Terre des Femmes

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Terre des Femmes - Human Rights for Women
(TDF)
logo
legal form non-profit registered association
founding July 1981 in Hamburg
founder Ingrid Staehle u. a.
Seat Berlin ( ⊙ coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 22.1 ″  N , 13 ° 23 ′ 40.7 ″  E )
motto Equal, self-determined and free
purpose Human rights for girls and women
Chair Godula Kosack
Managing directors Christa Stolle
sales 2,792,033 euros (2018)
Employees 32 (2018)
Members 2187 (2018)
Website www.frauenrechte.de

Terre des Femmes - human rights for women V. ( spelling : TERRE DES FEMMES ; French for 'Earth of Women') is a non-profit association founded in Hamburg in 1981 , with an affiliated foundation founded in 2004 , which advocates equal and self-determined lives for girls and women worldwide. It supports girls and women affected by violence through campaigns, public relations, the promotion of projects and international networking. The main topics of the organization are domestic and sexual violence , forced marriage and honor crimes , female genital mutilation as well as trafficking in women and prostitution .

The association has been based in Berlin since 2011 and is financed through donations, membership fees and grants.

Feminist model, vision and self-image

Terre des Femmes is committed to a life free of gender-based discrimination, violence and exploitation. This results in the feminist mission statement of the association: Equal, self-determined and free. In concrete terms this means:

  • Equal rights : before the law as in the world of work; in educational and career opportunities as in the division of family work;
  • Self-determined : in sexuality and in all life decisions such as partnership, marriage, motherhood, career choice and participation in public life;
  • Free : from role constraints and all forms of violence.

Terre des Femmes fights against all human rights violations girls and women worldwide have to endure because of their gender. The organization also clearly renounces cultural relativism ; Misogynist customs are not to be tolerated, even among minorities who invoke cultural-religious reasons, since human rights apply without restriction.

The goals and procedures of the organization are based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 , the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979 ( CEDAW ), the final platform of the World Conference on Women in Beijing of 1995 and the Council of Europe Convention on the Preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence from 2011 ( Istanbul Convention ), which Germany only ratified on June 1, 2017.

aims

Effective publicity campaigns, publications, events, campaigns and lobbying are intended to raise public and political awareness of gender-based violence and discrimination . Terre des Femmes strives for international networking with other women's rights organizations, supports women through women-specific programs and promotes projects, organizations and initiatives by women for women abroad.

history

An article in Brigitte magazine about violence against women and honor killings in the Middle East prompted journalist Ingrid Staehle and a group of women in Hamburg to take action. The article was based on a document called Princesses mortes published by the Swiss human rights organization Sentinelles . During a visit to the Lausanne-based organization, the idea was born to found our own association based on the human rights organization Terre des hommes under the name Terre des Femmes ('Earth of Women') with the subtitle Human Rights for Women in July 1981 was entered in the register of associations of the city of Hamburg. Other early founders of Terre des Femmes were the historian Herta Haas (1907–2007) and the American literary scholar Tobe Levin , who lived in Germany and in 1979, together with Ingrid Braun and Angelika Schwarzbauer, published the first book in Germany on female genital mutilation , a translation of the report by Fran Hosken.

Terre des Femmes was awarded the charitable status. The documentation Princesses mortes was later translated by Terre des Femmes and appeared in 1987 as the first publication with the title Death as a Matter of Honor .

Organizationally, the association consisted of a board of directors and active city groups that worked on a voluntary basis until 1990. In 1990 a position financed by the employment office was set up in Tübingen. This laid the foundation stone for the establishment of a federal office with additional full-time employees.

The club has now celebrated its 35th anniversary and can look back on many successes. These include, among other things, the fact that female genital mutilation has been included as a separate criminal offense in the penal code or the reform of sexual criminal law .

Board of Directors

The association board consists of

Foundation bodies

The main topics of Terre des Femmes are divided into six sections: Female genital mutilation, domestic and sexualised violence, violence in the name of honor, trafficking in women and prostitution, equality and integration and international cooperation.

