Antwerp

Topic: Historical narratives that still legitimate women’s objectification

Discussed issues:

• Remaining gender roles stereotypes from the 20th century (housewifery; slower career progression);
• Harassment in the workplace;
• Underrepresenativity of women in executive (public and private) positions;
• Revoking of abortion rights in the United States;
• Historical myths (Daphne and Apollo; Persefone and Hades) that legitimate non-consensual sex and marriage, and women’s objectification that perdure until today;
• Reflection on ways the sexist and distorted aspects of Lilith’s archetype have been first linked to and then appropriated by feminists’ actions;
• Importance of raising awareness of power disputes underneath gender violence/inequality.

Questions:

• How do we challenge the discourses that associate ‘being a girl’ with an insult?
• What are the alternatives in education to not reproduce gender roles since childhood?
• How can men also help to break with stereotypes also related to gender performativity (e.g. clothing)?
• What is behind the idea that girls mature earlier than boys? Is there a patriarchal expectation forcing girls to mature earlier?
• What can be efficient and supportive strategies to balance the representation of women in executive/managerial positions? 

The social expectation of what it is ‘to look and be like a man or a woman’ is still strict.

Women have been historically drilled to obey and seek validation from men; fathers, husbands, gods, presidents, kings.

We must support and inspire other women to fight for leading positions, and cease seeing them as threats.

Workshop: Singing with Céline di Maccio

• Practice of the chorus and new strophes of the song ‘Lalla Bouya’ created in previous songwriting sessions.

Topic: Caregiving roles, women’s triple burden and the glass ceiling

Discussed issues:

• Motivation to engage in the project;
• Intersectionality of gender, ethnicity and age;
• Multiple ways in which patriarchy subordinates women to a ‘man’s protection’ and male expectations of beauty and value;
• Underlying relation of family name and property(ies) with the preference for sons rather than daughters;
• Glass ceiling, caring roles and double/triple burden;
• Importance of cross-cultural encounters to raise awareness of sexism and promote change.

Questions:

• How can we act upon prejudice against women occupying public roles due to motherhood?
• Which strategies can help to reduce the glass ceiling without overwhelming women with a triple burden?
• How do we enforce propositions and laws so they can favour gender equality and women’s rights?

The violence directed at migrant women is different than that at a white European. Our perspectives are not the same and we must share information.

In many families, women work, support and are there for the parents AND their children – not the men.

The whole professional environment will push a man and guide him on that learning curve, whereas a woman will always be challenged. They will try to prove that she cannot handle it.

Workshop: Poetry and songwriting with Cleo Klapholz

• Writing of collective poems inspired by the group talk to be used in the song lyrics for the year-end performance at Het Oude Badhuis.

Topic: Strategies to make the city safer and more inclusive

Discussed issues:

• Reflections and strategies to make the city safer and more inclusive;
• The realisation that our idea of safety still relies too much on masculinistic notions of aggression-protection, rather than a feminist outlook that highlights how open, welcoming and green/blue areas lessen violence.

Questions:

• What are the key elements that make women feel unsafe?
• What practical solutions and initiatives can we propose to transform the urban environment?
• Can we think of a feminist city that is not mainly about protection? A feminist city that would defuse most of the aggressivity, so that the few remaining episodes can be handled?

What is an ideal city? Buildings, parks  and facilities should be mixed because the more people are passing by, the safer it is.

A street would feel safer with an officer who knows the neighbourhood and regulates it with some freedom of action.

As usual, it starts with a good idea but because it’s not followed by cleaning and security, it falls apart.

Workshop: Singing and songwriting with Céline di Maccio

• Practice of ‘Lalla Bouya’. Improvisation around the poem ‘Her Body’ written during a previous workshop. Various melodies and musical ideas were put forward.

Topic: Gender bias and sexism in professional roles

Discussed issues:

• Gender bias on professional titles that define the masculine form as the norm;
• Reflections on the intentional lack of women’s acknowledgement in artistic production.

Questions:

• To what extent does the socially constructed bounding of women’s creativity to reproduction invisibilise their artistic expression and recognition?

In Flemish, the word ‘artist’ used to have two gender designations, but now it only has one: the masculine form. If it’s about simplifying, why not the feminine form for everybody?

Workshop: Plastic arts with Renate Els Aerts

• Using the ‘blind drawing’ technique, the participants created a collective collage artwork. While freely creating, the group practised three songs (‘Revolution is Female’; ‘Lalla Bouya’; and ‘Her Body’).

Topic: Underpinning motivations and goals of the ‘2026WOMEN’ project

Discussed issues:

• Understanding that the process to reach equality is relational;
• Reflections on how culture and politics are intertwined, and that the personal is also political;
• Gender-blind political proposals that neglect unpaid caregiving work;
• Challenges in raising children in masculinistic environments (physical and virtual);
• New challenges posed by misinformation, fake news and bias spread through the internet;
• The role of ethics of care in shifting the notion of power as a tool for dominance.

Questions:

• Why do we want to fight for women’s rights?
• Why do we need to fight for women’s rights? 
• How can we advocate for women’s freedom of choice despite personal preferences and beliefs?
• How can women break with the search for an ideal imposed by patriarchy that leads to competition instead of cooperation?
• How do we create a new culture where men and women are more equal?

Even if you raise your sons properly, there is a chance that, knowingly, but ‘just for once and just for fun’, they do something disrespectful.

The problem is that the power is mostly in the hands of a few men and women who act like the men we do not admire!

We dream of a school where Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Philip II of Spain, Cesar or Napoleon are shown as having caused millions of deaths because of their greed and ego, not heroes who ‘built empires’.

Religion doesn’t need to be a problem, it’s the power in using it that is a problem.

Workshop: Acting with Katarina

• Acting exercises and improvisation based on the poems, texts and MC questions developed for the November performance at Het Oude Badhuis. The participants also played ‘tableaux vivants’ around some themes discussed during the mind map making.

Topic: First International Tribunal of Crimes against Women (Brussels, 1976)

Discussed issues:

• Overview of the first International Tribunal of Crimes against Women (Brussels, 1976) with the presence of Nicole van den Ven.
• Similarities in how groups of activist women come organically together to discuss and raise awareness of women’s oppression and rights violations worldwide;
• The topics raised in 1976 are still relevant today and work in progress: sexual crimes; medical and reproductive crimes; economic and political crimes; and domestic and legal crimes.
• Awareness that gender violence intersects with other aspects such as age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and parenthood.
• The importance of art and humour in helping to deal with anger, frustration and sadness, and to spread the message peacefully.

Questions:

• How can we ensure women’s multiple backgrounds, perspectives and socio-political preferences are respected when fighting for collective rights?

The Tribunal wasn’t exactly made to judge, it was rather to put out testimonies into the world, like many feminist groups in the ’70s, the consciousness-raising groups.

There was also a self-defence class. Women have to unlearn not to fight.

Feminism is about support; it is not only important to speak up, we also have to listen and respect each other.

Being artistic empowers us to feel genuine joy.

Workshops: Writing with Valerie Himschoot and jamming with Céline di Maccio

• The participants chose between the two workshops. While some engaged with creative writing, others joined a music improvisation session. Both the melodic and written material were gathered for the composition of new songs.

Topic: Sexual violence

Discussed issues:

• Objectification of women;
• Private and public socio-cultural structures that legitimate sexual crimes;
• Misuse of sex as a weapon or domination tool;
• Cross-cultural challenges on the understanding of sexual rights and freedom;
• Toxicity of pornography that reproduces the notion of women as objects;
• The role of schools in promoting healthier perspectives on sexuality and emotional intelligence;
• Gender violence as a result of power dynamics and fear of losing privilege.

