Meeting Places and Organising

The organisation CRTDA supports ''The morning star cooperative'' in the Bekaa Valley, in Lebanon, to organize. During a work shop marmelade is made

Access to meeting places
In order to be active and responsible societal actors, people need the time to absorb knowledge, time to reflect and the possibility to formulate their ideas. Many women do not have the time. Another crucial factor is the possibility of meeting others to debate and exchange thoughts and experiences. This can be done in a variety of places such as town squares, cafés and other public places. In many conflict-affected societies women lack entrance to the public arena and their freedom of movement is restricted.

Many times women have the largest responsibility for the family and household, which restricts their access to the public arena and meaningful recreation. Women then need alternative meeting places. Access to meeting places can break the isolation that many women live in. Women's organisations create meeting places where women can meet other women, learn new things, build their self-confidence and develop as individuals. These meeting places are many times a prerequisite for women's participation in society as democratic citizens.

Gender-divided society
For a society to be able to develop and become democratic in line with human rights, all citizens must be given the opportunity to take part in decision-making and influencing. In societies with a large divide between men and women, where women are expected to limit themselves to taking care of the household and family and men have the power positions, there is a great risk of women's knowledge and experience falling by the wayside.

Traditional gender roles, which are quite often reinforced after armed conflict, limit women and keep them away from power, politics and the public forum. When their freedom of movement is restricted, not only is their opportunity to participate reduced, but also their self-confidence and self-esteem. If they are given access to secure meeting places they can build up their self-confidence.

Meeting places and women's organisations are needed in order to put women's knowledge to good use. Opportunities must exist for women to meet and formulate policies at the side of the public forum and politics. When women have their own meeting places they can empower each other and together build up enough energy to claim power and try to influence society. When women can meet at meting places organised by women's organisations they can create the conditions for influencing society in better utilising men's and women's needs and help them develop in a way that benefits all. These meeting places and women's organisations are therefore a prerequisite for developing democracy.

What is a meeting place?
A meeting place could be a market square, at a neighbour's or at a water pump where women can meet and talk in ways that are acceptable to their surroundings. But many times it is better for women to have access to a place where they can have their own time together. It could be in the premises of a women's organisation or some other organised meeting place where women can feel secure and have the possibility of getting there in a secure fashion. It could also be a discussion or therapy group arranged by a women's organisation. Women's organisations create secure meeting places the world over.

Women organise themselves
Everywhere in the world women are noticing that their voices are not being heard in society. They choose to organise to empower each other and together have a stronger voice. Through women's organisations, women can exchange knowledge and experience and formulate how they want to change society, strengthen women's rights and increase women's participation and power in society. Women's organisations are quite often the only chance for women to become politically involved.

Prerequisite for peace
In a neutral place, like a women's organisation premises, women can meet and dare to talk about their experiences of the conflict. Women can sometimes meet over the conflict borders and dare to speak and hear what the others party has to say. This can create a basis for understanding and reduce fear and hate, and counteract the demonization of the opponent in the conflict. It is the meeting and dialogue with the other party that lays the foundations for peace. Meeting places must feel secure for women to open up to each other and share their experiences. They must feel safe to be themselves and say what they think without the fear of repercussions. Women's organisations who organise these meeting places therefore strive to build up trust. Many times the news of a new meeting place gets around by itself. Those with a positive experience invite a friend or neighbour.

During a conflict and in the post-conflict society it could be difficult for women's organisations to meet to discuss peace and conciliation. This type of meeting across conflict borders is often regarded with mistrust by the rest of society and could be conceived as threatening by the powers to be. In this case women's organisations could need support and resources to meet at a neutral venue, away from the conflict. The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation has on repeated occasions created the conditions for women's organisations to meet in this way. For example, women from Israel and Palestine have met in Jordan and women from southern Caucasus have met in Istanbul.

That is where it is happening
Women often have to create their own meeting places because they do not have the same natural right to access the public arena like men. In the gender-divided society, men and women live different lives. It is therefore important for women to meet and empower each other before they enter politics and take part in society on equal terms with men. They need to train debating techniques and formulating what they have to say. This they can do through a women's organisation and at a meeting place where they feel secure and are not confronted with problems if they fail in some way. The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation's partner women's organisations create these meeting places. They bear witness to the fact that many women's lives are changed fundamentally when they are given the opportunity to break out of the isolation of the home and meet other women. For some women this is about having the energy to demand more control over their own bodies and in the home.

For other women it is about pulling together and demanding things like secure school transport and access to healthcare. For others it could be about daring to contact politicians and those in power to demand women's participation, and for some to take the step to be active in a women's organisation or enter party politics.

Challenge the powers to be
Women's organisations say they quite often meet strong resistance from society when they begin their work opening a meeting place. Men often feel threatened when women join forces in this way to seek knowledge and talk with each other. But after a while society begins to notice the good that comes out of women's meetings. They not only empower individual women, but also push society to better provide for the needs of all in true democratic spirit.

More resources are required
Women lack meeting places throughout the world, regardless of whether or not they receive money for premises or the possibility of travelling to meet. But they need more support. Today only a fraction of the world's collective development cooperation resources go to women's rights and women's organising. This must increase if we are to push developments towards democracy and respect for human rights in conflict-affected societies.

Women often have less access to resources and infrastructure than men. They perhaps do not have control over the family finances, a car or access to public transport. This also impacts their possibility of taking part in society and meeting other people. Women therefore need even greater access to meeting places not far from their homes.