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FEPS Newsletter 8 March 2023 – International Women’s Rights Day

📅 FEPS Newsletter: International Women's Rights Day Share Tweet Share Share Gender-based violence, right to […]
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08/03/2023
📅 FEPS Newsletter: International Women's Rights Day
Gender-based violence, right to abortion, inclusive care, feminist foreign policy & more
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Upcoming Events
The 8 March, International Women’s Day, is the occasion to take stock of where we stand on women’s rights in Europe and across the world. As made clear by António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, during the opening of the CSW67 two days ago, gender equality is growing more distant, putting its achievement 300 years away. This alarming pushback does not spare Europe. Due to regressions in employment, education, and health status, gender disparities only marginally decreased because of persisting structural imbalances. The EU must remain strongly committed to accelerating progress for all women. Through its work, FEPS contributes to the discussion for a feminist and progressive agenda to put an end to systemic discrimination and promote transformative justice based on a gender-sensitive approach across all domains of life.
Publications
By Bérengère Marques-Pereira

Europe is the continent where access to safe and legal abortion is closest to the international health recommendations, but this right is being seriously challenged. Attempts to restrict access remind us that the right to abortion is reversible. The book compares the legal regime of abortion in different EU countries and the effectiveness of the right to access it. Read this original and comparative look at the discourses and practices of abortion rights. Read more.
POLICY STUDY
By Anna Gromada, Chiara Saraceno, Laeticia Thissen, Barbara Helfferich, Jean-François Lebrun, Claire Marzo, Elisa Chieregato, Tuscany Bell, Florian Sanden, Cecilia Navarra, Agnes Mach and Meenakshi Fernandes

Europe might be at the crossroads of a new care paradigm shift with the presentation of the European Care Strategy in September 2022 by the EU Commission. Can the EU Care Strategy be seized as an opportunity to trigger a new approach to care? We need one that is truly inclusive and fair for all. Each chapter dives into a different dimension relevant to understand how the Strategy can ensure that care-givers and -receivers do
not fall short of the EU’s fundamental values and the fulfilment of social rights. Read more.
Struggles over issues of gendered violence in the EP
By Valentine Berthet

We are facing a backlash of anti-gender movements, with the rise of right-wing and extreme-right populist political groups. Gender equality is now a highly contested policy field. We need to understand the reasons for these contestations to develop better strategies and stop the fallout. This overview of policy developments related to gendered violence in the EP does so, by focusing on three recent cases: the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, abortion rights in the EU and sexual harassment in the EP. Read more.

Gender equality is one of FEPS priorities. We have integrated gender concerns into many dimensions of our research because the complexities of gender issues affect all aspects of society. On International Women’s Day discover some of our past and ongoing projects.
Find here some of the publication we published on this topic:
📚 Read all our work on the topic!
Progressive Post
DOSSIER
What does feminist foreign policy mean for progressives?

On Wednesday 1 March, a week ahead of International Women’s Day, the centre-left German government announced the guidelines for the pursuit of its new feminist foreign policy. But what exactly does a feminist foreign policy
entail? What potential does it offer? What are its likely criticalities and the challenges that lie ahead?

In this dossier, the Progressive Post explores this concept of feminist foreign policy – the contours of which still need to be fully outlined. Read more.


Photo credits: NATO
ARTICLE
One is not born (un)productive, one becomes so
By Laeticia Thissen

Echoing the famous feminist mantra ‘one is not born, but rather becomes a woman’ this article argues in a similar vein that ‘one is not born (un)productive, but rather becomes so’, to highlight the socially constructed and highly gendered dimension of this core economic concept of productivity. Read more.
Photo credits: Shutterstock/Daniskim
Podcast
#129 FEPS TALKS PODCAST

🎙️Let’s take a look at the recent policy developments on the EU gender equality agenda. Whilst identifying the set of landmark breakthroughs on major EU policies for gender equality, Laeticia Thissen, FEPS Policy Analyst on Gender Equality, interviews Evin Incir,
Swedish MEP, revealing that the road ahead is still a rocky one. Amongst the current issues addressed, they discuss internal policy developments, such as the directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence, and then apply a feminist lens to external affairs, such as the situation of women in Iran.

🎧 Listen to this podcast on Spotify | Apple Podcast | Website
Events
PAST EVENT
6 March – New York, USA

Ensuring equality is an objective heavily impacted by the increasing digitalisation of our
everyday lives. This new normal also poses a series of new challenges, in particular to disadvantaged groups.

FEPS, Fondation Jean-Jaurès, PES Women and UN Women Germany joined forces for a CSW67 parallel event. The aim was to address the key political issues to anchor a more inclusive, socially empowering and fairer approach to the ongoing digital transition. It is time to confront the resilience of existing non-discrimination and equality frameworks with the specific challenges posed by current digitalisation trends.
More info
PAST EVENT
2-3 March – Valencia, Spain

The School of Young Elected Politicians is a training for young Europeans, elected at the local or regional level, who have the ambition to make progressive change happen in their respective communities. We took part in the fourth edition
together with the Socialists Group in the Valencia Regional Parliament, the PSOE Group of the city of Valencia, YES, PES, PES Women and the S&D Group in the EP. This edition was hosted by the PES Group in the EU Committee of the Regions, it focused on gender-based inequalities and violence against women and it saw the launch of the #SafePlace4Women campaign.
Twitter
Pictures
News
By Laeticia Thissen

Awareness-raising days have one element in common: they offer occasions to remind ourselves about societal challenges and various forms of persisting inequalities. Like most other international days, the equal pay day certainly serves that purpose.
Unlike other cases, however, the equal pay day is different mainly in two regards: the date can vary from year to year and from country to country. But what is it? How is it calculated? Why would we still care? Read more.
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Frågan om jämställdhet splittrar unga svenskar

by dagens arena 29/10/2026
"The issue of gender equality divides young Swedes" - FEPS Policy Analyst on Democracy Matteo Dressler discusses the findings of the EqualiZe policy study in the Swedish context.

Brazil’s Lula survives Bolsonaro scare, safeguarding EU democratic ally on climate and trade

by EUobserver 26/10/2026
Read EUobserver's analysis of what comes next after Brazil's elections, which includes comments from Thainá Leite, Project Coordinator at FEPS

Франција е Франција – но Франција е и Европа

by Racin.mk 21/10/2026
“France is France – but France is also Europe.” In an opinion piece for Racin.mk, László Andor, Secretary General of FEPS, argues that France’s youth protests, set against a latent budget crisis and growing precarity (schools, housing), risk benefiting Marine Le Pen, and that France, despite bending the EU’s fiscal rules, has also propped up European growth.

La Regina, il problema dei divari territoriali è una questione europea

by Regione Basilicata 22/09/2026
“La Regina: territorial disparities are a European issue” News article published by ANSA (IT), featuring Raffaele La Regina, participant in the FEPS Young Academics Network, discussing territorial and social inequalities across Europe, the need to reconcile competitiveness and cohesion, and the role of European cohesion policy, industrial policy and investment in ensuring that no region is left behind.