Lifting the veil

Olga Pietruchova, In: Populism in Europe,  Green European Foundation (GEF), Brussels 2012

Since ages, women bodies have been the battlefields in the cultural war, in the ideological fight between conservative and liberal forces. In the present time, the right wing populists are using women´s bodies and rights in their battles on national identity, against multiculturalism, stronger influence of EU or to cover more serious problems and to slip the debate in time of economic crises to simplistic emotional messages for electoral gain.

The policy of right wing populism is based on the painting a picture of an enemy, the others, who are jeopardising the common good of us. Painting a picture a very successful media strategy; bringing only mere facts and real arguments is far less successful as emotionally conotated messages supported by stories as shown in billboards and commercials. Veiled women became literally the most successful picture of enemy the right wing populists managed to paint so far.

My November from behind the Iron Curtain

In 1989 I lived abroad and that may be why my perspective on November events is different from what is usually presented in the media. I perceived the fall of socialism in Slovakia in the context of what was happening in neighboring countries. From the point of view of a person living in what was then Western Germany and watching mostly German news I perceived the November events as a direct outcome of Gorbachev’s perestroika, its openness towards the West and his friendly relationship with Helmut Kohl. What would have happened if these two men hadn’t had trusted each other? What would have happened if the leader of the USSR had been someone like Brezhnev or Putin? We don’t know, but we can imagine it on the basis of history. However, one thing is sure – just like in the year 1968 Czechoslovakia did not have a chance to become the only country to break through the Iron Curtain and liberate itself from the grip of the block of “friendly” socialist countries, the events of the Fall of 1989 were also part of unstoppable developments.

Undervalued Women‘s Work

H i s t o r y , L e g i s l a t i o n   a n d   C o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n   o f   t h e   G e n d e r   P a y   G a p

The paper points to the theses put forth by feminist economic theory and the need to take them into account in so-called general economic analyses. Feminist theory emphasizes (Madörin, 2004) that the production of material conditions for meeting basic needs must be taken into account as a separate economic issue, as the basic precondition of human freedom. Economic theories are based on the assumption that political, social and economic rights are accessible to all, which is not true. Also in this sphere, the hierarchical and asymmetric power arrangements between men and women play a role. Therefore, we need a specific  economic approach focusing on human rights. Current economic gender analyses – with the exception of few positive examples – are done in line with the neoliberal approach according to the “Add-Women-and-Stir“ method. Feminist economics is skeptical about achieving gender equality e.g. in income as long as the overall view on the economy and labor values does not radically change.

Gender Mainstreaming in Slovakia: Rather Down than Top

(Heinrich Boell Stifftung: Gender Mainstreaming, 2009)

In spite of efforts of women’s NGOs in Slovakia, gender mainstreaming is still a new and unknown concept. When it first appeared on the international women’s movement scene and on the agenda of the EU politics also Slovak NGOs started to highlight it. First attempts date back to 2002 when Aspekt published the translation of the publication by Barbara Stiegler “Wie Gender in den Mainstream kommt” (How Gender Enters the Mainstream) when the discussion about the EU agenda in anti-discrimination and gender policy started.

UNDP BRC Training: Capacity Building on Gender Mainstreaming into Democratic Governance Practice

3-4 December 2008, Istanbul, Turkey

The global UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011 reinforced the prioritization of the integration of gender into the work of UNDP. The RBEC Strategy for 2008-2011 recognizes the weak UNDP internal capacities to implement and monitor its gender-related commitments and prioritizes the development of capacities of the UNDP COs and the national partners to integrate gender into development.

A revived debate on abortion in Europe

Conservatism evident in Slovakia’s proposed `freedom of conscience’ deal with Vatican

March 08, 2006|By Tom Hundley, Tribune foreign correspondent.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — The abortion debate in Europe–long thought to be settled in favor of liberal abortion laws–has been rekindled by the eastward expansion of the European Union. Slovakia and its much larger neighbor, Poland, have been at the forefront of a new conservatism that is ruffling more than a few feathers in Western Europe’s bastions of liberalism.

