FSG celebrates International Women's Day on 8 March 2026 [editar]

Celebrating this day is key to remembering women's struggle to achieve real and effective equality and to highlight the inequalities that still persist.
In the case of Roma women, these inequalities are exacerbated by the multiple discrimination we suffer as women and as Roma.
Through our daily work as an organisation, we are helping to break down these barriers to achieve greater opportunities for Roma women and bring about the necessary change towards equality.

The necessary change towards equality

On the occasion of International Women's Day, Fundación Secretariado Gitano wishes to reaffirm its firm commitment to gender equality as a cross-cutting theme of our mission and our social action and political advocacy.

On this 8 March 2026, we want to raise our voices from a clear and conscious position: we speak as Roma women and as an active part of an organisation committed to equality, social justice and fundamental rights.

We are living in a social moment marked by polarisation and questioning of the advances that have taken many decades of collective effort to achieve. In this context, we believe it is more necessary than ever to reaffirm a firm conviction: equality is not an ideological option, it is a democratic principle and a human right.

When we talk about change, we are not talking in abstract terms. We are talking about our own experience and all the barriers we have overcome with the resilience that characterises our people.

We are talking about how more and more Roma girls are staying in the education system and planning diverse professional futures. We are talking about Roma women who are accessing employment, starting businesses, and leading teams and projects.

We are talking about role models who now occupy public, academic, social, and institutional spaces where we were not previously represented.

We talk about empowerment processes that have allowed us to strengthen our autonomy, our voice and our decision-making capacity.

These changes have not happened on their own. They are the result of the efforts of generations of Roma women who have paved the way, the support of their families, and the constant work to combat the structural discrimination we face as women and Roma.

But we also know that the change is not complete.

Educational and employment gaps persist.

Stereotypes that limit our opportunities persist.

Inequalities in the distribution of care and access to spaces of power and representation persist.

And in a context of exclusionary discourse, Roma women continue to face multiple vulnerabilities that require firm responses from public policies.

We cannot continue to endure this inequality that limits our lives, limits our access to rights, perpetuates violence, discriminates against us and, ultimately, reduces all opportunities to live a dignified life.

We assert the need to continue promoting structural changes that guarantee real and effective equality. We demand evidence-based policies, sustained investment in education and employment, and strategies that incorporate a gender perspective and interculturality across the board.

We are the change, as we are achieving everything that has been denied and prevented from us.

We are the ones who study, work, lead and participate.

We are the ones who question the limits imposed on us.

We are the ones who build role models for the girls who come after us.

And we are also part of a society that will only be fully democratic when all women, without exception, can exercise our rights on equal terms.

FOR THE NECESSARY CHANGE TOWARDS EQUALITY.