"A truly feminist and political Generation Equality Forum cannot happen without the full and complete participation of those most affected and without concrete commitments from governments to gender equality and SRHR!"
Family Planning and Equipop have been working together for several years on SRHR (sexual and reproductive health and rights). What are the challenges?
Women's rights to control their own bodies and make their own choices about sexuality and reproduction are the subject of controversy and challenge. Feminist movements in France have fought to enshrine these rights in law, but the law alone is not enough. Their application must be guaranteed through the establishment of the necessary services and effective access throughout the country and for all people. Too many women and girls still struggle to obtain contraception or abortion.
These issues are all the more pressing in the West African context. The region has a high rate of unwanted pregnancies, maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, as women and girls face significant barriers to exercising their sexual and reproductive rights. There is a need to strengthen and support the advocacy of women's organizations and feminist associations that fight for these rights and the establishment of services, and strive for their implementation through a rights-based approach.
How do Le Planning Familial and Equipop complement each other in their advocacy work?
A feminist and popular education movement, Planning has been campaigning for over 60 years for gender equality, the right to sex education, contraception, and abortion, and against violence and discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. Our expertise in sexual health and our advocacy are based on our work in the field, alongside and in close contact with the people concerned, particularly young people. Equipop also promotes SRHR for women and girls around the world and works to strengthen women's and feminist movements and associations, specifically in West Africa. This allows us to pool our experience and expertise, making us key partners in helping to shape national and international public policy.
Planning Familial and Equipop are working together on the Generation Equality Forum (GEF). What exactly is planned?
Equipop and Planning Familial share the conviction that this forum must be feminist and political. It must advance women's rights and gender equality. It must be an opportunity for France to put feminist foreign policy into practice. This cannot be done without the participation of feminist associations and movements, in all their diversity and with an intersectional and intergenerational approach. Our goal is to make these voices heard and to influence the summit and action coalitions in a process of co-construction with governments through the coalition of associations "Générations Féministes" (Feminist Generations), which we helped to structure.
