Five FIERCE Claims for a Feminist Europe

2: Social, Economic and Reproductive Justice

2.1: Achieve reproductive justice NOW

• Reproductive justice goes beyond fundamental reproductive rights, encompassing aspects such as maintaining personal bodily autonomy, freedom of choice in childbearing (including LGBTIQ+ people) and the right to abortion, access to childcare, and issues related to adoption. These vital rights must be accessible to racialised and minoritised women, women with disabilities, those affected by poverty, and any other inequalities. The reason behind this inequality is simple – marginal groups don’t have full access to their rights. A particular emphasis should be put on female genital mutilation (FGM) and combating forced sterilisation, one of the most serious human rights violations that have been documented regarding Romani women and LGBTIQ+ people. JUSTICE means JUSTICE FOR EVERYBODY as a universal model, and no specific population group should be excluded.
• Institute universal health coverage and guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health care services (contraception, abortion, maternal health, accessibility to free medical care, cervical and breast cancer prevention, menstrual hygiene facilities and products etc.), regardless of nationality and citizenship.
• Activate evidence-based decision-making processes based on research and specifically collected data at the European and Member States levels. Use this information to monitor and strengthen sanctioning mechanisms to protect sexual and reproductive rights.
• Combat gender-based physical, verbal and structural violence in the healthcare system—e.g., gynaecological and obstetric violence, primarily including forced sterilisation based on discrimination e.g. of Romani women, LGBTIQ+ people, as well as the denial of abortion care, that violates the universal concept “MY BODY, MY CHOICE.”
• Produce guidelines and design training programmes for healthcare professionals on intersectionality and gender-sensitive treatment, so specialists know how to address and help patients regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, or identity.
• Constitutionalise reproductive rights at the EU level and modify the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), in line with the European Parliament proposals. Ensure the EU is up-to-date with the latest reproductive issues in the Member States (MS) and that legislation is modified accordingly.
• Encourage Member States to focus on the implementation of a basic minimum health insurance (taking into account the socio-economic aspects) to prevent and treat cervical and other types of cancer among women and reduce the percentage of deaths occurring during childbirth and pregnancy.

2.2: Dignify and recognise care work as the cornerstone of life

“EP candidates, your daily life happens because of people who stay in the background and care for your infants, school-age children, ill, disabled, and elderly people. Next time, look at them Properly! They are the people who work A LOT and receive LITTLE!”

• Care is a public matter!

– Create a European Public Care system that addresses the universal need for care, guarantees access to public and quality services, particularly for migrant and marginalised people based on their country of origin, social status (undocumented, refugees, indigenous people, etc.), and valorises the work of carers. Offer reasonable inclusive care opportunities regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, political choice, citizenship, etc.

• Turn care into a universal right: TO CARE FOR SOMEONE and TO BE THE SUBJECT OF CARE!

– Build up on the European Care Strategy to promote a non-profit, relationship-centred quality care model that avoids privatisation and does not dismantle public services. 

– Stop the “uberization” of home care services through platforms that dehumanise and impersonalise the employer-worker relationship. Technology should facilitate working processes and simplify daily tasks, not undermine common interpersonal relationships. 

• Care work must be decent work!

– Recognise the rights of care and domestic workers, regardless of their administrative status (citizen, regular or irregular migrant). Focus on providing equal opportunities, especially pay equity.

– Recognise specific rights of care and domestic workers, such as providing specific treatment for professional diseases, regulating the second shift of live-in domestic workers, guaranteeing protection against discrimination, providing maternity protection during maternity leave, and claiming childcare benefits, among other things.

– Recognise the time spent in care activities for pension rights regardless of the workers’ legal status (citizen, documented or undocumented migrant).

– Ratify and implement the ILO’s Convention 189 to provide fair and acceptable working conditions for domestic workers.

2.3: Decent work for all: Decent conditions! Decent opportunities! Decent legislation!

• Guarantee everyone’s access to quality jobs considering dignity and equality, with proper working conditions and a fair income (access to decent work according to the ILO’s standards). Address the problem of migrant women’s work opportunities, who have the least paid jobs but are most needed in the EU. Create mechanisms to protect workers from discrimination considering their de facto subordinate position in the working relationships.
• Protect workers from all forms of exploitation (verbal harassment, physical violence, minimum wages, unregistered employment, extended work hours, etc).
• Guarantee social protection rights, such as access to social security, healthcare, and retirement benefits.

3: Fighting Against SGBV (Sexual and Gender-Based Violence)

3.1: Implement and improve the EU directive on violence against women (VAW) and visualise the bigger picture – institutional violence that creates structural discrimination

The EU Directive on VAW and domestic violence has been an important first step in addressing and tackling sexual and gender-based violence. The Directive needs content improvements and effective implementation according to the document’s original proposal, which is an achievable goal for EP candidates.

• Add modifications to the directive and implement a consent-based definition of rape, as well as intersex genital mutilation/coercive medicalisation and forced sterilisation as forms of SGBV.
• Avoid an instrumentalisation of the directive by ensuring the complete implementation of each of its components. Go beyond criminalisation and emphasise prevention, considering additionally the content of the Victim’s Rights Directive and the Istanbul Convention. Adopt a victim-centred approach to address the underlying issues and provide adequate victim support.
• Guarantee national and local implementation of the directive by sharing examples of successful case studies using cross-checked facts, data, functional tools for combating SGBV, legislative precedents, and media coverage.
• Add gender-based violence to the EU Treaties Article 83.1 TFEU to recognise it as a serious crime that needs a common combating approach. 
• Address the perpetration of the SGBV by the state institutions (non-recognition of the victims of SGBV, corruption, obstetrical and gynaecological violence, reduced access to basic health care, etc.).
• Address SGBV as a transnational problem by periodically reporting on selected indicators (e.g., femicides, cyber-harassment) and applying an intersectional approach to data collection and analysis. Use media coverage as a tool to increase awareness.
• Stop harmful practices like female genital mutilation and promote dignified menstruation, contrasting social stigma, limitations, mistreatment, aggression, and the denial of access to essential services and resources.

