De jure, i.e. legally, women and men are equal, but de facto, there are still big differences between the genders in society, according to Letsch.
The secretary of the CNFL cited the example of sport, pointing out that there are still striking discrepancies in the financial gains from the Paris-Roubaix cycle race. While the male winner of the 2021 race received €30,000, the female winner only received €1,500. Letsch argued that this should no longer be possible in 2021, stressing that women and men should work together for gender equality.
The CNFL has identified several priorities for the 2021/2022 school year. Next week, a bronze sculpture created by artist Nadine Sangarini will be inaugurated in Ettelbruck as a monument to 100 years of women’s right to vote in Luxembourg. Letsch pointed out that this is something to be proud of, as Luxembourg implemented women’s suffrage relatively early compared to its larger neighbouring countries, such as France.
In addition, the fifth edition of the ‘Orange Week’ will take place in Luxembourg, aimed at raising awareness of violence against women and girls. With over 800 police interventions in 2019, the figures show that there is still a lot to do, even in a developed country like the Grand Duchy, Letsch stated.
Letsch also spoke about the presence of women in the media, which she described as “a great disappointment”. The Grand Duchy has participated for the fifth time in the Global Media Monitoring Project. The aim is to see how women are represented in all media, from print to radio and television, over the course of one day. With a 25% female presence, Luxembourg is just about average. This is nothing to be proud of, according to the CNFL secretary. On the contrary, when women are presented in images, it were generally more in a decorative meaning than in action.
Letsch argued that Luxembourg should work on this and change it, by banking on “strong female role models”. The media should have more of a reflex to specifically ask women for interviews or reports, Letsch stated.
What is also no longer acceptable in 2021, Letsch continued, are round table discussions in which only men participate. She stressed that women are “competent, professional and part of society” and that they enrich the debate, which is why everyone should try to actively involve women in the discussion, according to the secretary of the CNFL.
Letsch pointed out that the Information and Documentation Centre ‘CID Fraen an Gender’ had developed the platform ‘Expertisa’ in cooperation with the CNFL, in order to bring together female experts. This platform could have been used by journalists. Unfortunately, it had to be shut down due to lack of resources. This is part of the problem, according to Joëlle Letsch.
