Friday, July 9, 2021
The Generation Equality Forum (GEF) was held last week in Paris. This Forum was supposed to be an opportunity to ratify five-year commitments to accelerate the concrete achievement of gender equality. Progress has been made on the diplomatic front, but in financial terms, France's commitment falls short of feminist movements' expectations and struggles to be reflected in the president's statements. In France and internationally, a glaring lack of funding for bodily autonomy and the fight against gender-based and sexual violence On the morning of the Forum's opening, feminist associations, including the Collectif Générations Féministes, were received by Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace for the first time since the beginning of his five-year term. The Collectif questioned the President about funding for the fight against sexual and sexist violence and the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights and health. Although he acknowledged the importance of increasing funding for the fight against violence and ensuring effective access to comprehensive sexuality education, no financial commitment at the national level was announced during the Forum in this regard. Since the Grenelle Forum on Domestic Violence, the government has ignored the demands of feminist collectives calling for increased funding in France. The budget increase led by Minister Elisabeth Moreno for gender equality—from €29.7 million to €41.5 million (1) – pales in comparison to the demands of associations, which estimate that France should devote 0.1% of its GDP, or €2.2 billion, to combating gender-based violence alone. At the international level, France announced during the Forum an additional €100 million for its international solidarity policy in support of sexual and reproductive rights and health, or €20 million per year, intended primarily to finance a UN program on access to contraception, which is far from sufficient. The Collectif Générations Féministes estimates that that at least €200 million per year is needed to make a real difference in access to sexual and reproductive rights. French feminist diplomacy confronted with its contradictions With less than a year to go before the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron's record on the "great cause" of his five-year term is taking shape, and feminist associations see glaring contradictions in it. On the international stage, France's feminist diplomacy is gaining momentum. By positioning itself as co-leader of a coalition on bodily autonomy, France has chosen to take on highly political issues that are key to feminist struggles. However, the lack of financial ambition in this area, the lack of consistency with public policy in France, and the President's regressive comments on intersectionality and abortion (2) make these choices difficult to understand—even putting the government in an untenable position. Because the seriousness of the issues demands it, and because consistency is essential, the government must structure its discourse and political action around two levers: regular dialogue with feminist associations and increased budgets, particularly for combating gender-based and sexual violence. Will Emmanuel Macron be able to do this before the end of his term? The Collectif Générations Féministes brings together more than fifty associations with diverse identities in order to make feminist voices heard in all their diversity at the Generation Equality Forum and help make the event a powerful feminist and political gathering. generationsfeminists.org Signatory members of the collective: Action Against Hunger, Action Santé Mondiale, Alliance of Lawyers for Human Rights, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, Association d'Aide à l'Education de l'Enfant Handicapé (AAEEH), Biodiversity For Peace, CARE France, Collectif Les Grenades, Collectif NousToutes, Comite Internationale Peruano CIP-ASBL, Coordination SUD, Droits humains pour tou·te·s, Droit pluriel, Empow’Her, En avant toute(s), Engagé.e.s et Déterminé.e.s (E&D), EPAPI-PARIS, Equipop, Excision, parlons-en !, Fédération Parapluie Rouge, Femmes de demain, Femmes et dignité, Femmes-Relais de Gennevilliers Fonds pour les Femmes en Méditerranée, HASINA, Humanity Diaspo, !Dsanté, IFD, Inclusive Society, Institut du Genre en Géopolitique, Ipas, La Minutieuse, Le viol parlons-en by Mrs K, Les Passerelles des savoirs, Médecins du Monde, MINA’s Talents, Oxfam France, Le Planning Familial, Rougemont Solidarité, Sème en Terre, Sidaction, SOLTHIS, Sortons de l’ombre, STRASS, Sunshine, Transat, Transtopie, Voix de Femmes, WECF France, Women Included Press contact: Tara Mukeku-Cilolo – tara.mukekucilolo@equipop.org – 07 49 56 95 41 (1) Women's Rights Delegation: hearing with Ms. Élisabeth Moreno, Minister for Gender Equality, Diversity, and Equal Opportunities (November 5, 2020) (2) Exclusive – Femicide, equality, first lady, crop tops: Macron responds : – On extending the abortion deadline to 16 weeks: “I am not in favor of it (...). You are right, I will never experience it. That does not prevent me from viewing it with much more respect than people who think that having an abortion at 16 weeks is no big deal. All gynecologists say it's more traumatic at that stage." – On intersectionality: "I don't identify with this struggle, which refers to one's identity or particularism (...). I see society gradually becoming racialized (...). Yet intersectional logic fractures everything."