3.2: Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) for all young people in Europe:  An informed and empowered generation

Address gender-based violence as a cultural problem for all nationalities, promoting prevention through education and raising awareness of sexism. Guarantee that age-appropriate material for comprehensive sex education and a curriculum spanning all life stages and well-trained educators are available to all public and private institutions, including pre-schools, schools, universities, colleges, vocational training institutes, adult educational centres, and others. 

• Mandatory and standardised CSE materials for children in the EU countries, addressing consent, gender norms, intersectional discrimination, LGBTIQ+ rights, SGBV, and sexual violence against children, including incest and other issues with real case studies.
• Guarantee constant EU funding and allocation of resources for CSE material development and implementation.
• Introduce specific training courses and materials for teachers and educators highlighting CSE themes and giving valid examples of problem-solving.
• Consider an intersectional perspective on CSE that includes the sexual rights of people with disabilities and the complexity of discrimination based on identity markers (gender, ethnicity, religion, etc.).

4: Protect LGBTIQ+ Rights

4.1: Legal protection of LGBTIQ+ rights

Advocate and push for an anti-discrimination law to criminalise homo-transphobia and close the legal gap in the protection of LGBTIQ+ people’s rights, who are one of the most discriminated and marginalised population groups in Europe.

• Extend efforts beyond the EC LGBTIQ Equality Strategy and promote an EU anti-discrimination law to ensure LGBTIQ+ rights.
• Improve current legislation on human rights and anti-discrimination to foster greater inclusivity for the LGBTIQ+ community.
• Address intersectionality within LGBTIQ+ rights based on multiple identity markers (gender, ethnicity, religion, ideology, etc.).
• Include the rights of LGBTIQ+ families (adoption rights, marriage equality, anti-discrimination protections, healthcare access, inclusive environment, etc.).

4.2: Integrate LGBTIQ+ rights into foreign policies

• Make LGBTIQ+ rights protection a criterion in the EU enlargement and accession processes by promoting diversity and combating discrimination.
• Support and fund cooperation programs with civil society in countries where LGBTIQ+ rights are under attack. Provide assistance, protection, and advocacy for LGBTIQ+ communities that face constant threats.
• Foresee binding clauses dedicated to human rights protection in Trade Agreements.
• Oblige parties to adhere to human rights standards and principles by promoting accountability, transparency, and protecting fundamental rights. 

5: Global Development, Peace and Feminist Foreign Policy

Build a global system where solidarity is not barred by political boundaries. Change the current justice landscape to eliminate inequalities and prioritise peaceful conflict resolutions implementing a feminist foreign policy. Recognise women as critical agents of change in globalisation.

5.1: Adjusting the EU’s soft power to build a global institutional framework for peace, development, and sustainability by appealing to its core values, policies, and institutions

• Set up an independent foreign policy, based on feminist foreign policy principles, that prioritises the peace agenda against all wars using a diplomatic and peaceful resolution commitment.
• Strengthen the EU’s role in advocating for a UN system reform that aligns with its original mandate and mission by addressing global challenges.
• Revisit the EU’s financial rules and budget-assigning criteria to stop financing authoritarian regimes and involve women and organisations supporting gender equality in decision-making processes.

5.2: Ceasefire everywhere NOW!

• Prevent any national or international conflict from turning into genocide, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity and take international measures against actors that commit these crimes. Identify potential targets during the conflict’s early stages and ensure protective measures.
• Respect the ICJ’s (International Court of Justice) decisions and avoid complicity in these crimes.
• Improve and ensure a concrete action plan for implementing the women’s peace and security agenda (UN1325).

5.3: Climate, justice and economic governance

• Put people’s rights (individuals and communities) in the centre and prioritise them over corporate interests in economic decision-making processes and governance.
• Modify the debt policy to promote debt restructuring and cancellation models in economically disadvantaged countries.
• Modify tax policies to foster progressive taxation systems, establish a common tax policy, set international tax standards, and eliminate tax havens.
• Stop promoting privatisation and liberalisation of public goods and services through trade policy, which limits access to public services and increases the unpaid care burden—a burden that falls heavily on women.
• Recognise the climate justice demands by accepting the disproportionate impact of climate change on women, girls, and gender-diverse people. It is essential to address existing gender inequalities within climate policies.
• Feminist climate action asserts that women are at the frontline of climate governance. Empowering women economically, socially, and politically is crucial for building resilient communities and fostering sustainable development

5.4: Europe without borders

• Equal rights to all migrants (special focus on refugees and undocumented people).

– Stop racist narratives towards migrants.

– Valorise migrants’ work.

– Regularise the situation of migrant workers currently in irregular employment.

– Offer unrestricted access to public services regardless of administrative asylum status.

– Facilitate the recognition process of country-of-origin qualifications.

• Stop institutional violence and racism towards all migrants (special focus on refugees, undocumented people and racialised minorities [e.g. Roma people]).

– Fight restrictions against freedom of movement.

– Eliminate detention centres for immigrants and asylum seekers.

– Address the global roots of the refugee crisis, including climate disasters, pollution, threats, violent conflicts, and economic precarity.

• Rights for refugee women.

– Revise all EU refugee deals with authoritarian governments to ensure they align with EU values, human rights standards, and ethical considerations.

– Guarantee refugee rights for all refugee women (special focus on victims of SGBV) to promote and facilitate their economic independence, which is key to ensuring their full inclusion.