The Gender Equality is a relatively new program to IFLRY. It was started up a few years ago, after Member Organisations expressed their interest in the issue. After being dormant for quite some time, the Programme got a new start in 2015.
Following the guidelines set out by its Action Plan the Gender Equality programme aims to raise awareness and promote the debate on gender equality issues around the world, both within and outside of IFLRY. The new Programme Manager intends to bring new energy to the programme and the way she plans to so is by focussing on five different fields: social media, media and articles, IFLRY and our member organizations, Liberal International (LI) and its member organizations, and other possible relevant fora and organisations such as the International Network of Liberal Women. In the Programme collected liberal ideas and views on gender equality from the MOs and compiled them into a position paper, new plans for activities are being planned.
The current Programme Manager of the Gender Equality Programme is Laura Neijenhuis, she started in July 2015. She is a member of the Jonge Democraten in the Netherlands where she is currently the International Secretary in the national board. She holds a great passion for inclusion and equality, not only in the perspective of gender but also spatial and social inequality in broader terms. She holds an MSc in Human Geography and works at the Insitute for Housing and Urban Development (IHS, part of Erasmus University Rotterdam. You can contact Laura via laura.neijenhuis@iflry.org .