The foundation's decision-making body is the board of directors, which consists of at least three and at most five people. It consists of the respective members of the board of Terre des Femmes e. V. according to their function there. The executive board member of the association Terre des Femmes e. V. also manages the ongoing business of the Terre des Femmes Foundation. The members of the board of directors - with the exception of the executive board member - work for the foundation on a voluntary basis. The board of directors is elected for two years at the women's assembly. The board currently consists of Godula Kosack, Christa Stolle, Inge Bell, Necla Kelek, and Jessica Espinoza.

The federal office has been in Berlin since 2011. 34 employees currently work there. In addition, around 300 volunteers are active for the association and around 5200 regular supporters help with the financing of Terre des Femmes. The work of the association is supported by around 29 city and university groups and topic-specific working groups, which, among other things, also collaborate on Terre des Femmes' position papers. Furthermore, youth ambassadors are committed to the association. They bear this title for a year and a half and, through local campaigns, pass on the content and concerns of Terre des Femmes - also to younger target groups.

Actions

Terre des Femmes uses various action days and days of remembrance to draw attention to human rights violations against girls and women. On November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women , Terre des Femmes is organizing the flag campaign with the motto Live free - without violence . Events take place all over Germany that show the various forms of violence against girls and women. The federal office also always organizes a high-profile campaign to draw attention to a current Terre des Femmes campaign and a very specific problem. In 2015, the focus was on early marriages, and in 2018 the two-year girl protection campaign “Now empowering girls” was launched, which combines past, current and planned campaigns and projects against violence against women and girls. The one-week film festival FrauenWelten also takes place around November 25th. This will change its location from Tübingen to Berlin in 2020.

Another action was the shooting of a video that should illustrate the gender pay gap . For this purpose, three transgender people were selected who were used to switching between female and male gender roles in everyday life and who were able to realistically represent both roles. They should have an interview with different companies. According to the promotional video, all three applied for the same position as a man and once as a woman with the same CVs, qualifications and basically the same personalities. In all cases it was shown that in the role as men they received significantly higher salary offers. However, the transgender experiment on the gender pay gap was also criticized. The allegation was that the applicants' résumés were not created equal, but deliberately made unequal in order to achieve the desired result.

Focus

The substantive work of Terre des Femmes is divided into six sections, which lay the foundation for the success of the organization.

Female genital mutilation

Every year since 1998 Terre des Femmes has published a current projection of those at risk and affected by female genital mutilation in Germany, since 2018 also broken down by federal state. The so-called dark figure statistics provide the only figures for women who have been circumcised and girls at risk for Germany. The association carries out educational work through various programs, including EU-wide, and fights against genital mutilation of girls, from which those affected suffer physically and mentally for a lifetime.

Trafficking in women and prostitution

Terre des Femmes stands up for women whose plight is being exploited in a criminal way: women who are forced into prostitution or exploitative conditions. It is not only migrant women who are affected by trafficking in women, around a quarter of those affected in Germany are themselves Germans. The organization is also committed to a world without prostitution. According to the Nordic model, Terre des Femmes calls for a sex purchase ban, which criminalizes sex buyers , but not prostitutes. The model includes funding for drop-out programs for prostitutes.

Forced marriage and violence in the name of honor

The lecture “Violence in the Name of Honor” deals with forms of violence that are used to maintain or restore the supposed family honor. This can range from psychological pressure to emotional blackmail, sexualised and physical violence, through to forced marriages or so-called honor killings. The work of the unit is intended to make the public, especially authorities and schools, aware of the problem. Those affected and specialists can find information and help on the organization's website.

Equality and Integration

In the “Equality and Integration” section, various projects and measures are developed to counter gender-specific discrimination and sexualization. With various petitions and projects, Terre des Femmes would like to promote the integration of refugee girls and women into society as a whole and to stand up for the rights and protection of girls and women who come from patriarchal social structures. The department advocates, among other things, a secular and democratic school system and that public educational institutions are and remain free of all religious and ideological symbols. Terre des Femmes rejects a patriarchal understanding of religion and calls for an integrative, value-conveying subject "ethics" as a compulsory subject in all public schools instead of denominational religious instruction.

