05/03/2025
FSG y Grupo de Mujeres Gitanas (GMG)
On 8 March, Fundación Secretariado Gitano joins in the commemoration of International Women's Day, and demands that our history be taken into account. It cannot be silenced but is transformative and full of cultural contributions.
To this end, we celebrate it by remembering our older Roma women and role models in history, who paved the way for those who came after them.
8 March is here and as a date marked on the calendar, we at Fundación Secretariado Gitano join in the commemoration of International Women's Day.
This year marks 600 years of the presence of the Roma on the Iberian Peninsula, a fact recorded in a document that attests that on 12 January, 1425, Alfonso V, King of Aragon, granted Juan, Count of Egypt Minor, a safe-conduct authorizing him to travel freely on his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
Since then, the Roma have been present on the Iberian Peninsula, contributing their rich artistic expression, their lexicon, gastronomy, their trades... It is impossible to imagine Spanish culture without the Roma component forming part of it. The configuration of the Spanish nation and identity over the centuries has also been built with the elements contributed by the Roma. Roma women of the past and present have also contributed to the cultural identity of Spain, despite having been silenced like the rest of the women.
Roma culture is impregnated with elements that today are identified as feminist values: for us, Roma women, collective upbringing, support networks, the community and care approach, solidarity, the promotion of peace and dialogue and respect, have formed and form part of our idiosyncrasy, and of our way of understanding life.
We Roma have been feminists for centuries, because we understand feminism as the defence of rights and the promotion of the right to equal treatment and opportunities between men and women in any social or participatory sphere. Nor do we forget the challenges that we continue to face today as part of society and as women involved in the fight against gender-based violence, to demand the labour and educational equality of our young women and girls to which we have a right. We say enough to school segregation and educational and residential exclusion. We say no to antigypsyism in all its manifestations and yes to empowerment and respect for diversity in all its breadth and depth.
As Roma women, we find in feminism an opportunity for change and social transformation. That is why, on 8 March, the struggle for equality and feminism also has a Roma flavour. We demand that our realities be taken into account and that we be allowed to take our place on the stages of the struggle for equality and social and political participation. The public authorities and representatives have to guarantee equal opportunities that will allow us to change the stereotypical image and the position of inferiority in which society and public institutions place us as Roma women.
For all these reasons, today we raise our voices to thank and recognise the struggle of all our ancestors, of our older Roma women, who have made it possible for us to have a better situation today. Although we know that it is not perfect, so we have to continue working and fighting for real equality for all people and all Roma women and girls.
We, FSG’s Roma Women's Group also want to emphasise that this is a very special year, because we are celebrating International Women's Day and 600 years of a history that cannot be silenced or made invisible, but is transformative and full of cultural contributions.
FOLLOWING IN OUR FOOTSTEPS, CONTINUING OUR HISTORY.
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