At a time when civic participation
\nis on the rise in Romania, going through a period of revival, women’s activism
\nhas become increasingly visible, too. Women’s civic participation has been
\ngrowing, just like the number of women entrepreneurs and their participation in
\nthe political life. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The book market has noticed this
\ndevelopment too, and has started focusing on the phenomenon. In 2011, the
\neconomist and politician Andreea Paul-Vass coordinated the publishing at
\nPOLIROM of three volumes, in which several women tell the stories of their
\nsuccess, be it in politics, economy or in terms of civic activism. The latest
\nvolume, titled Women’s Civic Power has been launched this year and is
\nevidence of the fact that women are the majority in the NGO sector, as Andreea
\nPaul-Vass also told us:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The volume ‘Women’s Political
\nPower’ was published in 2011, telling stories about women from all political parties.
\nThe second volume was released in 2016, titled ‘Women’s Economic Power’, to
\nwhich exceptional entrepreneurs contributed. So, the year 2018 was the right
\ntime to highlight the civic spirit in women. Every time one of the three
\nvolumes was published, I was working in that very field. That is why I was so
\nimpressed listening to the stories of these great women, who dared to activate
\ntheir civic spirit. We, as women, have this natural drive and instinct to restore
\nbalance, to improve society, to right the wrong. In civil society, women make
\nup the largest group. On the map of social innovators, 53% of those who set up
\nand run NGOs are women. As regards entrepreneurship, things are not that good,
\nbut they are not bad either. One in three entrepreneurs today is a woman. As
\nregards politics, the situation is different from that in politics or civil
\nsociety. When ‘Women’s Political Power’ was published, approximately 10% of the
\nmembers of Parliament were women. But, less than a decade on, the number of
\nwomen in Parliament has doubled. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Journalist Daniela Palade
\nTeodorescu, a journalist with the Cariere
\nmagazine offers an explanation for
\nwhy women are so involved in this field in such great numbers in Romania: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
These women are proof that civic power
\nexists. Many of them are, for instance, mothers and daughters who have decided
\nnot to keep complaining that their loved ones are ill and the state does
\nnothing to help them. They have just said: ‘I am the change. There is no point
\nin waiting for this system to give me something, and expecting change from the
\ntop. I am going to militate for the rights of my children, of my parents, of
\nall those who suffer.’ In fact, this book is about what I like to call ‘the
\npower of vulnerability’. It’s about women who’ve been faced with critical
\nsituations, but who have managed to overcome them and decided it was high time
\nthey started doing something to help the others too. There are many anonymous
\nheroines, women who have made tremendous efforts without anybody knowing and
\nwho actually don’t understand why people should talk about them. They believe
\nthat they are doing what they are doing because they have to. But, still, the
\nfact that they are now in the limelight has motivated them even more, because
\nthey have received confirmation that what they do is right, so they keep
\ngoing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The stories of the 100 women
\npublished in ‘Women’s Civic Power’ is also proof of women’s solidarity. The
\nvalue of a woman also lies in the number of other women they help stand up on their
\nown one of the protagonists says in the book. Here is Daniela Palade
\nTeodorescu again:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
When you have an autistic child and
\nare referred to one doctor and then to another and sent from one hospital to
\nanother and when your child gets the wrong diagnosis you say you cannot
\ncontinue this way and that you must do something. You ask yourself, ‘What’s
\nthis child going to do in life? Who’s going to take care of him or her? And
\nsocial networks have fostered the setting up of communities of people with the
\nsame needs, which can have greater power.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
By and large Romania’s
\nnon-governmental sector is well developed; and that, according to experts,
\nstands proof of the government’s inability to deal with some issues. The
\ngovernment doesn’t get involved in issues of great interest for society and
\ndoesn’t allow them any funding, says feminist Mihaela Miroiu, a professor at
\nthe National School of Political and Administrative Studies:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Another process, which is happening
\nin Romania and which the aforementioned book deals with, is the fact that an
\nNGO will in time turn into a genuine professional organisation, which means
\nthat the people working there will become experts, honing skills in their
\nfields of activity. While the political field is characterised by amateurishness,
\nincompetence and deceit, the non-governmental sector is producing experts. So
\nthere is a societal rift, but the good news is that at least one part of this
\nrift runs smoothly and that’s the civic entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A 2017 survey of the NGO sector in Romania carried by the Foundation for
\nCivil Society Development showed that out of the 88,000 existing NGOs only 42,000
\nwere in fact active.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As civic participation is on the rise in Romania, womens activism has become more visible, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":142891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[43718],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-142890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-women-activism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n