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Facebook and Fundación Secretariado Gitano launch an action on social networks to defend the equality of Roma women and denounce their invisibility [editar]

"Being able to be" was the winning proposal of the "Hack for Good" contest for young creative talents

23/05/2018
Área de Comunicación

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Facebook and Fundación Secretariado Gitano launch an action on social networks to defend the equality of Roma women and denounce their invisibility

What would happen if you could not be who you are? If you had to hide your identity or make yourself invisible like these young people who can not get a selfie? These videos are part of the "Being able to Be" awareness-raising action, a simile of the difficulties that many Roma women have to overcome in their day-to-day lives due to discrimination and social rejection.

The talent of young creatives has been put at the service of the social equality with this awareness-raising action that Facebook and the Fundación Secretariado Gitano launched. The action "Being able to be" is a call for attention to society so that it banishes stereotypes and prejudices that lead to social rejection and damage the dignity of Roma women.

The outdated and limited image of Roma women who persist in society - even among the youngest publics - continues to be a barrier on the road to effective equality. Promoting equality means recognizing a real and heterogeneous image of Roma women away from clichés and respectful of diversity.

More and more Roma women are advancing and, nevertheless, invisible to a large part of the majority society. Not being seen or being recognized is a form of social contempt and rejection. Therefore, many Roma women say: Enough!

"Being able to be" revolves around the invisibility that affects many Roma women, forced to hide their identity in certain contexts to fully exercise their rights (access to employment, housing rent ...). This is one of the most unfair effects of the discrimination and on which this action of sensitization wants to influence.

This action is included in the collaboration that Facebook has maintained for two years and the Fundación Secretariado Gitano aimed at combating and preventing hate speech in Social Networks.

The idea of the campaign was created in the "C de C 2017", an advertising Festival organized by the Club of Creatives and Facebook Spain within the Hack for Good, a creative competition to develop real communication actions in support of causes that impact on society and contribute to social change and create a better world for all.

A team of students from the Rey Juan Carlos I University was the winner of the contest. Their idea was later produced by Facebook in support of counter-narrative campaigns for NGOs. The result has been four short videos in which different youth can not become a selfie, as a simile of the difficulties they have to overcome many Roma women in their daily lives and whose diversity is not recognized. These pieces make up the campaign that uses languages and advertising codes and innovative formats to attract the attention of the audience.

The campaign is completed by the testimonies of four young Roma women who describe their own or known situations in which they have had to "invisibilize" to avoid discrimination. Showing the harsh effects of discrimination in the lives of Roma women is a necessary condition for a more just society.

"We are firmly committed in the fight against hate speech and for this, collaboration is key. In addition to our community standards and protection and reporting tools, we have been working with Fundación Secretariado Gitano for many years, as well as with other organizations and collectives, in order to empower people, to counteract hate speech with positive speeches that give voice and visibility to the people who need it ", Natalia Basterrechea, Public Affairs Director of Facebook Spain.

"Our society still has a lot to move forward to be more egalitarian and fight discrimination effectively. Making visible the diversity of Roma women and exposing those cases of social rejection and their effects is part of our task ", says Sara Giménez, Head of the Equality department of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano.

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