“CLACSO kicks off Women’s Month”
(Transcription of Karina Batthyány's Column)
in InfoCLACSO – March 3. 2021)
-This is the third consecutive year for Women's Month. And I understand that this year it will be very significant, similar to previous years, but I would even venture to say a little more so… I would be interested in hearing from you in some detail about not only the main themes but also the specific actions that will be taken. But first, I wanted to ask you: Why is Women's Month celebrated on the 8th? Dday of the MWomen? What is the point of talking about Women's Month and not the Dday of the MWomen?
-Indeed, we are beginning March, which we like to call Women's Month, as is done in other countries. For example, in the city of Montevideo, this idea of Women's Month has been around for many years. Why a month? Why not a day? Because we need to spend an entire month talking about this issue, celebrating the achievements and denouncing the remaining challenges to achieve equality and equity between men and women. And that's why we prefer not to talk about a day but a month, March, Women's Month, to highlight and make visible all these issues. And that is what we at CLACSO, as you rightly said, have been doing for the last three years: taking March and saying: this is Women's Month, and CLACSO's activities will focus even more intensely on making visible the achievements and the pending issues, the knots that still need to be untied so that our societies, between men and women, can relate and exist under conditions of equality.
That's why we've scheduled many activities this month, such as talks, interviews, publications, and scholarships, to give them wide exposure, to showcase on our website, our social media, and of course here on CLACSO.TV and CLACSO Radio, all the work and reflections that CLACSO has on these topics. But even more importantly, as I said at the beginning: to highlight the achievements and the challenges that still remain in the area of gender equality.
TYou were just talking about the importance of raising these issues, discussions, and talking about a month, but with the idea of that It's not a matter of a day for CLACSO, These aren't just one-month issues; they're topics to be discussed throughout the year. And in that sense, I understand that one project in particular will be inaugurated on March 8th, but it will have a level of continuity throughout the year, offering the possibility of becoming a new observatory…
Yes, exactly. It's a pleasure to announce here at Info CLACSO that on March 8, International Women's Day, we will be launching the "Gender and Dissidence Observatory: Thinking and Acting from Feminist Perspectives" on our website. Thinking and acting from feminist perspectives is what we at CLACSO do every day, through our various programs and activities. The idea behind this observatory—which is, of course, comprehensive and pluralistic, incorporating all the dimensions that intersect with these issues—is to present analyses and contributions from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as from other parts of the world, so that we can always keep in mind—as we do every day—this idea of thinking and acting from feminist perspectives. Thinking and acting from feminist perspectives has always been a strategic focus for CLACSO.
On March 8th we will be presenting this observatory which of course will be with us during March and throughout all the months of the year and the years to come.
-On this path you just mentioned audiovisual productions, I understand there will be work done with the members of the CLACSO Steering Committee, also a special program that will be broadcast live on March 8th…
I want to highlight two initiatives: one will be a dialogue on March 8th, International Women's Day, with social scientists and specialists in these issues from across our region, including Montserrat Sagot from Costa Rica, with whom we've already spoken here on CLACSO.TV; Lucía Scuro from the Gender Affairs Division of ECLAC; and Raquel Drovetta from Argentina. We'll be discussing three key areas related to this topic: women's economic autonomy, gender-based violence, and sexual and reproductive rights. We'll be prioritizing these three themes, although we could have included others. That will take place on March 8th.
But we're also going to have a dialogue with the women members of our CLACSO Steering Committee to talk about a slogan that feminists often repeat, a slogan that has always guided our practice and our reflection: "The personal is political." How do each of us understand this slogan? We'll share our thoughts with our colleagues on the CLACSO Steering Committee. But this doesn't end here: we've already mentioned the Observatory, the dialogue with our leading figures Montserrat Sagot, Lucía Scuro, and Raquel Drovetta, the dialogue with the members of the Steering Committee, and the other initiative you mentioned at the beginning of this program: the initiative with Las 12, the supplement of the Argentine newspaper Página 12, featuring the Chilean constitutional candidates. It will certainly be interesting at this moment to analyze how these women are positioning themselves in this fascinating process unfolding in Chile. But we will also be presenting other initiatives related, for example, to training, with the possibility of awarding scholarships to Latin American and Caribbean women who wish to participate in any of the many training programs offered by CLACSO. And of course, in the area of publishing, we will be recommending cross-readings on feminisms in the various books we have in our Latin American and Caribbean bookstore. And naturally, in the area of research, we will be presenting all the discussions, seminars, and proposals that will be developed by the Working Groups.
And on Thursday the 4th, to go no further, we will also be organizing a Conversation on Gender and Science together from FOLEC-CLACSO with the participation of UNESCO and other leading figures, also promoting the participation of women in science.
Here's a brief overview of some of the activities we'll be carrying out this Women's Month. As I mentioned at the beginning, the important thing is to highlight and powerfully showcase both the achievements and the many remaining challenges to achieving gender equality in our region. Don't be misled: March being Women's Month doesn't mean that CLACSO doesn't prioritize this issue in other months. It's always a strategic focus for CLACSO, but in March we want to give it even greater visibility. We invite you to join us every day of March, from today until the end of the month, for all the activities we've mentioned, as well as those we haven't listed here and any others that may be added, because this is a very dynamic agenda. We look forward to seeing you all.
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