FEMINIST LETTER NO 8
To all feminists
This is the last letter before the summer holidays – time to sum up and to look ahead!I would like to start by thanking you for lots of cheerful and encouraging messages, for good ideas, tough questions and lots of discerning anger. Some of your concerns have reached the minister concerned by way of questions asked in Parliament. As many of you have observed, through the answers given and the minutes of debates, there is at times a deep divide between what is gender equality rhetoric from the Government and what is everyday experience for many women today.
The way money is distributed also conveys a significant message. You may have seen that I have in various articles compared the size of grants to regional government for the protection of sensitive nature areas with the sums accorded to gender equality issues. Nature protection and the environment are of course issues that must be adequately funded, no doubt about it, but I find it frustrating that the state shows such a lack of responsibility where measures to protect women’s health and lives are concerned. Let me take another example: last autumn Parliament decided on a new cohesive law on the protection of animals. In order to assure the implementation of the new law with its concomitant regulations, Parliament also decided to create a new administrative authority. I have just gained from the Parliamentary Research Department details as to how large the annual provisions set aside for this purpose are in order to be able to compare them with the allocations accorded to JämO, the Office of the Equal Rights Ombudsman. The result was as follows: Parliament granted a general sum of 61 534 000 SKr for the year 2004 to the animal protection authority, which today has 33 permanent employees. The Equal Rights Ombudsman was allocated 22 145 000 for 2004, the office today employing 26 people. Not only can Doris the cow dance with the Prime Minister (Doris being a children’s TV programme figure with whom the Prime Minister danced when invited to the show). She has a complete governmental agency to ensure that she is well looked after outside the ballroom floor as well.
So –what’s to be done? We keep trying, of course! More input and more of us to join in! Many of you say you would like to contribute in some way and this will to do something must find an outlet ! Some of you are already in one way or another involved in organisations where feminist initiatives are being discussed, but many do lack a forum, as I understand it. Since I communicate with you via e-mail, I have no idea as to where you are geographically situated. If I did, I could link some of you together, I’m sure. If there are a few of you it is a lot easier to arrange a meeting where others could join in. As for me, I receive invitations to speak at larger gatherings and at smaller ones, something I am happy to do. I would therefore like to encourage all of you who wish to participate in further debate on how to promote feminist strategies to let me know. Send me an e-mail and tell me where you live and I shall try to arrange a qualified procuring service in the autumn!
An outward glance across borders to round off. The results of the EU parliamentary elections, (which naturally can be analysed in a number of different ways) may very well point towards a back-lash for gender equality. In the last European Parliament there were 31% women. The largest percentage was to be found in the socialist group and among the Greens (38 and 44% respectively). The conservative group had 27%. The results show the conservatives to be the largest, which suggests fewer women, besides which enlargement will, I`m sorry to say, presumably lead to fewer women in the Parliament. Since it is still mainly women who put gender equality issues on the agenda, there is now a considerable risk of a setback. This realisation will in turn spur us on to mobilise. Discussions are being held about building a European Feminist Initiative, mainly with a view to a common referendum on the Constitution, but also with the perspective of how to prepare for the next elections to the EU Parliament. In the attached file you can read about it. Spread the word around!
Feminism arouses aspirations of freedom for mankind, of love and solidarity well beyond the stereotype gender roles and their entrenched power structures. We are the seeds of a plant with staying power and perseverance. As soon as summer is over we shall start to botanise in the flowerbeds!
(See attached file: European Feminist Initiative, June 04.doc)
(Next feminist letter will be Aug/Sept)
Tillbaka till Tidigare Feministbrev
