Recently, a lot has been said in the public space about women and in the name of women. Many of these messages fill us with chills and remind us that the fight for the equal position of women in society is far from over.
Croatia has officially agreed to respect and advance international human rights standards, but this agreement is accompanied by one big BUT. It is precisely this BUT that underlies messages that deny women dignity, the right to choose, and the right to decide about their own lives and bodies. Thanks to this "fist in the pocket," sexual violence persists as part of fan and nationalist folklore. Thanks to this, politicians in their campaigns easily put the well-being and needs of women in the background - in the name of "life."
What about women's lives? This question seems crucial in the context of the upcoming elections, but also of the "shadow pandemic" that threatens the lives of women around the world. We want political actors to finally sincerely take responsibility for protecting women's human rights and for women's voices to become decisive in issues of reproductive health and abortion rights. We refuse to cede our right to choose to family members. We no longer want to listen to the belittling of men who weigh the trauma of raped women and evaluate women's abilities and experiences, without seeing their own privileges.
Therefore, in the run-up to the parliamentary elections, we demand that the lives of women become a permanent reference point for the future government in the development and implementation of public policies, and not a passing "topic of the day" used to fulfill official obligations. We demand respect and a life free from violence. We demand our rights, without BUT.
