The UK Joint Committee on Women
Engender is part of the the United Kingdom Joint Committee on Women (UKJCW). The UKJCW represents the UK at the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) and aims to support women and women’s organisations to access information and to inform EWL actions.
UKJW is a coalition made up of 4 women’s organisations representing each of the 4 nations of the UK. Currently, the organisations who sit alongside Engender are:
- National Association of Women’s Organisation (England)
- Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform (Northern Ireland)
- Women's Equality Network Wales (Wales)
How the UKJCW works
The UKJCW was set up to ensure that all four nations of the UK could be represented by the UK’s seat at the European Women’s Lobby. Roles within UKJCW rotate, so different nations take on responsibility for sitting on the EWL board, and co-ordinating UKJCW meetings. Each nation has two people sitting on the UKJCW, and decisions are usually made by consensus.
The UKJCW has a number of responsibilities including submitting motions to the European Women’s Lobby General Assembly, and supporting the motions of other countries. In the past these have included calling for the UK to take action for abortion rights in Northern Ireland, and supporting other countries’ campaigns to ratify the Istanbul Convention. The UKJCW can also nominate people to sit on EWL working groups and observatories, for example on feminist economics and violence against women.
What is the European Women’s Lobby?
The EWL is comprised of 2500 organisations which span over 31 countries in the European Union. Founded in 1990 with support from the European Commission, EWL formed in response to a growing necessity to defend and advocate for women’s interests at the European level. EWL works from a feminist perspective towards securing equal rights, peace and solidarity in Europe and globally, and seeks specifically to promote the participation of women’s organisations at the European level.
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