is also member of PSOE and the Young Socialists from the Balearic Islands.

As a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), she is a full member of the EMPL Committee (Employment and Social Affairs) and substitute member in the ITRE Committee (Industry, Research and Energy). She is part of the delegation for Central America, and substitutes in the EuroLat and Magreb delegations.

Mafalda Infante (moderation) is a Master’s student in International Studies at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, and has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations at NOVA University of Lisbon. Her main interests are gender studies, democracy studies and European Union foreign policy. 

She is part of different youth projects at the European level and a member of IUSY’s Feminist Working Group.

Fill in the registration form by 5th of November midday (CET) and join the meeting. The link to join the Zoom meeting will be send only to those registered. 

To fill in the registration form, please click HERE

Webinar: Women* and Social Movements

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Date: 28 June, 2020

Time:  13:00 CEST 

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gycZiOtASFK8nJPmvB8tFw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Agenda 

13:00Welcome and introduction by Ana Pirtskhalava, IUSY Secretary General 
13:10-14:10Panel discussion 
Giulia Daniele, researcher and guest assistant professor at the Centro de Estudos Internacionais of the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (CEI-IUL). 

Marta Musić, co-founder of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, one of the organizers of the World Social Forum on Transformative Economies and currently works as a consultant for FRIDA 

Moderator: Ana Pirtskhalava, IUSY Secretary General  
14:10-14:30 Q&A
 14:30 Closing 

About speakers

Giulia Daniele

Giulia Daniele is currently a researcher and guest assistant professor at the Centro de Estudos Internacionais of the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (CEI-IUL). She completed her Ph.D. in Politics, Human Rights and Sustainability under a co-tutelle agreement between the University of Exeter (UK) and Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy) in April 2012. Since 2005 she has conducted fieldwork research in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel and Tunisia. She also acquired useful experience with her involvement in the International Election Observation Mission for the Palestinian elections in January 2006, in the international cooperation project called EPIC (European, Palestinian and Israeli Cities for Health and Social Partnership) sponsored by the World Health Organization in December 2006, and when she was a research intern at the Office of the Vice President of the European Parliament in Brussels in Autumn 2008.  Her main research interests broadly cover the following fields: Middle East politics (focusing on Palestine/Israel), women’s political activism in the Middle East and North Africa, social movements, gender and feminist studies, conflict resolution and ethno-national narratives. Her first book is entitled Women, Reconciliation and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Road Not Yet Taken (Routledge, 2014).  

Marta Musić

Marta Musić is a queer, decolonial, feminist activist-researcher from ex-Yugoslavia.  Her work as a transnational movement organizer mainly consists of building bridges between struggles, movements and initiatives and creating networks of solidarity between them through spaces of exchange, learning and collaboration. She is a co-founder of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, one of the organizers of the World Social Forum on Transformative Economiesand currently works as a consultant for FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund. Inspired by these processes of articulation of alternatives – she dedicates her PhD Thesis to exploring the Zapatista concept of Pluriverse (a world in which many alternative worlds fit) from a decolonial feminist perspective as a way to generate new ways of theorizing and fostering alternative economic systems that can ensure the sustainability of life whilst decolonizing knowledge and power. You can read some of Marta’s publicationsabout feminist movements against the G20 in Argentina here: 

  1.  https://systemicalternatives.org/2018/10/09/neither-victims-nor-entrepreneurs-the-feminist-mobilizations-against-the-w20-in-buenos-aires/
  2.  https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/argentina-g20-and-mobilisations-against-it/

Context

The world today faces a multitude of crises. Countries are dealing with the COVID-19 global pandemic and are bracing themselves for economic repercussions, and this critical situation has made the world witness to worsened issues of state repression, racism, and inequality. Various social movements have become increasingly prominent, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the Hong Kong Democracy protests.

The growing progressive movements present essential perspectives on grassroots empowerment and solidarity across cultures and identities. These events amplify and further push the intersectionality of struggles such as class, race, and gender into global public discourse. 

With this, as socialist feminists, we recognise the integral role of women in building and sustaining movements and society as a whole. On top of carrying multiple burdens and struggling against systems of patriarchy in everyday life, women of all classes and identities are undeniably part of these massive movements for justice and democracy.

This webinar on “Women* and Social Movements” is part of webinar series on Intersectional Feminism organized by the IUSY Feminist Working Group. 

This webinar aims to open international discussions on feminism and its relevance to social movements with the objectives to discuss the intersectionalities of movements and emphasize the significant role of women* in social movements around the world. 

IUSY Feminist Working Group 2020

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OVERVIEW

What: Feminist Working Group Meeting 2020

When: 11-13 May, 2020 (exact time to be confirmed)

Where: Zoom online platform

Age: 18-35 years

Registration Deadline:  5 May, 2020

Outline

Every year, IUSY Feminist Working Group brings together young activists of IUSY member organisations from all seven regions to engage in a dialogue on common struggles and obstacles, and work together to come up with strategies to enact political and social change.

