Last week we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action during the UN General Assembly. The speeches from many heads of state, Ministers, the Secretary General and our own Sascha Gabizon shared one common message: there is a long way to go to achieve gender equality and we need to come together to make it happen.

A recent UN Women report taking stock of gender equality in Europe and Central Asia shows some concerning data on progress with women’s rights across the region. Female homicide in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus is doubled compared to the EU regional average and it ranges up to 4,52 victims per 100 thousand women in the Russian Federation compared to 1,94 victims in case of Ukraine. Significant gaps remain in law and practice, where Azerbaijan, Belarus, and the Russian Federation, among other countries, still have no dedicated legislation on domestic violence or other forms of violence against women. Among 32 countries with available data, intimate partner violence among women and girls aged 15 to 49 was reported to be most common in Georgia with prevalence rates of 19.8 per cent. Despite quotas to accelerate women’s political participation, women hold only one in ten seats in national parliaments in Ukraine.

Tomorrow, October 6, from 10:00-12:00 Chisinau, Kyiv, Minsk time and 11:00-13:00 Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan time feminists, women’s rights and grassroots activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation will come together virtually. In small groups they will take stock of structural and legal barriers to gender equality in the region. To see how far the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action has come, focusing on gender-based violence; feminist movement building; economic justice; sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), women, peace & security; climate justice; innovation & technology. Together they will share best-practices and come up with our Feminist Demands to achieve system change which will be shared with decision-makers and Generation Equality’s Action Coalition leaders.

Meet the moderators

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Series of subregional consultations

This session is part of our series of subregional virtual consultations on Generation Equality. Together with local feminists and human rights activists, we will be exploring what still needs to happen to achieve gender equality in the Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern and Central European regions? These online consultations will engage decision-makers and give guidance to the Action Coalition leaders about the demands from the region. Find out more on this landing page (also available in Russian). These consultations are hosted in cooperation with UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.

Join the discussion

Tag us on Twitter @WECF_INT and Instagram @WECF_International or use the hashtags #FeministsWantSystemChange and #GenerationEquality. Check out our Trello board here.