Slovakia debates sex education in schools

When it comes to discussing sex, Slovaks may be among Europe’s most conservative. About 60% of people claim to be Catholic and this is leading to some very lively discussion over attempts to introduce sexual education into school.

IHF report 2006

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION – Chapter on Gender Equality provider by Olga Pietruchova

Abortion foes get more vocal as EU expands

Catholic Church pushes its message

Elizabeth Bryant, Chronicle Foreign Service, Tuesday, March 29, 2005 

Portugal — Pregnant with her third child in January, 36-year-old Maria Silva decided two were enough. In most European countries, the next step would have been simple: Check into a clinic for an abortion. But Silva lives in the northern Portuguese town of Aveiro, where seven women went on trial in late 2003 for having abortions. So instead, she followed step-by-step Internet directions on how to end her pregnancy.”I didn’t want this pregnancy,” said the married mother of two boys, speaking from her home about 40 miles from Porto, in the country’s northeast. “Now, I feel free, like a new person.”

Conscientious objection – a hot topic in Slovakia

21.06.2005, by Katarina Richterova

Radio Slovak International – ENGLISH SECTION – HARD TALKThe director of one of the largest hospitals in Bratislava confirms that their hospital doesn’t perform abortions, the right of every woman granted by the constitution.  “This is how we have been doing it for many years. If a woman wants to get an abortion, there are many other hospitals she can go to.”

Women find their voice

Slovak women’s groups join EU sisters to achieve gender equality

Slovak Spectator. By Martina Jurinová, Spectator staff

THE EUROPEAN Women’s Lobby is the largest non-governmental women’s organisation in the EU. It serves as a link between political decision-makers in the EU and more than 4,000 women’s associations in 15 member states.

When Slovakia acceded to the EU, Slovak women mobilised and formed their own umbrella organisation for women’s rights groups: The Women’s Lobby of Slovakia (ŽLS). The ŽLS is working with the European Women’s Lobby towards a common goal: achieving gender equality in Europe.

Slovakia on the Way to Middle Ages

The „Velvet Revolution” in Czechoslovakia was marked by mutual understanding of people and by new hope. Streets and squares full of  enthusiastic people chanted slogans and breathed with the visions of new, better society. One of the ten basic demands formulated by public was also the separation of state and church, which in communism used to be regulated and hold down. It was the church, which together with the environmental movement in the communist times  created the „islands of positive derivation” in the underground and became the leading force of revolution. Already shortly after having got the grips of power, new Christian-democratic Movement (KDH) started forming defining itself by the fundamentalist ideology.

Whose work? Whose pension?

Gender mainstreaming v dôchodkovej reforme, engl, pdf

Master Thesis, Rose Mayreder College, Viedeň, 2006

Mothers

RSI – ENGLISH SECTION – SOCIETY

The Slovak Constitution guarantees equality between men and women. Nevertheless, discrimination against women is not a rare feature of our society. Although the emancipation and participation of women in politics arrived after the fall of communism, so did the strong influence of the church. Therefore, a woman is very often only put into the role of a mother. Thus, she is pushed out of higher positions, even though she is well educated and skilled. In an interview with Olga Pietruchova from the Possibility of Choice NGO, we talked about Slovak mothers.

Global Women’s Voices: Share Personal Stories

www.feministcampus.org

In the near future the Constitutional Court of Slovak Republic will make decision on the compliance of so called “abortion law” with the Constitution. Despite the fact, that for both experts and common people repressive decision seems like impossible, the reality may be different. Conservative forces follow in their struggle for the ban of artificial abortion so called “the Polish way” and they have very strong and influential backing. Among their biggest advantages is, that broad public has no information about upcoming decision and therefore no open resistance exists. All opinion polls show clear refusal of women against the ban and support for demand “to have right to decide about my own body”