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– November 20 march: the fight against gender-based and sexual violence, a political issue

  • News, Gender, Advocacy
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As they have done every year for more than twenty years, feminist associations and networks around the world will mobilize at the end of November to denounce gender-based and sexual violence. In France, the demonstration will take on particular significance, five months before the presidential election and with more than 100 femicides already committed in 2021. This is why Equipop, a signatory of the #NousToutes, will be demonstrating again this year.   

This year, by joining the #NousToutes march, Equipop wishes to send a message to political decision-makers and presidential candidates: gender-based and sexual violence are political issues, not private ones. Whether it happens at home, at work, or on the street, violence is never inevitable. Never.  It is the patriarchal organization of our societies and the political choices made within them that enable these crimes, protect the perpetrators, and discredit the victims' accounts.     

One answer: feminist approaches

  The response must therefore be political. Public policies must be conceived from a feminist perspective. deconstruction power relations and models of masculinity. Several priority measures are required.    First, train people who develop and implement public policies to prevent and address gender-based and sexual violence, in order to promote a culture of gender equality and zero tolerance for violence. #MeToo has shown that violence affects all walks of life and professions. These training courses must therefore involve ministries and civil servants in all areas, starting with the police and the justice system.    Next, provide sex education from an early ageHow many students in France, at the age of high school graduation, have today received even the three annual sex education sessions required by the 2001 law?  According to a survey #WeAllTwo out of three high schools have not appointed equality officers. While people are speaking out more freely at universities and in many professions, what measures are being taken in high schools to combat rape culture and encourage victims to speak out without feeling guilty or mistrusted?     

An urgent need: increase public funding 

  To implement these responses, it is urgent to increase funding allocated to combating gender-based and sexual violence. Training government staff, providing sex education, raising public awareness, and offering social, legal, and psychological support to victims all come at a cost. Substantial budgets, used in a feminist approach, will make a difference. This requires financial decisions at the highest level.   With the collective Feminist GenerationsEquipop estimates that 0.1% of GDP should be allocated to combating gender-based and sexual violence, which amounts to just over €2 billion for France. In addition to this, recent increases in the budget of the ministry responsible for gender equality, which should bring it to a total of €50 million for 2022, remain derisory.    Finally, we must move away from self-justifying rhetoric. As we take stock of Emmanuel Macron's five-year term and candidates develop their platforms, Equipop calls on politicians to make the fight against gender-based and sexual violence a government priority and to ensure that their rhetoric, budgets, and practices are consistent. Together with our partners in the various associations where we are active, we will be paying particular attention to this issue. 

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