to make women´s rights, gender equality and social justice
a reality for women globally!
WIDE makes a difference!
·WIDE is the only network in Europe striving specifically for gender equality, women´s rights and social justice in development, trade and macroeconomic policies and practices in the EU
·WIDE encourages women´s empowerment and leadership for collective action; WIDE is currently supporting women´s rights organisations in the MENA region, strengthening alliances and building capacities for guaranteeing women´s rights in political transitions coming from Arab Springs
·WIDE searches and voices alternatives coming from women´s organizations and social movements around the world built on: solidarity, gender equality, political autonomy and commitment to taking care of life and nature,to counter the failure of the dominant economic market model
What can you do to support WIDE?
1.Membership fees, subscriptions and donations to WIDE - no matter how small - will be part of the global solution so any amount is most welcome! If you want to help please visit our website and make your donation/payment through PayPal (press DONATE button on home page). Or send your donation by bank transfer to WIDE´s bank account BE98 0012 8088 4693 GEBABEBB - BNP Paribas Fortis Bank, Place du Luxembourg, 14, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
2.Forward us any contacts of individuals, organisations and donors that might be able to donate or lend us some money in a short time-frame (by end of September), possibly through a solidarity grant or loan.
3.Raise funds for WIDE: spread the WIDE leaflet broadly to your contacts, potential donors, allies and friends outside the network asking for solidarity with WIDE.
4.Share with us any other ideas you may have to support WIDE!
For any questions on financial support, please contact Angela Van Aalst, Finance/Administration Manager (angela@wide-network.org).
WIDE´s call for solidarity: many thanks! / A ´new development chapter´: where is the EU agenda heading? / WIDE on the road to Busan reaction to the EU´s position / WIDE statement at KULU-DIHR NGO meeting with Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet / Women´s rights in Italy: concluding observations of the CEDAW Committee: stereotypes and gender violence are the major challenges / Civil society urges G20 to focus on rights at financial and climate negotiations / WIDE-CRTD-A Annual Conference 2011 / 2011 AWID Global Survey: Where is the Money for Women´s Rights?/ Global Gender Gap Report 2011: Women Losing Ground in Economic, Political Inequality/ CONCORD´s report ´Spotlight on EU Policy Coherence for Development: a Lisbon Treaty provision, a Human Rights obligation´ / New WIDE publications
WIDE Annual Conference 2011
Women's Rights and Gender Equality amidst the "Arab Springs". Challenges and Lessons Learnt across Regions 27-28 October 2011, Brussels, Belgium
New Council Work Programme for Polish, Danish and Cypriot Presidencies Published / Public Consultation on EC Trade and Development Communication / European Women´s Lobby, WIDE and CONCORD Statement on European Union Funding Programmes for the Financial Period 20142020 / No Significant Process towards Protecting Women´s Rights in Italy: WIDE Italian Platform at the 49th Session of CEDAW / Roj Women Meets UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women / Cooperation and Partnership between Europe and Arab Countries: a New Start towards Human Rights and Social Justice is Needed / World Bank Launches First Ever Trade Strategy / LDC Package at 8th WTO Ministerial Meeting in December? / EUSouth Korea Free Trade Pact Comes into Force / Next UNCTAD Meeting to Take Place in Doha, 2126 April 2012 / New Publications from WIDE / New Resources.
Key Demands from Women´s Rights Organizations and Gender Equality Advocates To the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Busan 2011) and the Development Cooperation Forum (2012)
As feminists, gender equality and women´s rights activists and organizations mobilizing on the road to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4), this document reaffirms our vision for transformation and offers concrete recommendations for improving the international development cooperation architecture.
Download here the living document open for comments and endorsements
European Women´s Lobby, WIDE and CONCORD Statement on European Union funding programmes for the financial period 2014-2020
The European Women´s Lobby (EWL), WIDE Network, and the Gender Working Group of CONCORD the European Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs, call on European and national policy-makers to ensure that EU funding programmes for the 2014-2020 financial period will provide the framework and sufficient financial resources to strengthen the EU commitment to promote women´s rights and gender equality in all areas of its internal and external policies. This paper complements the joint statement of the three organisations ´Towards gender responsive, accountable, and participatory post 2013 EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework´ released in May 2011.
Prostitution: at the intersection between sexual and economic exploitation
WIDE National platform in Belgium Le Monde selon les Femmes is running anti-prostitution campaign: "Prostitution: at the intersection between sexual and economic explotation". A comprehensive brochure as well as accompanying DVD has been produced in the framework of this campaign
WIDE Checks up on Gender Equality and Women's Rights in the Aid Effectiveness on the Road to Busan
This policy brief summarises the most important findings of the mapping study based on women´s organisations´ voices carried out by WIDE on EU donors´ compliance with their ownership and mutual accountability commitments made in the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action. WIDE has focused on the EU´s intentions and actions as donors based on the example of five Member States: Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. The brief highlights how gender equality and women´s rights have been addressed in the changing aid modalities context; it points out to the gaps, and suggests ways for improvement.
