Seventy women, coming from all over the Europe, speaking of projects and dreams, goals and values for a more balanced presence of women in the European policy, all together in a meeting space in the centre of Bruxelles: it was really a super convention, the one organized by Brussels Binder Beyond the 8 and 9 of July.

BBB is a Belgian association which from 2018 is struggling against the “manel” (or the underrepresentation of women in public debates), supported by the European Commission, through the creation of network of women expert and like-minded organizations. There were women coming from fifteen countries (Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom), all representing a big variety of institutions and associations, such as the European Parliament, women’s associations for International Affairs, Women in law, European leadership network, Centre for gender studies. Such a number of participants caused a large amount of issues to be discussed, but the key takeaways were highlighted, such as encourage women to apply for job’s higher positions, through training and mentoring, and also binding the quotas. The importance of communication was emphasized, using an inclusive language and involving the journalists as much as possible, without forgetting the men as possible allies. The participants hoped for the implementation of new platforms in which women could show their competence, even if among those that have already been completed, there are some deep differences. Some, as the Brussels Binder’s data base (which gather about one thousand of women), are open to anyone wants to share her ability and experience: no selection for admission as, for instance, our “100esperte “ requires. We find something more similar to our project in the platform realized by the Mediterranean Gender Studies of Cyprus.
The meeting was very satisfying, thanks also to the expressions of esteem for our work from English, Spanish, Irish, Belgian women and from those representing the European Institutions... After all 100esperte is well known, and not only in Italy!