In my hometown Amsterdam we had local elections on 21 March. For the first time of my life I could vote for a woman as #1 and she has lived in the same part of the city as I do for more than 25 years. She not only gets votes from women but also from men like a former mayor of Amsterdam: a #HeForShe. In the Netherlands we will celebrate 100 years of voting rights for women in 2019. In 1917 women could be elected by men and in 1919 feminists F/M succeeded to get the right to vote for women.
IAW has in her beautiful logo Ius Suffragii, which is Latin for ‘The Right of Suffrage’. As IAW representative I am a member of the EWL Women in Politics Working Group, whose purpose is “To position women at the heart of political participation and decision-making i.a. develop a campaign strategy to achieve parity democracy – meaning 50% women in the European Parliament in the 2019 elections and 50% women in the new European Commission.” Our first ‘online’ meeting in 2018 is planned and will be facilitated by Daniela Picher, new Policy and Campaigns Director at EWL. She (like me and other feminists) fiercely believes in feminist leadership and women’s power as an active agent of change!
Suffragette
Did you watch the film ‘Suffragette’ (2015) too? The British film director Sarah Gavron got an award for this ‘outstanding’ drama film as you can read in the contribution by Greek League for Women’s Rights in the Reports for Congress 2017 in Nicosia (page 73) at IAW website. Suffragette is “a valuable and compelling reminder of the history of feminism and the need to promote women’s rights across the globe”. Sarah Gavron wrote “As we know the struggle for women’s rights goes on …”.
In February 2018 I participated as an EWL Board Member in the EIGE – Civil Society Consultation meeting in Vilnius. I was wearing this beautiful IAW brooch (a present from former IAW treasurer Marijke Peters) and my nails were purple, white & green.
YES I’m happy to live in a time when Votes for Women are a reality- also in Switzerland for Jessika Kehl-Lauff & in South Africa for Mmabatho Ramagoshi (both former IAW Board Members).