It’s coming up again: the word feminism is getting back to use! Yesterday (Sept 2nd) in Paris, the floor of one of the main ‘institutional elite universities’ (Sciences-Po Paris) has been taken by feminists for 2.30 hours of lively debates, in an amphitheatre packed with young men and women (almost equally represented) and a few older and persistent feminists (-thanks to them for having kept fighting all these years!). This meeting entitled ‘Enough! Young people mobilized for gender equality’ (“ça suffit” in the original version) was called for by a collective of feminist organisations in preparation of a demonstration planned for the 17th of October and prepared carefully in the last three months. The collective has been very proactive in contacting all potentially interested people on social networks on the web and in building alliances with youth movements of the political parties and various other organizations. So much energy and buzz on feminist issues is really motivating! Such a well planned event and the building up of common action towards more gender equality by organizations are more than welcome. It is more than justified to combat and denounce the situation of gender inequality today because, despite changes, structures that create inequality perpetuate and resistance to change remains strong. We all know the statistics regarding salaries, share of time spent looking after the home and children etc… We all have our own set of examples and experiences of everyday ‘macho culture’ (jokes, advertisement, condescendence, etc…) We all know that the way the society functions perpetuates this situation – starting with the reactions towards male and female infants, the choice of pieces of clothes and toys etc… We know that many of us, regardless of our gender, would like this to change and are acting or ready to act for it to change. But let me ask one silly question: why continue to focus and act at the national level only? This statement-question’s relevance has been remembered to me with intensity by recent examples of similarities between feminist movements in Europe and small coincidences... - In Italy, women movements have reacted to the image of women in the media and the attitude of the political class towards women, by advertising the short documentary ‘the bodies of women’ in the web. It’s translated in English but images speak of themselves! - In France, on the 25th of November, the movie ‘the masculine domination’ will be launched in cinemas. The director, a young man who openly claims to be a feminist, has chosen, with direct reference to the homonym essay of Pierre Bourdieu’s, to show how discrimination is perpetuated in society and denounces the absurdity of daily ‘macho attitudes’. Recent developments on the –classical for feminist movement - topic of abortion and access to abortion pill also reveal some similarities of tensions and debates between countries in Europe: - In Spain, there is strong opposition to the extension of the legal period during which a woman is allowed to abort: a law has been proposed recently by the Zapatero government creating strong opposition: there will be an anti abortion demonstration in Madrid on…the 17th of October! Exactly when Feminists are planning to go on Parisian streets.... - In Italy, this summer the strong opposition to the authorisation of the abortion pill (RU 486) has shown how debateable this issue remains for a large part of the population. - In Ireland, the anti-abortion lobby (or movement?) is so strong that it has been one of the main points of discussion in the negotiations with the EU on the revised Lisbon treaty (official results of the Irish referendum after negotiations today) - In Poland abortion is still illegal, except in case of rape or major malformation of the child…. The list is far from exhaustive but this is enough to show the similarities between the movements and claims at the European level. The rationale for developing a strong transnational movement is that European institutions can be used (and it has been done in the past) to foster progress towards gender equality. European laws can enforce and protect women’s rights despite traditionalists governments – but this is only if one uses its potentialities and does not accept that Europe be simply a replica of domination structures and a conservative and traditionalist policy-making institution. Working with, looking at and opening up to other feminists may also be one of the most effective ways to widen and deepen debates on feminism. For instance, the ‘corpo delle donne’ blog reports examples of European women shocked by representations of women bodies in Italian TV. This is one way of using European comparisons. But one should not forget that it is not because the manifestations of macho culture differ from one country to another that they do not exist and persist under other forms in all countries. Comparisons can also be used to reveal what these other forms are and therefore give the tools to fight them. Acting together over the national-state level may be the only way to effectively use and build up on all the energy existing today in the feminist movements in Europe and to avoid that they are broken up by tightly organised opposition at the national level.