Engender blog

Towards a New Common Chapter

Since spring this year, Engender has been involved in the 'Towards a New Common Chapter' project coordinated by the Centre for Cross Border Studies. Here, our policy and parliamentary manager Eilidh Dickson looks at our international work and our work on the project so far.

Engender’s work across the UK, Europe and internationally is a vitally important aspect of the feminist policy and advocacy work that we do.

Progressing women’s rights and equality in Scotland often depends on the learning and experience we can gather from our sisters across the women’s sector, both nationally and through international networks such as the UK Joint Committee on Women and the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), the largest umbrella body of feminist organisations in Europe. So often, challenging the root causes of gender inequality demands the same or similar actions wherever we are, and being able to rely on and show solidarity as women’s organisations is crucial in amplifying our work.

Can foreign policy ever be truly feminist?

Margot Wallström certainly believes it can, and proudly declared she was setting Sweden on the path to a ‘feminist foreign policy’ in 2014.

Despite this, her resignation announcement last week, after 5 years as Sweden’s foreign minister, didn’t mention her feminism and instead described her role as ‘promoting Sweden's security and prosperity in the world’. In reality this has meant a focus on arms exports and a regressive migration policy. Both things you would be hard-pressed to describe as feminist, but her description misses out her other work on sexual violence, on nuclear disarmament, and in defence of women’s rights.

Engender joins forces with over 85 civil society organisations to express concerns about no-deal

Today Engender has joined forces with over 85 organisations from across the UK in expressing our shared and serious concerns about the impacts a no-deal Brexit will have on civil society. Collectively, we have called on the Prime Minister to urgently engage with civil society to address the risks that leaving the EU without a deal on the 31st October presents.[1]

Signatories of the letter have serious concerns that a no-deal exit will be a direct threat to the peace process in Northern Ireland, result in regression of rights and standards, uncertainty about the future, and about the lack of adequate engagement and support from the Government.

Feminism on Film: Engender joins with Take One Action Film Festival

Films can be an amazing way to explore new ideas, understand complex issues, and celebrate change. And documentary film is a particularly good medium for discussion, as anyone who's overheard conversations about Fyre Festival, R Kelly or Apollo 11 this year will know.