Submitted by: IFM-SEI Presidium.
Agreed: IFM-SEI International Committee 2015 in Lima (Peru).
IFM-SEI is committed to gender equality in its decision-making structures and activities, as outlined in the constitution (see Appendix below). This International Committee meeting recognises the need for women’s and trans* only spaces on IFM-SEI events, gender quotas and continued education around gender equality.
This International Committee meeting notes that the conditions of membership of IFM-SEI requires gender equality in the structures and activities of all member organisations:
2.2 Conditions of membership
All members and candidate organisations must:
- Ensure gender equality in their structures and activities
The IFM-SEI Presidium acknowledges that while some member organisations implement gender equality systems within their decision-making structures and on their activities, there is a lack of comprehensive information about the women’s involvement in the decision-making structures of IFM-SEI organisations across the movement.
IFM-SEI needs to meaningfully self-reflect on the patriarchy within our own organisations and evaluate whether what we label as gender equality truly is that and to enact non-tokenistic action to challenge gender inequality. In IFM-SEI we strive to live out a socialist utopia based on a solid left-wing ethos but from experience there is often a disconnect between the ethos of gender equality and the reality in practice.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the higher up you get in the structures of many IFM-SEI organisations the higher the proportion of men, while women predominantly lead the grassroots work on the ground. IFM-SEI needs to evaluate whether this anecdotal evidence is accurate by quantitatively assessing women’s representation in decision-making structures in all IFM-SEI organisations.[1]
The IFM-SEI Presidium proposes that IFM-SEI collates information regarding gender equality within decision-making structures of all member organisations in the remainder of 2015.
This motion agrees to the commitment of all member organisations to analyse their own structures in reference to gender equality and to submit the quantitative data of the following:
- Gender breakdown of the national board as of 1st September 2015
- Gender breakdown of any other national committees as of 1st September 2015
This motion commits to the submission of the information above from all member organisations by 30th November 2015. The findings must be submitted to the IFM-SEI Presidium (to carly@ifm-sei.org) and will be incorporated into the strategic work plan 2016-2019.
The IFM-SEI Presidium notes that there are more than two genders and non-binary genders should be recognised in this data finding exercise.
This motion has been proposed so that member organisations self-reflect on the patriarchy within our own organisations and to ensure that we put into action the feminist theory that sits at the heart of our educational programme.
Appendix: Relevant articles of the IFM-SEI Constitution
1. CONGRESS
6.6 Each member organisation is entitled to send a delegation of five to the IFM‐SEI Congress.
Candidate organisations are entitled to send two delegates to the Congress.
A single delegate may be of any gender. For delegations of two or three, at least one must be a woman. For delegations of four or five, at least two must be women.
VII: PRESIDIUM
8.1 c. The Presidium consists of the following people elected in this order at each Congress: Secretary General President Two members per region (Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Middle East). At least one of the places for each region must be filled by a woman.
8.2 At least one of the positions of Secretary General and President must be filled by a woman.
1. CONTROL COMMISSION
10.1 The Control Commission (CC) consists of three people, each must come from a different member organisation. The commission must include at least one woman. It shall choose its own chair from amongst its members.
[1] 'Gender equality - are we there yet?' - an article written for International Women's Day 2015.
