Feminism, gender and equality

The Global Feminist Pitch is back to support aspiring, feminist documentary filmmakers from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and (South) Eastern Europe. Apply now!

In traumatised societies faced with a mass exodus of the population and further social decay, the highest price is paid by vulnerable social classes and marginal groups. For the ruling structures, obsessed with machismo-understood national interests, these layers and groups are possibly only important on election day. Although the legal regulation of violence against women has been significantly improved, it is minimally reported, female victims suffer it for many years in isolation, and budget allocations for safe houses remain minimal. Research shows that almost four out of ten women in Bosnia and Herzegovina have experienced psychological, physical, or sexual violence after the age of 15, but even these data are not sufficient to finally treat it seriously, as well as the recent, brutal cases of femicide. 

Moving forward, it is imperative to strengthen mechanisms for safeguarding the rights and safety of those targeted by anti-gender mobilizations.

It took a decade for this made-up idea of “gender ideology” to gain traction, inspiring large-scale mobilizations. Only after the economic recession in the first decade of the new millennium, after the “migrant crisis” and after the rise of populist politics, the time was ripe for the idea of “gender ideology” to gain mobilizing power.

Call for self-identified feminist researchers, working at universities, research institutes, think tanks, research NGOs and as independent scholars, holding a minimum MA degree, and coming from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia or Serbia are kindly invited to join the GenPolSEE. Male and researchers from minority and under-represented communities are especially encouraged to apply. Interest to join the network is to be expressed by sending an email with the latest CV (incl. publication list) in English language, together with a cover letter (ca. one A4 page), elaborating your motivation, expectations and what you can contribute to the network. The expression of interest should be sent not later than 15 August 2022.    

The shrinking spaces for action, an increase in nationalism and authoritarianism, as well as anti-feminist and right-wing populist rhetoric are affecting the work of organizations and individuals active in the feminist and gender-political field. Black women, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, women with non-conforming sexual orientation and gender identity, and other marginalized groups are further disadvantaged and/or criminalized by society and by the laws of their respective countries. Discrimination usually has a lasting effect on all areas of life - education, work, family life, health - and can lead to various challenges. Feminists around the world have responded to these challenges through mobilisation and solidarity. More information

The feminist edition of Perspectives Magazine, a regional publication published annually by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, aims to present the perspectives of Southeastern Europe to an international audience, to analyze global and regional trends and to provide insights into developments and political debates. The theme of this year's issue is gender and feminism in the Western Balkans, which is presented through four thematic units (State of the Art, Gender in Transitions: Revolution is Female?, Interventions and Resistance), which gives an overview of the context, perception of gender and the state of women's rights, and opens the issue of gender by social (re-)evolution and conflicts, initiatives and practices that contribute to the dismantling of patriarchy and very concrete practices of resistance in our countries. Through the issues of gender violence, political participation, economic relations, ecology, activism, physicality and from the perspective of female scientists, activists, journalists and writers, we focus on a kind of strategy for women's rights in the Balkans: is it based on the premise that we do not get tired and give up. This issue of Balkan Perspectives was written by women and describes the rights and fights for gender equality which last for generations in the Western Balkans.