In the past three years IUSY Feminist Working Group has had enriching experiences and opportunities to meet. We have implemented two social media campaigns on “Stories of Women*”(2017, 2018) and theWomen*Resist video campaign. In 2019, we have published the toolkit “The struggle for equality. A toolkit for the feminist fight” together with the participants of international activity supported by the European Youth Foundation.

Because our regular annual working group cannot take place at the moment due to COVID-19, we are organising our Feminist Working Group 2020 online. We want to give our participants the opportunity to share how they are doing in this situation and what is happening in their realities from the feminist perspective.

What can you expect?

We will get together for 3 days (about 2 hours per day) in an informal and formal settings. This means we will have a space to talk, to share, to support and to act.

More details on the programme will come soon and all registered participants will be informed of the technicalities and the content of the meeting.

The meeting will be held online on the Zoom platform. It will be in English and without any participation fee. Time of the meeting will be specified as soon as possible taking into account the different time zones.

It is important to remember that our events are safe spaces and that we are mindful and respectful towards each other.

With best regards,

Johanna Ortega        Ana Pirtskhalava            Caterina Cerroni

IUSY President     IUSY Secretary General           Feminist WG coordinator                                                                                                                                    

Who can apply

This activity is aimed towards the activists of IUSY member organisations. Please note that it is required that the participants stay for the whole duration of the activity and also to contribute to the working group after the meeting.

Participants should:

  • Belong to IUSY member organisation
  • Be aged 18-35
  • Have been active/working/studying in the field of feminism/feminist movement
  • Be willing to continue to work and be active in the field of gender and feminism
  • Availability to contribute to IUSY activities in future

How to apply

To apply you must complete the following form by 5 May 2020.

Contact information

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact the coordinator of the project at the IUSY Secretariat:

Gohar Ghandilyan

IUSY Project Manager

EMAIL: gohar.ghandilyan@iusy.org

Phone: +43 699 135 32 960

We are looking forward to receiving your registration and meeting you online!

Statement of IUSY Feminist Working Group’19: Gender Mainstreaming in Youth Organisations

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Young activists of IUSY member organisations have met 27-30 June 2019, at Salvador Allende Haus in Germany to reflect on the theme Gender mainstreaming in youth organisations.

The IUSY Feminist Working Group has further discussed on women empowerment, intersectionality, representation and prevention of sexualized violence with a unique left perspective. We believe the fight against patriarchy must be the fight against all privileges and exploitations. Therefore, we have highlighted the difference from right and liberal feminism and have stressed for the need to:

  1. change the structure of society in order to achieve real equality. It’s not enough to cancel limitations;
  2. consider other struggles requiring attention and association with the needs in pursuing for gender equality;
  3. emphasise that the only feminism is intersectional feminism;
  4. analyse the reality through the lens of socialist intersectional feminism and to bring the left perspective to the centre of the table;
  5. have internal tools and common understanding of topics related to feminism in order to implement gender equality in the MO’s & in IUSY;

The Feminist Working Group has resolved to develop and publish a toolkit in December in order to inform, form and transform the knowledge.

No feminism without socialism, no socialism without feminism

Salvador Allende Haus, Germany, 29thJune 2019

 

 

Feminist Working Group: Call for Applications

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OVERVIEW

What: Feminist Working Group Meeting 2019
When: 27-30 June 2019 (including travel dates)
Where: Salvador Alllende Haus, Oer-Erkenschwick (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
Age: 18-35 years
Size: Maximum 2 participant per region
Registration Deadline: 30th April, 2019

OUTLINE

The Feminist Working Group 2019 will bring together young activists of IUSY member organisations from all seven regions. The aim of the meeting is to strengthen the

Feminist Working Group and enhance organisational cooperation on the topic.

The meeting will offer a platform to discuss current organisational and regional situation in regards to gender equality, gender discrimination, inclusive participation and gender based violence. It will also give space to engage in a dialogue on common struggles and obstacles, and work together to come up with strategies to enact political and social change. Participants can look forward to meeting youth actors, getting involved in political debates and discussions, sharing experiences and ideas and building up their international network. There will also be an added focus on working on a toolkit/guideline for gender equality in youth organisations.

THEME – Gender mainstreaming in youth organisations

In the past two years IUSY Feminist Working Group has had enriching experiences and opportunities to meet and discuss our common struggles and problems regarding feminism, gender equality, gender based violence and many related topics. We have implemented two social media campaigns on “Stories of Women*” (2017, 2018) and one Women*Resist video campaign which is still ongoing.