WIDE Contribution to the Current Debate on EU Development Policy
At the end of 2010, the European Commission (EC) launched a debate on the future of EU development policy by organising a public consultation on the Green Paper "EU Development Policy in support of inclusive growth and sustainable development - Increasing the impact of EU development policy".In this briefing paper the WIDE Network resumes its main critical analysis on this Green Paper, a first draft EC´s future Development Cooperation Policy and puts forward some proposals from a women´s rights, gender and social justice approach. The briefing aims at introducing to the WIDE network and to its partners the current EU debates on development policy; it highlights main issues at stake and proposes entry points for joint advocacy actions at national and European level.
Economic Alternatives for Gender and Social Justice:Voices and Visions from India and Latin America
With the dominant neoliberal model of the economy causing one crisis after another, the search for alternative development pathways has become an urgent necessity. By linking the macro and the micro economic levels, WIDE wants to facilitate and support processes which challenge mainstream economic thinking from a feminist perspective and start thinking outside the box. In many parts of the world women are developing conceptual and practical alternatives in a local context, in everyday life or on a macro level. By compiling experiences from different regions and countries, promoting transnational feminist dialogues and linking alternatives, WIDE wishes to contribute to the "fierce struggle to recreate the world" (Paolo Freire) and to the decolonisation of the mind.
This briefing paper is based on two earlier publications by WIDE: In Search of Economic Alternatives for Gender and Social Justice: Voices from India and Economic Alternatives for Gender and Social Justice: Voices and Visions from Latin America. These publications contain short articles collected from India and Latin America. The essays not only suggest new and alternative ideas to achieve sustainable development, social and gender justice in the context of the globalised neoliberal model, at the same time they draft some general guiding principles and building blocks for identifying and shaping pathways towards an alternative micro- and macro-economic development agenda. Each of them proves that women are developing transformative agency on a conceptual and a practical level, demystifying the TINA ideology ("There Is No Alternative!") and are on their way to make TATA a reality: "There Are a Thousand Alternatives".
Economic Alternatives for Gender and Social Justice: Voices and Visions from Latin America
This is the second publication in the series "Economic Alternatives for Gender Equality and Social Justice" produced by WIDE. "Economic Alternatives for Gender and Social Justice: Voices and Visions from Latin America" reflects WIDE´s strategic goal to promote the construction of alternatives to the current dominant economic model from a feminist perspective. This publication is the result of a longstanding collaboration between WIDE and her allies in Latin America.
"Mapping Strengths, Needs and Knowledges of Women's Rights Civil Society Organisations"
This report introduces the results of a mapping exercise carried out by WIDE in 2010-2011. The mapping was an initiative of Hivos, WIDE, KARAT and IGPN under a project funded by the European Commission. It aimed to identify strengths, needs and knowledges of organisations and individuals in Europe and the global South that promote women´s rights in the field of trade and development.
A separate directory containing information from the mapping questionnaires, is available for the participants and organisations involved in the mapping upon request. For more information, please contact the WIDE Secretariat: laura@wide-network.org. The mapping directory is also available for WIDE members on WIDE intranet. Mapping Report Summary
Agrofuel Production: the World Food Situation, the Right to Food and the Impact on Women
Increasing oil prices, rising energy demands, climate change and Kyoto Protocol commitments are the causes of an emerging worldwide renewable energy boom. These renewables include agrofuels, such as agrodiesel made from rapeseed, palm oil, soybean oil or other types of vegetable oil, as well as agroethanol made from corn, wheat, sugarcane, sugar beet and other starch-containing plants. This paper aims to study the relation between the extensive cultivation of crops (staple, for the most part) for these fuels and the right to food, as well as the obligation of states to ensure food security. Moreover, we will also analyse agrofuels´ real climate change mitigation potential.
Read the analysis developed by WIDE Austria in German and in English.
Just Budgets
Budgeting for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. Practical tool. Download the poster in English and in Spanish.
The toolkit has been developed by One World Action and made available in Spanish by WIDE.
EU Donors under Women's Watch - WIDE Checks up on Gender Equality and Women's Rights in the Aid Effectiveness Agenda on the Road to Busan 2011
This report maps the degree to which European Union donors from Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK comply with the commitments they made in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, and the impact this has on gender equality and women´s human rights.While each of the five Paris Declaration principles offers concrete opportunities to advance the gender profile, the report focuses on democratic ownership and mutual accountability as the most political and with the biggest potential to reduce the gaps and empower women. The WIDE-check is about the intentions and actions of donors, not about the concrete results in developing countries.The report highlights positive cases and initiatives, criticises the gaps, and points out the opportunities for improvements, reflecting the evidence-based voices of women´s organisations from the EU. The countries reviewed in the report were selected on the basis of WIDE membership and the platforms´ engagement in the aid and development effectiveness process.
WIDE is delighted to present our Annual Report 2010. This publication combines the overview of the network's activities implemented throughout the year 2010.