One of the projects was CONNECT - Empowerment for Refugee Women. CONNECT was a Berlin sponsorship program by women for women that was funded by Aktion Mensch from 2016 to 2019 . It pursued the goal of supporting refugee women on their arrival in Germany and accompanying them on their way to integration. In order to make this possible, future godmothers, i.e. women who were born in Germany or who were already successfully integrated, received extensive training on topics such as the right of asylum, possible experiences of violence, the situation in the countries of origin and on the run. During the one-year sponsorship, the sponsors accompanied their tandem partners on visits to the authorities, helped them find suitable living space, a language course, a job or childcare, and helped set up a social network. The weekly meetings were also used for common activities. The CONNECT team stood by the godparents during the entire sponsorship with questions and problems and organized meetings between the godparents and the tandems. On October 16, 2018, the project was awarded the seal of approval from the non-profit analysis company Phineo . The reason for this was the mentoring approach, according to which volunteer sponsors, often themselves with migration experience, helped refugee women to build a self-determined and free life in Germany.

International cooperation

Terre des Femmes supports women’s organizations around the world that campaign for women's rights. The focus is on the same key issues as in the domestic work. The organization is currently working with ten women's organizations that implement their activities at grassroots level and thus empower local women.

Misogynistic advertising

Terre des Femmes takes active action against sexism and discrimination against women and campaigns against misogynist advertising that reduces women to a sexual object. Through this role models are established and prejudices are produced that consolidate heteronormative standards. As part of this work, the organization awards the negative prize “Angry Cactus”, which denounces extreme cases of sexist advertising.

Terre des Femmes positions and petitions

On certain topics, the women's assembly or the women on the board of directors adopt statements and position papers for public discussion. Among other things, the organization takes a position on general issues such as abortion or right-wing populism and extremism and deals with women's rights in connection with religion.

With the help of petitions, the organization tries to draw attention to human rights violations against girls and women and to work towards legal changes. Terre des Femmes collected signatures for two petitions. In the petition that was started in October 2018 and addressed to Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn , she called for the introduction of mandatory national health checkups for children and adolescents up to the age of 18. An important ulterior motive was to be able to discover cases of neglect and abuse in children more quickly through mandatory U-examinations. The petition was handed over at the end of October 2019 with over 75,000 signatures.

A petition called HAVE YOUR HEAD FREE, which was started in mid-2018 and is scheduled to run until the beginning of 2020 [obsolete] ! , sees the increasing veiling of girls of all ages in many schools and even in kindergartens as a discrimination and sexualization of minors and, as a result, a psychological and physical health risk. She therefore calls for a legal ban on the so-called “children's headscarf” in public spaces, especially in educational institutions, for all underage girls.

Networking

Terre des Femmes maintains contacts with women's organizations around the world and also works closely with human rights organizations and other associations. Project collaborations are an important part of the association's activities.

The association is a member of

  • AKF - Working Group for Women's Health in Medicine, Psychotherapy and Society e. V.
  • Action alliance against trafficking in women
  • Alliance "legal certainty for political decision-making"
  • Support group of the Yasemin counseling center (Stuttgart)
  • Advisory Board HEROES (Berlin and Duisburg)
  • Berlin network against sexual violence
  • Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination
  • Alliance against Homophobia (Berlin)
  • Alliance against forced prostitution and human trafficking in Baden-Württemberg
  • BuKo - Federal Conference against Forced Marriage
  • Federal Association of German Foundations (Berlin)
  • CCC - campaign for "clean" clothes (Wuppertal)
  • German Society for Association Management V.
  • German Global Compact Network
  • ECPAT Germany, Working Group for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation, (Freiburg)
  • EuroNet FGM
  • Forum human rights
  • GIRLS NOT BRIDES - The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage
  • Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation
  • State forum for forced marriage (Baden-Württemberg)
  • Network for Self-Determination of Young Migrant Women (NRW)
  • Round table against the circumcision of girls (Hagen)
  • Round table on genital circumcision / genital mutilation (Munich)
  • Round table against circumcision of girls (North Rhine-Westphalia)
  • Round table stop FGM (Berlin-Brandenburg)
  • Round table to combat female genital mutilation (Baden-Württemberg)
  • VENRO - Association of Development Policy of German Non-Governmental Organizations V.
  • ECPAT Germany (Working Group for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation)
  • European Children's Network
  • European Women's Lobby
  • idae V. (umbrella association of German-speaking lesbian / women's archives and libraries)
  • INTEGRA - German network to overcome female genital mutilation
  • Nationwide coordination group against trafficking in women and violence against women in the migration process e. V. (KOK)