During our discussions and experience sharing we observed that the struggle for gender equality and against discrimination and violence in many cases and contexts remains limited to women’s groups within the organisations. Therefore, too often it is limited to those organisations and movements that already have strong feminist structures and working groups. We also identified that there is a “feminist bubble” where gender issues are tackled in a safe space, giving the impression that practices have changed, when, for many organisations and in many cases, they indeed have not. This situation is more complex when there are so many organisations with different realities and contexts gathered under the umbrella of IUSY.

This year we plan to focus on our member organisations, their struggles and their contribution for making a change. We want to open a space for us and our participants to explore the topic of gender equality and all related aspects in our organisations and in our movement. We believe that that there is a huge potential to work together and make a significant change. We want to explore the reach of gender equality by recognising and naming the challenges that we face in different organisations and realities. Only by starting with this we can more forward to have more inclusive organisations without discrimination and violence. Finally, we will set advanced goals for gender equality in youth organisations and design tools/guidelines and methods to carry them out – the IUSY Toolkit/ Guideline for gender equality in youth organisations, which will be shared in our global movement and with our partner youth organisations.

Objectives of the working group meeting 2019

  • Strengthen the understanding of gender identity and recognise the importance of gender equality in youth organisations and our movement
  • Comprehend the current situation in youth organisations regarding gender equality and the main challenges and issues to address in order to improve further
  • Set short- and long-term goals for improvement of gender equality in youth organisations and design an advanced strategy to reach the defined goals
  • Engage in creating a toolkit/guideline for gender equality in youth organisationsThe activity is hosted by our member organisation Sozialistische Jugend Deutschland – Die Falken.Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the IUSY Secretariat at iusy@iusy.org.

IUSY toolkit/guideline

WHO CAN APPLY

This activity is not aimed towards the leadership of IUSY member organisations, it is addressed to youth activists. Please note that it is required that the participants stay for the whole duration of the activity and also to contribute to IUSY activities after the meeting.

Participants should:

  • –  Belong to IUSY member organisation.
  • –  Be aged 18-35
  • –  Have been active/working/studying in the field of feminism/feminist movement
  • –  Be willing to continue to work and be active in the field of gender and feminism
  • –  Be willing to work in creating the toolkit
  • –  Availability to contribute to IUSY activities in future
  • –  Have a proficient level of English (the only working language during the activity)Please note that places are limited and there will be a selection process based on your application. We will inform everyone who has applied about the result of their application one week after the deadline.HOW TO APPLY

    Due to limited space for participation there will be an application process.

    To apply you must complete the following form by 30th April 2019. Please follow the link below. It is essential to fill in the parts which reflect your experience, background and motivation in joining the activity.

    Link to the registration: https://forms.gle/4M7JVeAEhjqGAVKc8  NOTE: No registration will be accepted after the deadline.

TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT

IUSY will cover your flight ticket up to a fixed reference price. The maximum amount for travel reimbursement will be sent to you together with a confirmation letter.

Please note you SHOULD NOT buy any flight tickets before your application is approved!!!

VISA

The IUSY Secretariat will support visa applications for the event. If you require a visa, please send a copy of your passport to iusy@iusy.org as soon as possible, so the secretariat can draft a visa invitation letter for you. If your participation is confirmed we ask you to contact the German embassy/consulate in your country as fast as possible for visa appointment.

ACCOMODATION & VENUE

Details on the meeting venue, hotel and transport from/to airport will be communicated after your participation is confirmed. Please note that accommodation and meals are fully covered by project.

PARTICIPATION FEE

The participation fee for the activity is 30€ per person and must be paid by 1st of June 2019. The participation fee will cover accommodation, meals, refreshments and programme for the duration of the event. Any additional nights’ accommodation must be arranged and paid by participants.

Once you have made the bank transfer, please send a payment receipt to iusy@iusy.org. Please be aware that IUSY cannot take responsibility for any bank fees. If you are unable to make a bank transfer in advance you must inform us before 1 June 2019.

OUTSTANDING MEMBERSHIP FEES AND/OR DEBTS

Please note that only organisations without outstanding membership fees or debts are entitled to receive travel reimbursement. Therefore, we would ask for organisations to transfer their outstanding fees or debts by bank transfer as soon as possible.

If you are unable to pay your membership fee and/or debt, please contact the IUSY Secretary General Ana Pirtskhalava (ana.pirtskhalava@iusy.org) and IUSY President of Control Commission (roland.gur@iusy.org) to discuss possible options.

CANCELLATION FEE

There will be a 30 Euro cancellation fee charged to each organisation whose participant withdraws after 1 June and without a valid reason.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact the coordinator of the project at the IUSY Secretariat:

Gohar Ghandilyan

IUSY Project Manager
EMAIL: gohar.ghandilyan@iusy.org Phone: +43 699 135 32 960

IUSY Secretariat

EMAIL: iusy@iusy.org