04/03/2024
FSG
Once again this year Fundación Secretariado Gitano joins in the commemoration of the 8th March, International Women's Day and, with it, the demand for the protection of the right to gender equality and the right to equal treatment and non-discrimination in a society that we need to be increasingly fairer and more egalitarian.No country in the world has achieved full equality. There is some progress towards equality, but it is too much and too desperately slow. Women and girls continue to be undervalued, as UN Women denounces and as civil society, development organisations and the feminist movement have noted.
Women work more, earn less and have fewer options; we suffer multiple forms of violence in the home and in public spaces.
This situation is experienced disproportionately by indigenous women, women of African descent, migrant women, women with disabilities and by us, Roma women, because gender inequality is compounded by other discriminatory factors. Higher unemployment rates, a more accentuated digital divide, discrimination in accessing resources and services, higher levels of severe poverty and a long etcetera is what Roma women are experiencing and which distances us from living in egalitarian, fair and feminist conditions.
This significantly threatens the reversal of the feminist achievements that we have worked so hard to obtain, although on many occasions it seems that they have only been achieved for a few.
Roma women live day by day and in first person the difficulties of access to this free and equal life. We fight, we advance, we learn, we work, we care, we break with the stereotypes that were assigned to us 600 years ago, but it doesn't seem to be enough.
When will it be time for Roma women? When will we be named as a point of reference in universities? When will Roma feminism take centre stage in feminist conferences? When will we celebrate the many professional Roma leaders in companies?
This already exists and we celebrate it, but the burden we live with does not allow us to enjoy it, because we are weighed down by poverty, antigypsyism, inequality and gender burdens.
Sorority is our weapon, among women, among Roma women; it is mass action that allows us to continue moving forward. The 8th March is our date, international and vindicating.
We are women and Roma women; that is why this 8th March should be a day full of noises and smiles; noises because we as Roma women raise our voices for our recognition in feminist struggles; and smiles, because we should enjoy the achievements we have made.
The Roma Women's Group (GMG) of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano also wants to highlight the struggles of many Roma women who are transforming the world on such a special day as International Women's Day.
The women we refer to are those who throughout their lives have given their all for others without expecting anything in return.
To those who with great pride and will participate and are the protagonists of their life experience.
Those who may not have had the time or opportunity to be educated academically, but who have endless experiences to improve their lives.
To those who can satisfy their yearning and desire for knowledge and training with various proposals and initiatives.
To those who in their maturity, as in their youth, have to bear all kinds of burdens.
To those who today are indispensable for many, but perhaps do not have the recognition they deserve.
To those who are valued all over the world, because there are such women everywhere, because this type of woman has no ethnic origin or age. They count only on their strength, the strength of a woman; women who respond to everything and for everything, who walk despite the stumbling blocks and the highs along the way.
To the intelligent and thoughtful women.
To those who, when you look into their eyes, they reveal to you all their great journey and what still lies ahead.
To those who today project all their illusions and opportunities on their sons and daughters.
To those who dream of a change in the lives of the new generations.
To those who fight to achieve their dreams as girls.
To those who advise, but give the power of choice and decision. To all the women of the world. For the rights of women, for the rights of Roma women.
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