«I am because the others are».»

Research on the contribution of the women's movement to the advancement of human rights

The influence that the feminist movement has had on our lives and on the change of values and social customs in the last century is undeniable and is part of the social consensus.

The countries that have been able to enjoy a strong and organised women's movement, The Spanish state, for example, can explain how women's lives have changed from one generation to the next. The right to vote, to divorce, to have an abortion, to have a bank account, access to the labour market. and the questioning of the sustainability of the working day, work-life balance, co-responsibility... Many rights have been won and many debates have been opened.

Below you can listen to the audios that are part of this research:

The right to lives free from gender-based and sexual violence

Testimony of Antonia Avalos (#1)

[...] «With the machismo, the patriarchy, that we women suffer every day, we would not have that hope, that tenderness and that strength to continue fighting and to continue living...».»

Testimony of Beatríz Cantero (#2)

«Feminism has a fundamental role in my life, it is part of my life project [...] It has always been a very important axis to understand that with the sisters you can survive these forms of violence and be able to transform the world...»

Testimony of Lucrecia Janqui (#3)

[...] «Feminism has helped me to understand that the issue was not only mine but that it was a structural issue, an issue of injustice towards women...».»

Testimonial by Begoña Zabala (#4)

«A world appeared to us with the feminist movement, because we saw that suddenly it was possible to do other things than what we were predestined to do [...] We were born at the right time and with the right forces to be able to take part in what was really a revolution in our changes in our way of life...».»

Right to voluntary termination of pregnancy

Bill - Testimony of Mar Grandal (#5)

«2009 was a milestone in the struggle to achieve the 2010 law (which has now fortunately been modified) and women were able to decide within the first three months. This was a struggle of the feminist movement...».»

Latin America - Testimony of Rosa Maldonado (#6)

«The struggle was built up over many years, starting with the women's meeting that Argentina has had for many years, and in 2003-2005 the Catholics for the right to decide had a campaign, with a green ribbon, for the decriminalisation of abortion...».»

Law Reform - Testimony of Julia Santos (#7)

«The issue of the abolition of parental consent for 16 and 17 year olds is an issue that is dealt with by the feminist student bloc [...] My struggle has seemed to me to be one of the most important things, that paternalism with young girls is eliminated [...] and the abolition of the three days of reflection...»

Catholic Church - Testimony of Mar Grandal (#8)

«We really constituted ourselves as Catholics because of the interference that the Catholic Church has always had in the denial of women's sexual and reproductive rights. It was a decisive moment for us when they called us from many, many places because they believed and considered that our argument was very valuable for many women who, effectively, had abortions, were Catholic and had such tremendous guilt...».»

Trans people's right to gender self-determination

Violence and marriage - Testimony of Aitzole Araneta (#9)

«A milestone, despite the fact that there is a whole underlying criticism around the issue of marriage but perhaps marriage between people of the same sex, [...] is in 2007 with the first Law on Equality, and in 2004 the Law on Gender Violence, which also meant a change of paradigm [...] of private intimate relationships and also in the public sphere...».»

Depathologisation - Testimony of Aitzole Araneta (#10)

«[...] the movement to make visible that trans people are not sick, that we do not have a mental pathology, that there is nothing wrong with our bodies, [...] it was the very visibilisation at the beginning of the 2010s of starting to talk about depathologisation...».»

Conference in Granada - Testimony of Tino (#11)

«...] to broaden other identities that were not being picked up, that were being talked about a lot, was very groundbreaking in the manifesto, because before it was like a more delimited little box where it is true that there were dissidences...».»

Trans Children - Testimony of Saida Garcia (#12)

«...] a very important point I think is the role of children, to have trans referents of adults, to imagine themselves in the future, to see themselves happy and to know that their lives are possible...».»

Rights in Domestic and Care Employment

Demonstration - Testimony of Rafaela Pimentel (#13)

«...] a big demonstration, which was one of the first when we started to go out to the Plaza de Lavapiés, ... it was when they brought out many models of interns ...».»

Royal Decree - Testimony of Constanza Cisneros and Rafaela Pimentel (#14)

«The Royal Decree in 2011 was when they achieved the four fundamental things for many domestic workers, to get the registration, the sick leave, on the third day that we had a written contract, that we would pay contributions from the first hour and the right to holidays...».»

Cooperative - Testimony of Jamileth Chavarría (#15)

«When we came to consolidate the cooperative [...] it made us understand that neither the employment agency nor the big companies could trade with our labour force...».»

Strike - Constanza Cisneros and Rafaela Pimentel (#16)

«...] We were able to go to universities to talk about domestic work, we went to the markets, we did activities, actions and from there we created the idea of putting aprons on the balconies [...] many of us are not going to be able to go on strike because our jobs are in danger, so we are going to raise awareness and we are going to make people see that on that day there are women who are doing very important work and that although we have the right to strike we cannot allow it...».»

Domestic and Care Workers' Union (SINTRAHOCU) - Rafaela Pimentel (#17)

«SINTRAHOCU was born out of the need for domestic workers to organise ourselves at the union level because we knew that [...] to be at the negotiating table there have to be the unions, the government and the employers...».»

Convention 189 - Constanza Cisneros (#18)

«The ratification of Convention 189 in June 2022 is also important because that's when we say that we were fighting for everyone, not only for us but also for the compas who are coming and for those who are not even here anymore....»

Food sovereignty and women's rights in the agricultural sector

Ganaderas - Testimony of Elisa Oteros (#19)

«Another achievement, I believe that without a doubt, is the appearance of ganaderas en red [...] because as they have appeared in all the media, they have won prizes, now it is impossible for there to be a political, public or private event of a space for dialogue/debate with civil society in which we are not invited...».»

Via Campesina - Testimony of Isa Alvarez (#20)

«...] This articulation has been important to make many struggles visible and above all to generate synergies...».»

Ownership - Testimony of Elisa Oteros and Isa Álvarez (#21)

«The law of Shared Ownership in the Spanish State is quite recent [...] it was the result of a demand [...] to have shared ownership and equal rights in a farm...».»

Agrofeminista - Testimony of Elisa Oteros and Isa Álvarez (#22)

«Another entry point that has more to do with feminism [...] has been a network of feminist women in the agro-ecological movement for food sovereignty at the state level...»

SOS Campesinado - Testimony of Isa Álvarez (#23)

«During the pandemic, when the producers» markets closed... we set out [...] with a manifesto [...] each one of us doing what we could and seeing a need that was important for us because of the repercussions it had [...] with all the support it received".»