2010 was a year of reflection for WIDE. Looking back at its life story as a network, WIDE can chronicle 25 years of a joint struggle to strengthen women´s economic, social, political and cultural rights. Since 1985 we have been reflecting, sharing and working together with our members to hold European governments and multilateral and regional institutions accountable for their commitments, and to ensure progress towards a gender- and socially just world we seek to promote.
The Other Financial Crisis: Poor Women, Small Credits, Big Businesses
India is in the midst of a financial crisis that shows striking similarities to the US subprime crisis, both in its origins and the rescue strategies used. Just as the cheap mortgage granted to low-income households in the USA, the microcredits given to poor women in rural areas worked out as financialisation of everyday life and integration of the women into the global financial market with its return-based logic.
In this paper, Christa Wichterich critically analyses the microcredit scheme. Read the article from here.
WIDE Annual Conference 2010 Report
Migration and globalisation are key issues for the women´s movement as they are having serious impacts on women´s lives and rights.
Women from all corners of the globe including many representatives from European migrant women associations came together at the WIDE conference to share and reflect on this open question of migrant women´s human rights at risk, compelling us to rethink, expose and denounce the architecture of policy-making in Europe (and globally), and to explore the links between decisions taken at a global level and the impact they have on the ground.
Women's Labour MIgration in the Context of Globalisation
The report Women's labour migration in the context of globalisation offers an introduction to important contemporary political analysis on the influence of globalisation on women´s work, mobility and empowerment. Authors of the report Anja K. Franck and Andrea Spehar explain how globalisation shapes women´s labour migration.
WIDE Annual Conference 2011
New Council Work Programme for Polish, Danish and Cypriot Presidencies Published / Public Consultation on EC Trade and Development Communication / European Women´s Lobby, WIDE and CONCORD Statement on European Union Funding Programmes for the Financial Period 20142020 / No Significant Process towards Protecting Women´s Rights in Italy: WIDE Italian Platform at the 49th Session of CEDAW / Roj Women Meets UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women / Cooperation and Partnership between Europe and Arab Countries: a New Start towards Human Rights and Social Justice is Needed / World Bank Launches First Ever Trade Strategy / LDC Package at 8th WTO Ministerial Meeting in December? / EUSouth Korea Free Trade Pact Comes into Force / Next UNCTAD Meeting to Take Place in Doha, 2126 April 2012 / New Publications from WIDE / New Resources.
The European Women´s Lobby (EWL), WIDE Network, and the Gender Working Group of CONCORD the European Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs, call on European and national policy-makers to ensure that EU funding programmes for the 2014-2020 financial period will provide the framework and sufficient financial resources to strengthen the EU commitment to promote women´s rights and gender equality in all areas of its internal and external policies. This paper complements the joint statement of the three organisations 
WIDE National platform in Belgium 
This is the second publication in the series "Economic Alternatives for Gender Equality and Social Justice" produced by WIDE. "Economic Alternatives for Gender and Social Justice: Voices and Visions from Latin America" reflects WIDE´s strategic goal to promote the construction of alternatives to the current dominant economic model from a feminist perspective. This publication is the result of a longstanding collaboration between WIDE and her allies in Latin America.
Increasing oil prices, rising energy demands, climate change and Kyoto Protocol commitments are the causes of an emerging worldwide renewable energy boom. These renewables include agrofuels, such as agrodiesel made from rapeseed, palm oil, soybean oil or other types of vegetable oil, as well as agroethanol made from corn, wheat, sugarcane, sugar beet and other starch-containing plants. This paper aims to study the relation between the extensive cultivation of crops (staple, for the most part) for these fuels and the right to food, as well as the obligation of states to ensure food security. Moreover, we will also analyse agrofuels´ real climate change mitigation potential.
This report maps the degree to which European Union donors from Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK comply with the commitments they made in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, and the impact this has on gender equality and women´s human rights.While each of the five Paris Declaration principles offers concrete opportunities to advance the gender profile, the report focuses on democratic ownership and mutual accountability as the most political and with the biggest potential to reduce the gaps and empower women. The WIDE-check is about the intentions and actions of donors, not about the concrete results in developing countries.The report highlights positive cases and initiatives, criticises the gaps, and points out the opportunities for improvements, reflecting the evidence-based voices of women´s organisations from the EU. The countries reviewed in the report were selected on the basis of WIDE membership and the platforms´ engagement in the aid and development effectiveness process.
WIDE is delighted to present our Annual Report 2010. This publication combines the overview of the network's activities implemented throughout the year 2010. 
India is in the midst of a financial crisis that shows striking similarities to the US subprime crisis, both in its origins and the rescue strategies used. Just as the cheap mortgage granted to low-income households in the USA, the microcredits given to poor women in rural areas worked out as financialisation of everyday life and integration of the women into the global financial market with its return-based logic. 
Migration and globalisation are key issues for the women´s movement as they are having serious impacts on women´s lives and rights. 
The report Women's labour migration in the context of globalisation offers an introduction to important contemporary political analysis on the influence of globalisation on women´s work, mobility and empowerment. Authors of the report Anja K. Franck and Andrea Spehar explain how globalisation shapes women´s labour migration.