Questions:

• What could be possible solutions to end sexual violence?
• What practices and policies could be created to promote sex education and sex positivity beyond the household?
• How do we shift the cultural views that objectify women’s bodies? 
• Which structures reproduce the idea that the caring aspect of femininity means being submissive?
• How do we overcome the cultural barriers that make people defensive towards being better informed about mutual respect, boundaries and freedom of choice?

We should stop saying ‘this is just how it is’, and ‘boys will be boys’.

That’s such an issue that parents teach their daughters to be afraid of men instead of teaching their sons to respect women.

Sex education might fill the gap that is missing at home by helping young people get through their hormonal changes. Education is a public right independent of religion or political beliefs. Everyone should learn about boundaries and respect.

Workshop 1: Rhythm with Sarah Van Impe

The participants experimented with the five qualities of rhythm (flow, staccato, lyrical, stillness, and chaos) using body percussion and wooden poles.

Workshop 2: Dance with Lara

The participants write poems from a free association exercise and develop movements around them. The combination of women’s movements became a base for a collective choreography to be incorporated into the November performance at Het Oude Badhuis.

Topic: Alternatives to overcome sexism and objectification of women’s bodies

Discussed issues:

• Factors and places that contribute to the reproduction of sexism and women’s objectification;
• Possible alternatives to change this scenario in multiple contexts that also engage men;
• Importance of breaking with stereotypes around gender roles and performativity (eg. clothing, make-up);
• Separation of politics and public governance from religion and personal beliefs;
• Heath assistance to women’s specific physical issues that focuses on prevention and better assistance in cases of physical and psychological abuse.

Questions:

• How can we help men/boys see women/girls differently?
• How do we guarantee that children’s (especially girls’) fundamental rights are not disrespected in the name of the parents’ beliefs?
• Which strategies can help to secure the secular state?

Education governance should focus more on the children’s rights beyond family religious values.

The medical system is still male-oriented. We should educate more women about the fertility awareness method, to take charge of our cycles and health.

There should be a focus on whether the existing laws are being implemented; through prevention, conviction of perpetrators, and assistance of the victims.

Workshop: Singing with Céline di Maccio

• Practice of the final versions of ‘Lalla Bouya’ and ‘Hit the Road, Pat’.

Topic: Domestic abuse, psychological and physical violence

Discussed issues:

• The eradication of female deity archetypes by patriarchal monotheist religions.
• Struggles of women in different societies to protect their rights in the face of cases of rape and domestic violence.
• Brainstorming of safe channels that women who suffer domestic abuse could refer to without being tracked by their partners and family.
• Reflections on societal change of behaviour and collective responsibility to stand up for other people being victims of violence.

Questions:

• Which factors lead some women to be more likely to suffer domestic abuse?
• What strategies could be implemented at a macro-level to support the victims?
• In which ways do socio-cultural patterns legitimate domestic violence?

Prevention is paramount. There are signs of narcissistic perversion. How do we make sure young girls will not fall into the trap? And how do we prevent men from becoming so violent?

We should teach girls that love doesn’t hurt.

It is important to have economic independence to be able to fight back, or not fall into the trap.

Workshop: Singing with Céline di Maccio

• Practice of the final versions of ‘Her Body’.

During a participatory evening in partnership with Safe Space, Rebelle, and Elegast, the women engaged in a practice of basic self-defence techniques, inspired by the ones taught by Nicole van den Ven at the First Tribunal of Crimes Against Women.

In a very light and humoured atmosphere, the participants were encouraged to connect to their inner strength through various movements and postures under the guidance of the self-defence coach Leen Nicolas.

The second part of the evening was dedicated to writing. Guided through the process by Valérie Himschoot, the participants wrote poems in their own language or anotherto be used in the collective creations. Those who wished to, read their creation to the group. 

The evening was dedicated to sharing – self-defence movements, songs, and texts. During the recess between the workshops, the participants spontaneously started to sing ‘Lalla Bouya’ and invited the new participants to join.

A short film was made of the evening – to be seen here.