National NGOs’ campaigns within the project “Mobilise against sexism!” were conducted by the member organisations of the European Women's Lobby (EWL) in Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain in 2020-2021 to raise awareness and combat sexism in key sectors of society.
A first phase of the project was conducted in 2020 in nine countries. The second phase was implemented in seven countries (all except Belgium and Ireland).
ROWL, EWL’s national coordination in the country, focused the campaign against sexism on different levels and towards different target groups, involving young girls from rural areas, university students, diasporas and Romanian institutions.
The topics were often discussed during webinars and ranged from violence against women, to the impact of sexism on the life of public servants, and on particularly vulnerable groups.
ROWL published two calendars (2021 and 2022) which show that examples of sexism exist in several places and situations (e.g., in sport, private sphere, at work, in the media).
The Romanian Women’s Lobby (ROWL) worked closely with the Associazionne Donne Rumene in Italy to reach out to migrant women from all fields of activity from the Romanian diaspora living and working in Italy. Over the past months, the ROWL organised webinars and other activities to raise awareness on sexism and encouraged the Romanian women to share their experiences on sexism and discuss how to combat these forms of sexism that further places them in vulnerable situations.
Sexism in the justice sector
The ROWL worked on a series of activities to expose incidences and experiences of sexism in the justice sector. This resulted to ROWL being invited to the conference organised by the Romanian Parliament to be a key speaker regarding how to tackle sexism in the justice sector. ROWL also organised a webinar on sexism in justice and sexism against women in politics with the support of MP Senator in Romanian Senate Juridical Committee Iulia Scantei. On both activities, ROWL shared the EWL MAS project and the Recommendation on sexism of the Council of Europe.
Towards further cooperation with NGOs
In 2021, the social media campaign reached its greatest success thanks to Facebook posts about sexism and domestic violence and the quiz in Romanian-1666 views. Thanks to the campaign, 16 NGOs expressed their support and their will to work together with the ROWL against sexism.They are planning to organise a 2022 campaign using the recommendation against sexism in the political and decision-making process.
events & webinars
29 July 2020
Meeting for introducing the project and the campaign and discussing plans for further implementation with State Secretary Luminita Popescu and Monaliza Cirstea, Director of National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Man. Laura Albu, President of Romanian Women’s Lobby, Daniela Draghici, Vice President ROWL and Andreea Fedor, Communication Director of Women’s got Involved.
6 October 2020
One-hour webinar on violence against women and sexism and Istanbul Convention with a group of 20 students from Petre Andrei University of Lasi, who are studying to become social workers
10 October 2020
Training regarding sexism with a group of girls ages 11- 18, on sexism in general, covering cyber-violence, sexism in justice, sexism in politics and sexism in private lives. Also, the quiz was taken.
30-31 October 2020
Training with 42 professionals working in protected houses for victims of domestic violence at national level included a module on presentation of the campaign on sexism.
25 November 2020
The campaign was promoted during the Conference “Give! Help! Respect” developed online dedicated to 16 Days of Action Against Violence on Women where Laura Albu was one of the key speakers.
The campaign was also promoted during another conference organised by the Romanian Parliament where Laura Albu was key speaker on the issues regarding system improvement and tackling sexism in justice.
29 November 2020
This online webinar on sexism in justice and sexism against women in politics was organised by Romanian Women’s Lobby with the support of MP Senator in Romanian Senate Juridical Committee Iulia Scantei who was the moderator of the event. The video received 28 000 views.
A webinar on sexism on migrant women was organised in collaboration with Associazionne Donne Rumene in Italia, member from diaspora of Romanian Women’s Lobby. Women guests from all fields of activity from Romanian diaspora living and working in Italy joined and shared their experiences. The online event reached 1,205 persons.
Other events organised during project which were not opened to general public and where audiences were either vulnerable groups or professionals working in the field of social services or students at university.
8-11 September 2021
In three cities (Lasi, Roman and Brasov), the ROWL organised the 3-day campaign “Sharing feminist dreams”, where the Council of Europe recommendation was introduced to other NGOs. They planned together their future coalition, targeting sexism in different areas, with a special focus on justice and public sector (44 participants from NGOs (37 women / 7 men).
10 September 2021
A strategic agreement was concluded between ANES (National Agency for Equality between Women and Men), the ROWL and ADRI (Associazionne Donne Rumene Italy) addressing the situation of vulnerable Romanian women in Italy and particularly gender and status based discriminations. The two-years agreement includes specific measures targeting vulnerable women in labour market, prevention of exploitation and discrimination of Romanian women abroad and on common transnational policies. A special attention was given on harmonisation of legislation with Istanbul Convention provisions regarding migrant women and also Chapter II.F from Recommendation (Sexism in Justice) - Measures II.F.1 and 2. 7 representatives from ANES, the ROWL and ADRI.
29 October 2021
Hybrid meeting online and F2F on sexism in justice system (18 participants)
10 December 2021
Discussion around all chapters of the Council of Europe recommendation; strategising steps for 2022 in Lasi (12 participants)
A first phase of the project was conducted in 2020 in nine countries. The second phase was implemented in seven countries (all except Belgium and Ireland).
The project was implemented by the Romanian Women’s Lobby (ROWL) in Romania.
ROWL, EWL’s national coordination in the country, focused the campaign against sexism on different levels and towards different target groups, involving young girls from rural areas, university students, diasporas and Romanian institutions.
Private sphere/work
29 July 2020
Laura Albu, Présidente du ROWL
