9th Barbara Prammer Symposium 2023

9th Barbara Prammer Symposium 2023

Paying tribute to Barbara Prammer, a staunch women’s rights defender: together with SPÖ Federal Women, Karl-Renner-Institut and SPÖ Parliament Club, we joined forces for the 9^th Barbara Prammer Symposium taking place on 16 January in the Austrian Parliament.

In light of the multiple crises and soaring energy bills having a disproportionate impact on women, this year’s overarching theme focused on how the welfare state affects gender equality. Under the title “What we owe each other: European perspective for a gender-just welfare”, we applied a gender lens on issues ranging from distributive justice to wealth taxation, labour, equality and the recovery, starting with a keynote speech by Baronnes Shadik Minouche, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science and Evelyn Regner, Vice-President of the European Parliament.

About Barbara Prammer

Barbara Prammer was the first woman to be elected President of the Austrian National Council in 2006. Throughout her life, she devoted herself entirely to her work as a politician, which was shaped by her early life experiences and her roots. She learned early on what it means to grow up as a committed and active woman in the countryside. Be it the “glass ceiling” in community work or being a single parent.

Through the trade union, she joined the youth organisations and fought for free access to the lake in nearby Salzkammergut. She experienced firsthand the heavy historical legacy of Austrofascism. These insurmountable borders between the peasantry and the workers never completely disappeared. What does all this experience have in common? Educating, fighting injustice and paving the way for a just society were her heartfelt concerns. She emphasised that injustice can only be overcome in a true partnership between men and women.

To know more about Barbara Prammer and her legacy, watch this video by Eva-Maria Holzleitner, SPÖ Women’s Chair.

About the symposium

Her concerns are carried forward in the form of an annual symposium with high-level participants. As a feminist start to the year and to commemorate feminist figures such as Barbara Prammer, we organise an annual “Barbara Prammer Symposium” around the birthday of the former president of the National Council and chairperson of the women’s party.

Among the participants:

• Pamela Rendi-Wagner, SPÖ Federal Party Chairperson and Club Chairperson
• Eva-Maria Holzleitner, SPÖ Women’s Chairperson & Equal Opportunities Committee Chairperson
• Doris Bures, President of the Karl-Renner-Institute
• László Andor, Secretary General of the FEPS
• Minouche Shafik, Director of London School of Economic and Political Science
• Åsa Regnér, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
• Stefanie Wöhl, Jean Monnet Chair on Diversity and Social Cohesion in the European Union (2019-2022) Professor of Political Science at the University of Applied Sciences for Economics, Management and Finance, Vienna
• Evelyn Regner, Vice-President European Parliament
• Miriam Baghadady, Economist, Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB)
• Selma Yildirim, SPÖ Member of the Finance Committee
• Christine Mayrhuber, Senior Economist at WIFO
• Verena Nussbaum, SPÖ Member of the National Council and Member of the Social Committee, Deputy Managing Director of GPA Steiermark (Austrian Labour Union)
• Martina Zandonella, Social Scientist, Institute for Social Research and Consulting (SORA)
• Laeticia Thissen, FEPS Policy Analyst for Gender Equality
• Sophie Achleitner, Economist, Momentum Institut

Photo credits: Astrid Knie

Previous editions

2015: 1^st BPS “Democracy and equality”

2016: 2^nd BPS “Women.Flight.Solidarity.”

2017: 3^rd BPS “Women.Work.Future.”

2018: 4^th BPS “More participation, more movement, more feminism! Now more than ever!”

2019: 5^th BPS “Europe of women. Europe for women.”

2020: 6^th BPS “International women’s rights – Beijing +25”

2021: 7^th BPS “Gender-just crisis policy. For a feminist awakening in the pandemic.”

2022: 8^th BPS “Living free from violence. The Istanbul Convention and its perspectives.”