During periods of upheaval, it is very difficult for women's organizations to carve out a moment to reflect and develop strategies, consolidate alliances, and plan collective activities. The issue of women is highly political, so it is critical for associations to come together to develop a collective strategy. The MedWF aims to organize, coordinate and lead such meetings.
Due to the political landscape on both the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, political and social priorities always overshadow women's issues. In such thorny situations, even the women's movement struggles to consider its cause to be as essential and urgent as any other issue.
And although women share many goals in their battle for equality, their movement clearly lacks unity. While there is a consensus regarding certain battles, two major elements compound this lack of unity: associations in many countries are divided over points of disagreement, and there is a lack of transmission between older and younger generations.
This was how our desire to strengthen the women’s movement in the Mediterranean basin was born. We hold one unwavering conviction: only a strong women's movement can and will bring about the change needed for greater equality and justice.
Meetings of Med-Feminiswyia, a network of women journalists - Rabat 2019
The idea of a network of Mediterranean feminist journalists emerged in July 2018, at a meeting in Italy of 18 women from 10 countries. They decided to create Med-Feminiswyia, the Mediterranean network for feminist information. The network's goals were reaffirmed in July 2019 during the meeting of its members in Rabat.
Discussion and strategic reflection workshop of the Croatian women's movement
7-8 September 2018 in Zagreb
This workshop, commissioned by Croatian feminist associations, was the sixth organized in the country since 2013. The workshop brought together 18 Croatian women representing 19 women's associations (from 10 different cities). Several sessions in working groups, followed by presentations in a plenary session, enabled the participants to define their priorities.
Strategic reflection meeting with women’s associations working in underprivileged neighborhoods of the Ile-de-France region – 4 and 5 June 2016 in Paris
In June 2015, following increased awareness linked to the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, the MedWF organized the first strategic reflection workshop on the increasingly difficult situation encountered in underprivileged neighbourhoods, with rising pressure from fundamentalists and setbacks in the emancipation of women.
In response to the requests of associations, another meeting was organized in Paris in June 2016 to move forward on proposals that emerged from the first meeting. Twenty people, including 15 representatives of 10 associations from the Ile-de-France region, gathered for two days in Paris.