Topics
Women are on the front line in the fight against the pandemic. They keep our society going at great risk to their lives: home helpers, nursing assistants, cashiers, nurses, social workers among others … all these are jobs and sectors in which more than 70% of workers are women (health, social, services, education) and are undervalued and underpaid.
By occupying the most precarious jobs in society, women suffer most from partial unemployment, the risk of losing their jobs, and forced teleworking.
Our new way of work due to the pandemic has also blurred the lines between work and private lives, and have brought about a steep rise in new forms of psychological and sexual harassment, both online and offline. It has also exposed the digital divide between the genders, and inequality of access to workspace at home.
Sadly, a number of governments here in the EU have also used Covid-19 as an excuse to reverse many basic rights for workers and women. This is especially the case in Poland and Slovakia, where the right-wing governments are enacting to completely ban abortion, whilst in Hungary, the far-right leader is resorting to anti-women and racist actions.
Inclusivity is only the solution to the pandemic.
The society that we want to build today must be freed from the yoke of patriarchal and capitalist domination, and with the sole objective of equality and human emancipation.
Interpretation in: FR EN DE EL ES PT
PROGRAMME
Taking care of each others: Health as a fundamental right
- women who have been at the forefront in the fight against Covid-19: women researchers, doctors and staff working in hospitals;
- prevention of access to women’s health and the right to health, including sexual health and reproductive rights;
- the role of and the strengthening of public services;
- access to health and vaccine
09h30-09h40 CET: Welcome & introduction by Manon Aubry co-chair, of the Left group in the European Parliament
09h40-11h00 Panel 1
Taking care of each others: Health as a fundamental right
Introduction and moderation: Sandra Pereira MEP (PCP, Portugal) coordinator of FEMM committee at the European Parliament.
Cristina Luna Morales, President of the health and sport committee of the National Assembly of People’s power, Cuba
Fátima Amaral, member of de Portuguese Democratic Movement of Women.
Dr. Pelagia Soultatou Sociologist, MSc in Health Promotion and Public Health University of West Attica, Greece
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Moderator Pernando Barrena MEP (EH Bildu, Basque Country)
Minna Minkkinen, Second vice chairperson of Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) and City councillor of Tampere, Finland
Catriona Graham, European Women’s lobby,
A worker from an elderly residence, Basque country
12h20-12h30 Conclusion by Pernando Barrena MEP
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12:30-13:00 Closing speech: Care and feminist public policies
Presentation by Maria-Eugenia Rodríguez (Podemos, Spain), Vice-chair of FEMM committee.
Speaker: Beatriz Gimeno, Director of the Institute of Women (attached to Spain’s Ministry of the Presidency)
Women working in time of pandemic
- The problems with work: in health, in schools, in teams, women workers on the front lines;
- Telework and women who have had their work suspended: focus on teleworking which should take place under exceptional circumstances, and a focus on the problem of wages;
- A study on teleworking by the Left group in the European Parliament, “Women working in time of pandemic”.
- The problem for women teleworking/working from home.
- digitalisation and women’s role in it.
14:30-14:50 KEY-NOTE SPEECH
Welcome & introduction, María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop MEP (Podemos, Spain)
Speaker: Elizabeth Victoria Gómez Alcorta, Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity, Argentina
15:00-15:50 Panel 2: Women working in time of pandemic
María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop MEP
Bouchra Zrida and Luc Chelly The two authors of “Women working in time of pandemic” study, France
Andreia Araújo, Member of the Executive Commission of General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP), Portugal
Marina Chrysoveloni Former Greek Deputy Minister of Interior in charge of Gender Equality, Greece
Monika Plazaola, Head of Feminism and Sexual & Gender Diversity of EH Bildu, Basque Country
Member of the organisation called “Jornaleras de Huelva en Lucha”, a self-organised group of women agricultural workers and food handler workers living in the province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain
16h10-16h20 Conclusion by Silvia Modig MEP (Vasemmistoliitto, Finland)
16:25-16:30 Closing remarks by María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop MEP