Press release
Paris, March 23, 2017
Women's rights, international solidarity: two presidential debates to make a firm commitment
Tomorrow, Friday, March 24, the presidential candidates will share their vision of development and international solidarity during a debate at Le Monde's amphitheater. On the same day, at the Maison du Barreau in Paris, the Fondation des Femmes invites them to present their plans for promoting women's rights.
Our organizations naturally call on candidates to commit to these issues, but also and above all to seize the opportunity to link the two subjects. Indeed, at the international level, women's rights are regularly under attack, whether through the conservative positions of certain states within the United Nations or, more recently, through the "Global Gag Rule" introduced by the Trump administration. In the face of these attacks, France must firmly defend women's rights and promote the empowerment of women and girls, which is a powerful lever for development.
In developing countries, as in France and everywhere else, the cornerstone of women's rights is what is known as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The right to control one's own body, the right to control one's fertility and to freely express one's sexuality are the most intimate and fundamental rights. They are a necessary condition for equality between women and men and for women's autonomy in all economic spheres.
The five-year term that is coming to an end has certainly helped to put these issues on the agenda. On March 8, 2017, François Hollande, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and Laurence Rossignol launched the "Paris Pledge," which encompasses several pre-existing strategies. This document advocates, in particular, the universal recognition of sexual and reproductive rights and all freedoms for girls and women. However, France's official discourse has never been backed up by funding commensurate with the challenges at stake—our organizations have repeatedly pointed this out over the past two years.
The next five years will be crucial. We call on candidates to commit to significantly funding initiatives that promote SRHR and respond to the real needs of women and girls, whose rights are ignored and whose health and lives are threatened on a daily basis. In early March, some 20 countries contributed to the "She Decides" initiative in response to the Global Gag Rule, and Canada announced $650 million over three years for these issues. Other countries are following suit; France must do the same in the coming months. At this stage, it is simply a matter of genuine political will.
Contact: Nicolas Rainaud, Advocacy Officer, Equipop nicolas.rainaud@equipop.org ; +33 (0)6 73 72 25 37
