KARAT Coalition is a regional coalition of organizations and individuals focusing its action on observance of women’s human rights, and ensuring gendered economic and social justice in the Region. Our Region is the territory of the Central and Eastern European and Central Asian countries.
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Why Economic Literacy from a Gender Perspective in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia?
KARAT Coalition’s fifteen years experience, together with that of its members, clearly shows that women in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEE-CA) do not feel confident talking about economy and participating in economic debates. Yet, truly comprehensive and democratic decision making must include women’s voices in order to make economic and social policies more responsive to women’s needs.
The economic crises in recent times exacerbate the challenges for women due to states’ austerity measures in social spheres which seriously affect women (e.g. pension system, care economy, health care, education). The urgent need to respond to the gendered consequences of the economic and financial crises and the social consequences of the so-called solutions currently implemented is added to the unfinished transformation of the last twenty years.
Thus, gendered economic literacy is critical for empowering women in the CEE-CA region to influence the states’ policies towards economic and social justice. While more than twenty years have passed since 1989, the neoliberal and gender-insensitive approach to economy and social policies still remains largely uncontested in much of the region despite its negative impact on the lives of disadvantaged groups of people. Among these groups a large percentage are women. Nonetheless, gender aware criticism and evidence remain underdeveloped. Building capacity of women’s organisations in this area will help to fill the gap in civil society’s lack of knowledge and appropriate tools for dealing with the social consequences of the neo-liberal economy.
To respond to the pressing needs of women and women’s organizations described above, there is a strong need to revive KARAT’s Economic Literacy program that will increase women’s knowledge on economics and social policies and trends affecting the region. We are convinced that this is a powerful and effective way to respond to women’s needs formulated above.
However, we are not able to manage this task without Your help. We are looking for financial support to revive our program on Economic Literacy from a gender perspective in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Please learn the details from the leaflet “Why economic literacy from a gender perspective in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia?”.