02/03/2020
Once again this year, the Roma Women’s Group at the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, along with all the other people who form part of the organisation, is joining in the celebrations for 8th March, International Women’s Day.
25 years ago, 189 governments agreed on a social and political agenda which gave rise to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995[1], whose objective was the full realization of the rights of women. Last year, with the international celebration of this anniversary in mind, United Nations-Women launched an awareness-raising campaign under the slogan “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future”[2]. The objective of this campaign was to make an international appeal for the enforcement of measures relating to gender equality between men and women, and to highlight the inequalities which continue to affect millions of women around the world today.
This 8th March 2020, we want to highlight the fact that Roma women are also part of “Generation Equality”, a generation of women who demand inclusive, high-quality education with an intersectional and intercultural perspective; equality in employment, in terms of both access and pay; genuine and effective equal treatment, including an end to discrimination against us as women and as Roma; high-quality health services which respond to our needs as women and as Roma; that caring work be recognised and shared; participation in decisions which affect society in general and women and girls in particular; and of course an end to all forms of violence against women and girls.
The Roma Women’s Group (GMG) at the Fundación Secretariado Gitano wishes to stress the value of the progress made in terms of gender equality over the last 25 years. This progress has had a direct impact on Roma women, as we now live in conditions of greater equality than the women who came before us. However, we are also aware that, comparing the situation of Roma women and girls in Spain with that of the general population, we still live in circumstances of disadvantage and inequality with respect to other groups of women. While we value the efforts made so far, we are conscious of the need for more effective action, above all action in which we ourselves can take part.
In this context, being a woman or girl as well as being Roma means facing a path strewn with greater barriers and difficulties. This is shown in the Comparative study on the situation of the Roma population in Spain in relation to employment and poverty published by the FSG in 2019[3]: the employment rate among Roma women is only 16%, compared with 44.5% among women in the general population and 44% among Roma men. Among other statistics, the Roma child poverty rate is 89% compared with 31% in the general population.
The Roma Women’s Group at the Fundación Secretariado Gitano believes that we cannot allow these situations to be neglected and to become chronic. For this reason, we wish to appeal to all public and private authorities and responsible institutions as well as to society in general, demanding that they commit to the reversal of all situations involving inequalities.
We ask for their genuine and effective participation in the design and implementation of appropriate measures to eradicate the causes of such inequality. These causes must be analysed from an intersectional and intercultural gender perspective, and measures must be designed which allow Roma women’s voices to be heard. All of us are involved in these measures as women, as professionals and as Roma, because that is how genuine equality begins, and because this ensures that the measures correspond more closely to our needs and realities.
On this day, 8th March, we wish to be involved in the celebration like all other women, and we encourage critical observation of the media’s portrayal of Roma women to ensure that it is diverse and free from stereotyping, and that it offers an image in which we see ourselves represented.
For all these reasons, and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, our objective is to “Achieve gender equality and empowerment for all women and all girls, and also for all Roma women and all Roma girls”[4].
There is undoubtedly a long way to go, but we are certain that with the recognition and support of all men and women, WE WILL ACHIEVE IT.
#GeneracionIgualdadMujeresGitana #GeneracionIgualdadNiñasGitanas #EqualityForAll #EqualityForRomaWomen
#Beijing+25MujeresGitanas #Beijing+25NiñasGitanas
#8M2020FSG #8M2020GMG
[1] www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/
[2] www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2019/05/generation-equality
[3] https://www.gitanos.org/actualidad/archivo/129382.html
[4] https://www.agenda2030.gob.es/es/objetivos/objetivo-5-igualdad-de-genero
