Women in an Equal Europe BOOK CREATED AND EDITED BY MARY MOYNIHAN Women in an Equal Europe EDITOR: Mary Moynihan PRODUCED BY: g Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company, Ireland g Iniciativas de Futuro Para Una Europa Social, Valencia, Spain g Mirovna grupa mladih Dunav, Youth Peace Group ‘Danube’ (YPGD), Vukovar, Croatia g DAH Theatre Research Centre, Belgrade, Serbia CO-FUNDED BY the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union 2 l WOMEN IN AN EQUAL EUROPE Contents g FOREWORD by Lynn Ruane, Independent Senator, Seanad Eireann 4 g INTRODUCTION: Women in an Equal Europe 7 – Citizenship and Gender Equality through Creative Processes 1. Women Living in the European Union 12 - Lauren Guy, Ireland 2. The EU and Irish Women 23 - Ruth Deasy, Head of Press, European Commission Representation in Ireland 3. The European Union and Gender Equality, A Conquest in Progress 28 - Kilian Cuerda Ros, Spain g INTERVIEWS: IRELAND 33 g Dil Wickremasinghe g Mary Lawlor g Ivana Bacik g Olwen Fouéré g Mary Moynihan g Sinéad Burke g INTERVIEWS: SPAIN 59 g Catalina Valencia g Pilar Mena g Mercedes Acitores g Yolanda Trujillo g Lourdes Miron g INTERVIEWS: CROATIA 77 g Natasa Milankovic g Milena Babic g Senka Nedeljkovic g Tatjana Romic g Biljana Gaca g INTERVIEWS: SERBIA 91 g Dana Gasic Gouveia g Ivana Novakovic g Marija Mitic g Marina Ilic g Manja Marinkovic g PARTNER ORGANISATIONS 103 WOMEN IN AN EQUAL EUROPE l 3 FOREWORD By Lynn Ruane irstly, allow me to express my gratitude, as it is As my life in education advanced, my understanding of my honor to contribute the foreword to this most feminism – my own feminism – flourished. I had little F important and timely book Women in an Equal Europe. connection to my own citizenship at a domestic level, let As I sat down to read this volume and its breadth of opinion alone at a European level. Truly harnessing the power of my and expertise, I became worried as to what view I would bring gender occurred first at Trinity College, by an awareness that to it – my own scepticism maybe? If anything, the experience of I had been too busy to connect with who I was as a woman. reading these inspirational women and men reminded me to Too busy working, some will ask. Too busy studying, say show some restraint in my pull away from the idea that Europe others. Rather, I was too busy surviving. Dil Wickremasinghe, can be a positive effect on the equality of ALL of its women. I in her interview, speaks about never having to queue as have at times thought this idea might be an overly romanticised a child in Italy and this brought an image to my mind of undertaking and one that risks becoming weightless rhetoric. In women in poverty and minority groups spending a life-time its place I have tried to favour a realistic, ‘ground up’ approach trying to get not to the front but rather striving, often failing, to policy development. I have never wanted to feel this way, to reach the back of the queue. proclaiming a type of feminism for the ‘some’ rather than the ‘all’. I do know however, that we should not allow this approach to Disadvantaged women experience the most harmful impacts paralyse us. Nor should we allow it to cloud our collective vision. of gender inequality. For large majorities of these women But the feeling is there – the feeling of exclusion and being the struggle is simply staying alive, condemned to the back let down that sits underneath my ambition for women like of the queue and feeling the positive impacts of European me to be equal partners in the local, national and European directives and policy initiatives only when all others have level feminist movement. Feminism unites us by speaking the had their chance. My class and my gender are intertwined language of all and this book has been a timely reminder to and until my class ceases to stand in my way of exercising me of that. The underlying connection of perspectives in this my rights as a woman, feminism and gender equality has not book is one that, I think, is greatly needed. and will not reach ALL women. To this end I recall the words of Natasa Milankovic who sternly argues that women are still We must create the space for women such as single mothers, in no satisfactory position. I share her frustration, and in truth women with disabilities and traveller women to have it’s a fire we need to keep close if and when we need to reach meaningful participation in shaping each nation’s narratives for it. There is much work to be done to empower women who and stories of who we are as women. Europe has changed the experience marginalisation to both recognise and exercise economic, cultural and social fabric of Ireland and we must their own rights. I am happy that today I can vocalise my be relentless in our efforts to drive this change down and feminist vision and voice but I cannot shake the presence of into the pockets of those from all corners of Ireland. As I spent guilt that the privilege of my education and my election to hours with the interviews and contributions in this book I was Seanad Éireann has allowed me a platform – something many reminded that each and every one of us share a common from disadvantaged groups do not have access to. objective: to reach our full potential as women. Whether that be our potential as Catalina Valencia who travelled to Spain This does not mean that working-class women are not from Columbia with the hope of experiencing a new culture, feminists, or that being a member of the European Union has Milena Babic who left her job as a teacher to serve the not had positive impacts on the advancement of women’s United Nations as an interpreter, or Marina Mitic who works rights and participation – we know it has. Working class to implement the highest quality of healthcare standards women possess a deep understanding of intersectionality possible from her platform in Serbia. Whether it be through without ever hearing its language or studying its theories. the arts, the tech industry, parenting (or not) or politics, our For instance, women like me know that our traveller women, objective is the same: to be valued as women and to have the migrant women, and LGBTQ+ women endure many more same opportunity to shape our environments as anyone else. obstacles than we do. We know this because we work and live in the same communities. We can see the varying layers We must acknowledge that this is more difficult for women of disadvantages for women first hand. I finished school with weighed down not only by gender inequalities, but who are a Junior Cert, which is a clear indicator of my educational living with racial and poverty concerns also. In accepting this, disadvantage. However, I have done extremely well in we must look to building as many feminist responses as there comparison to my traveller friends, and it seems to me that are varying layers of oppression of women. the gap between us and more well-off women is growing. LYNN RUANE is an independent Senator in Seanad Éireann, representing Trinity College Dublin, and is a member of the Civil Engagement Group and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills. 4 l WOMEN IN AN EQUAL EUROPE Women in an Equal Europe 50/50 representation across all sectors must deliver 50% of with the Maastricht Treaty and up to more recent times with female participation that is representative of ALL women bodies like the European Commission repeatedly affirming – only then can we truly say we have achieved equality. its criticism of the restrictiveness of the Irish abortion regime, In saying this, I do not wish to play down the impact of we have seen the important positions the EU has taken on women currently in politics in Ireland. It is nothing short of Ireland’s abortion debates. We need look no further than inspirational to watch the impact of the women in power other EU member states to see how far we were lagging on the type of legislation currently being brought to the behind in access to abortion care – but lagging no longer. Irish parliament. The conversations have changed too. In her interview, Mary Butler considers what were taboo subjects of In 1991 the intention of the Maastricht Treaty and Protocol old; abortion, homosexuality, contraception. Her recollection 17 was promotion of monetary and political ties between of how you ‘just didn’t talk about them’ in her time is a member states. It may not have been foreseen that it would reminder of how far we have progressed. Today we speak be abortion that became the issue that could result in this openly about many subjects relating to women, and while Treaty being voted down by the Irish people. Both sides of the issues such as the state marriage ban in the civil service may abortion debate had their reasons to vote against the treaty. not seem so far in the past, as we can now stand next to our In simple terms, the fear was that the treaty denied women male counterparts demanding a standard of equality devoid rights to information and travel while from the anti-choice of misogyny, sexism and exclusion, we can remind ourselves perspective, it allowed for terminations to be performed of the progress we are making.