Women who have been on the front line fighting the pandemic will be celebrated and remembered in our annual Feminist Forum today.

The event, organised by the Left group in the European Parliament, comes ahead of International Women’s Day next Monday – just as the pandemic enters its second year. The theme of the Forum this year is to highlight the critical role played by women workers across the world, many of whom have selflessly kept our society going by putting their lives at risk in often precarious employment.

With the challenges of teleworking and the inequality in the digital divide experienced by women, the blurring of lines between work and private lives have led to new forms of psychological and sexual harassment for women, both online and off.

The Forum will also shine a light on issues faced by women, including here in the EU where far-right governments have also used the pandemic as an excuse to erode women’s fundamental rights, from abortion rights to access to sexual health services.

With contributions from guests representing the health and care sector, the online forum will feature representatives from workers’ unions across Europe and South America. Elizabeth Victoria Gómez Alcorta,  Argentina’s Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity will also be taking part.

Commenting ahead of the event, Sandra Pereira (PCP, Portugal) said:

‘In a year when the backlash against women has been deeply felt, the 2021 Feminist Forum will be an open space for giving women a voice, to discuss their problems and to present solutions.”

“All are welcome in this fight for equality in law and in life,’ she said.

María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop (Podemos, Spain) added:

“We saw it during the lockdown: when everything stopped, care work continued.”

“Yet, such essential tasks and jobs remain totally undervalued.”

“The pandemic has not only slowed down the snails-pace of progress towards equal employment, and the recognition and equal sharing of domestic and care tasks, it has been exploited by conservative, far-right governments in restricting the sexual and reproductive rights of women.”

“On this atypical March 8th, we will find new ways to stay close while keeping distance. We will also find new ways of organising ourselves because we now know more than ever of the precarity and vulnerability of both our bodies and our society,” she concluded. 

 

For the full programme for the 2021 Feminist Forum, click here.