criticism

Criticism was leveled at various positions in the association. The demand for a ban on the so-called children's headscarf was criticized as right-wing populist and Islamophobic. A counter-petition was supported by numerous social scientists, activists and initiatives in March 2019: "The demand for a headscarf ban for minors represents a major interference with the self-determination of young people". Together with the demand for a ban on prostitution, this led to a break with the Swiss sister association.

Terre des Femmes continues to face trans-hostility allegations after some members, including the Chair, wrote an open letter opposed to the ban on conversion therapy for transsexuals, relying on questionable sources and claiming that the ban would encourage free development for children endanger. A final position of the association is only planned after a membership vote in September 2020, but more than half of the signatories are active for Terres de Femmes.

Thomas Fischer criticized the "dark figure statistics" published by Terre des Femmes on the situation of genital mutilation in Germany. Even the term is contradicting itself. Fischer questions the assumptions that lead to the calculation. He does not deny that genital mutilation is a serious crime, but also points out that the problem can only be dealt with if the minorities are won over themselves, which the lack of entries in the police crime statistics for years has proven.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Terre des Femmes Foundation
  2. ^ Lora Wildenthal: Human Rights for Women across Cultural Lines: Terre des Femmes . In: dies .: The Language of Human Rights in West Germany . University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-8122-4448-9 , pp. 136 f.
  3. ^ Marion Hulverscheidt: Health Rights or Human Rights? In: Alex Mold, David Reu (Eds.): Assembling Health Rights in Global Context . Routledge, 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-53011-8 , p. 99.
  4. ^ Lora Wildenthal: Human Rights for Women across Cultural Lines: Terre des Femmes . In: dies .: The Language of Human Rights in West Germany . University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-8122-4448-9 , p. 137.
  5. ^ Ingrid Braun, Tobe Levin, Angelika Schwarzbauer (ed.): Materials to support action groups against clitoral circumcision . Verlag Frauenoffensive, Munich 1979.
  6. ↑ Lora Wildenthal, ibid., P. 241.
  7. ↑ Board of Directors
  8. ↑ Foundation bodies and transparency
  9. ↑ Tobias Kaiser: Gender Pay Gap - Olli and Olivia expose the wage madness. In: welt.de. World, February 22, 2018, accessed February 1, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Do you want more money? Grow a beard! The gender pay gap experiment. Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  11. ↑ https://www.frauenrechte.de/unsere-arbeit/themen/gleichrechtigung-und-integration/connect
  12. ↑ With more than 75,000 signatures for the petition "U-Investigations - Absolutely mandatory", TERRE DES FEMMES sends a strong signal for the protection of girls. In: Frauenrechte.de. TERRE DES FEMMES - Human Rights for Women eV, October 2019, accessed on January 25, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Petition have your head free! Terre des Femmes, August 2018, accessed January 25, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Simone Schmollack : The forbidden question . In: taz . August 24, 2018, p. 14 ( Online [accessed October 12, 2019]).
  15. ↑ Vojin Saša Vukadinović : Can that go away? Swiss Month , July 2019, accessed on October 12, 2019 .
  16. ↑ The Divorce of the Sisters. Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Terre des Femmes criticism of trans-hostility. In: tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Thomas Fischer: Mutilated Bodies, Mutilated Truth, Spiegel online, August 31, 2018