Formentera unveils activities programme aiming to combat gender violence by building awareness

foto 2020 dia eliminacio violencia donesConsell de Formentera president Alejandra Ferrer and local chief of equality and LGTBI affairs Vanessa Parellada sat down with the chair of Espai Dones, Dolores Fernández Tamargo, to present the programme for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November.

Ferrer applauded Espai Dones for putting together a “wide-ranging bill of activities which, stretching from 2 to 25 November, is nearly a month long”. On the calendar are courses on violence prevention, theatre, a film screening, an exhibition and a round-table discussion.

“A sweeping programme of education and political engagement to tackle gender violence was crucial”, said Ferrer, “especially this year, given the violence so many women have faced and continue to face as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and the increased time at home with their aggressors”. The president pointed out that women are on the front lines of every crisis, and offered up the Consell’s entire battery of services in their support.

The programme:

2–6 November, daily
5.00pm–9.00pm: Preventing sexual violence in sports
Aula de formació, Centre d’Esports Nàutics

Saturday 7 November
8.30pm: Frida. New theatre.
Enlisting human emotions, directors Marie Tholon and Adriana Aguilar take audiences on a trip across the formative life stages and trials of an artist-turned-feminist icon.
Running time: 60 minutes
Admission: €7 (general) / €5 (youth) / Free (the unemployed and inactive freelancers)
Sala de Cultura (Cinema)

Friday 20 / Sunday 22 November
8.30pm & 8.00pm (respectively): Paula Cons’ La isla de las mentiras (2020), based on real events
Sala de Cultura (Cinema)

Monday 23 November
6.00pm: Opening night—Yolanda Domínguez’s Little Black Dress
A reflection on gender and social consciousness, a critique of the representation of women in fashion, an invitation to embrace diversity.
Sala d’Exposicions “Ajuntament Vell”

Tuesday 24 November
7.00pm: Conversations—Changing our images, changing our world
Yolanda Domínguez guides participants in an analysis of recent media images and Domínguez’s own recent visual work.
Aula de formació, Centre d’Esports Nàutics [La Savina]

25 November
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women begins at 11.00am with an information stand in Sant Francesc’s Plaça de la Constitució where visitors can help make and hang signs.

Entertainment starts at 4.30pm with Bloco Colubraria’s batucada drum performance, followed by a 5.00pm rally with Covid-19 protocol in place. Women may volunteer to share written work. A reading will then be given of the manifesto, with a representation of Chilean group LASTESIS’ “The Rapist in Your Path”.

Equality director Vanessa Parellada indicated that Covid-19 sanitary measures would be in place at every activity, and highlighted a crosscutting organising approach that included Espai Dones and numerous departments of the Consell de Formentera—“because we need to tackle gender violence on as many fronts as possible”. Finally, Parellada asked islanders to be vigilant and take action if they see gender violence: “It’s not a personal problem and it’s not a family problem. It’s a social problem, so looking away isn’t going to work. We need everyone to take an active role”, she said.

29 October 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera