Sibiu Gender Equality Festival, 14-17 October
“Feminism is for me too” is the conclusion we wish participants to reach during year’s edition of the Gender Equality Festival. The fourteenth edition of the Festival will take place during 14-17 October 2019, in Sibiu. The event aims to raise the general public’s awareness about women’s rights. The timing is important, especially since during the last months we have all witnessed a new wave of violence against girls and women, which has been widely reported in the Romanian media. It is crucial to understand that violence is caused by inequality and, at the same time, it deepens inequality by making people feel afraid and intimidated. Through a range of exhibitions, youth courses, and conferences for employers, we seek to ring the alarm and show that in order to solve this issue, both women’s and men’s active participation is needed. A society free of violence is everyone’s business and is in everyone’s benefit.
Feminism is a creed in women’s equal political, economic and social rights with men. It does not translate into women’s supremacy. It’s a movement through which women managed to achieve, starting with the nineteenth century, a series of important rights, such as the right to vote, own property, sign contracts and to receive equal pay for equal work. Women’s rights are a recent achievement, which is still in progress considering the width and depth of violence against women and how rare and superficial such violence is punished. This is a subject that will be discussed in an introductory youth course about women’s rights and which will be illustrated in the exhibition “Women’s rights in Romania” – a mobile exhibition that will be based in the coming months in different public and private institutions across Sibiu, with the aim to raise employees’ awareness and knowledge on the subject of non-discrimination. This exhibition will be launched during the conference “Employers for respect – Anti-harassment policies at the workplace”. In the light of the latest regulations in the field of equal opportunities legislation, the conference, which will take place at the Sibiu County Council, seeks to advocate for employers to develop timely internal mechanisms for reporting sexual harassment cases. We will provide support for local employers to develop such appropriate internal policies and design measures through which harassment, in all its forms, can be prevented.
The first activity of the Festival has already been launched: “Call it what it is: sexism”. Sexism affects, in particular, women and girls. Tolerance for offensive jokes and images that objectify women contributes to creating, or preserving, an unsafe and uncomfortable environment for women and girls. We call on you all to identify sexist images, comments and actions and to share with us your ideas about how to address this issue. Write to us at contact@aleg-romania.eu.
In the public event hosted by the Romanians’ Democratic Forum, we will discuss about the importance of civic activism for and with girls. The event will take place on October 15th and will include presentations from the director of the international programme With and For Girls, as well as from Romanian girls that will decide the winning organisations form Europe and Central Asia of this year’s With and For Girls awards.
We strongly believe that men can play a more active role in fighting violence against women and inequality. Initiatives that promote men’s involvement in these issues are more and more popular across the world and we want Romanian men to be more involved too. For this reason, this year’s edition of the Gender Equality Festival will include an interactive workshop themed: “What can men do for women’s rights?”. This event will take place on October 16th, at 5pm, at Sibio (Coffee lab x Creative Hub – Piața Mică numărul 3).
The programme of the Fetsival includes the following events:
Monday, October 14th
14.00 – 16.00 ALEGe-ți cuvintele / Choose your words (pietonala N. Bălcescu)
17:00 – 18:00 Spune-i pe nume: Sexism / Call it what is it: sexism la Ziarul Orizontal (near Teatrul Radu Stanca)
Tuesday, October 15th
12.00 – 13:30 Prezentarea Premiului Internațional With and For Girls / With and For Rights Awards
(Forumul German, Sala Oglinzilor)
14.00 – 18.00 Curs drepturile femeilor / Women’s rights course (registration needed)
Wednesday, October 16th
17:00 – 19:00 Atelier: Ce pot face bărbații pentru drepturile femeilor? / Workshop: What can men do for women’s rights?
(Sibio coffee lab X CREATIVE HUB, Piața Mică, 3)
Thursday, October 17th
10:00 – 14:30 Conferința Angajatori pentru respect / Conference: Employers for respect (Consiliul Județean Sibiu)
For real life updates, follow us here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2398643400418784/
