There is a new Danish initiative, Why Women, which officially launches next week, but which already has a website. The about page describes the initiative thus:
THE WHY has initiated the media initiative; WHY WOMEN? The project aims to raise awareness about the challenges faced by women and girls today. WHY WOMEN? consists of 10 short films, 2 documentary films, a reportage and various outreach activities.
WHY WOMEN? launches in May 2016, when New York-based NGO, Women Deliver hosts the world’s largest conference on the conditions of girls and women worldwide in Copenhagen, Denmark. THE WHY wants to make use of the momentum created by Women Deliver and initiate a public debate about the challenges of gender inequality.
The short films and documentary films are already online an can be viewed on the website (and elsewhere). I have embedded one of the videos, Striving for Utopias, which is written by Emma Holten and voiced by Dame Helen Mirren. Note that it is NSFW due to nudity in small parts of the short film.
An initiative like this is welcome in Denmark, where there anti-feminism is widespread in the media, and where prominent politicians frequently make verbal attacks on not just feminism, but often specific feminists. I am not naive to think that the initiative will stop that, but hopefully it will help change not only the tone, but also the focus of the debate.
… Denmark, where there anti-feminism is widespread in the media, and where prominent politicians frequently make verbal attacks on not just feminism, but often specific feminists.
Damn, you just shattered an illusion I didn’t even know I had.
Denmark has a reputation in the US as a paragon of social justice & egalitarianism (with a dash of Islamophobic reaction). Has this sexism (re-)emerged recently, or were the idealistic reports wrong all along?
The YouTube video is not “available in this country” (US).
I think I found the same video on Vimeo at:
Good subject, good post.
Pierce, one of the reasons I moved to FtB was to highlight the current situation regarding feminism in Denmark.
Denmark is somewhat progressive when it comes to equality in the sense that there is little or no discrimination regarding hiring of women. When it comes to pay and promotions however, Denmark does much worse than other Scandinavian countries.
The Danes, however consider themselves very progressive and become very agitated if someone dares to suggest they are not, which explains the negative pushback against people who wants to change the status quo.