Photo: Daša Šašić Šilović, Lena Hjelm Wallen, and Björn von Sydow at the Korčula school – LinkedIn
On August 30 and 31, the CEE Gender Network celebrated its 30th anniversary with the 13th edition of the Korčula school. The Network was founded in 1994 with support of the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity. Since then, the Network has advocated for women’s rights and gender equality, primarily focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2014 the Network has also organized the successful Korčula school, which has been a space for open discussion and progressive policy proposals.
During this edition of the Korčula school, Dasa Šašić Šilović, the current chair of the CEE Gender Network, carefully summed up everything that the Network has done over the last 30 years, ranging from the promotion of policy changes to the initiation of important projects. A beautiful example of this is a new project on sexual harassment that was presented on the second day of the school.
This year the Korčula school took place against the background of the European Elections, where we unfortunately witnessed an advance of right wing political parties throughout Europe. This rise of the radical right has been accompanied by a backlash against women’s rights and gender equality in particular. It was therefore no suprise that former president of the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity and former EFDS president and MFA of Sweden, Lena Hjelm Wallen, declared that the challenges we are facing today and 30 years ago are still the same. Nonetheless, because of initiatives such as the Korčula school we have more tools and experience to meet these challenges now.
Despite the unsatisfactory results in the European parliamentary elections, with results in central and eastern Europe being even worse than average for social democrats, the Korčula school was a very happy occasion with relevant debates and stimulating discussions. Unlike the radical right whose aim it is to divide, everyone who attended could agree that, as progressives, we have to unite and face the political challenges of this time as one. And together, we should ensure gender equality remains at the forefront of our political agenda. We must not do this despite the increasing backlash, but precisely because of it.
The CEE Gender Network and the Korčula school remain as important as ever. Much has been accomplished and much is still to be done. We would like to congratulate them with their 30th anniversary and look forward to the next Korčula school.
Written by Guido Boven
