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News server Romea.cz. Everything about Roma in one place

Romani Women’s Day: We Are Not A Problem, But An Opportunity!

08 March 2014
2 minute read

This year, to coincide with the 8th of March International Women’s Day,
Romedia Foundation launched a
call to action to Roma Women Organizations from all over Europe. The initiative,
devised under the
auspices of UNESCO’s Global Alliance on Gender and Media, following Romedia’s
participation at the
The First Global Forum on Media and Gender in Bangkok, 2013, intends to draw
attention to the need for
a global means, including media partnerships, promoting a fair and equal media
representation of Romani
women in the media, contributing
to
an
increased
visibility
of
one
of
the
most
vulnerable
minority
groups
in
Europe.

‘We are not a problem, but an opportunity!’- We wanted to turn this year’s
celebratory day into a
special occasion for the voices of Romani women to be added to the global debate.
With this in mind, we
initiated the ”We are not a problem BUT an opportunity” visual campaign,
animated by the need to
actively react to the alarming trend that sees the freedom of movement in Europe
treated as a “Roma
problem”.

We have had people from many European countries, such as Hungary, Romania,
Albania, Germany, Italy,
Finland, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova and Sweden join our visual campaign, thus
contributing to our
Global action plan and embodying a proactive, grassroots approach with regards
to a hugely important
Global matter.

‘Sharing their story!’ – Undertaking this grassroots approach, Romani women
took pictures of
themselves, holding the sign of their protest, contributing, in this manner, to
a solidarity network that
questions the deeply rooted societal prejudices they have to confront,
institutionally and in their everyday
life. This is a simple, yet incredibly powerful act, as every depiction of Roma
women in the mainstream
media always abides to the same rules, being filled with loaded, borderline-racist
terms and presenting
them as alien and mired in stereotype, with little space for their message to be
ever heard. Along with the
ones who joined us in this challenging, but crucial task, we want to promote
change through the insertion
in media of powerful examples of Romani women.

In the following days we will be sharing the contributions to the visual
campaign, in the hope that it will
serve to kick-start a public debate regarding the role of Roma women in European
society.

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