Jorien Wallast

Author & The Communication Composer: Turning Stories into Powerful Messages

The Netherlands

What significant changes have you observed in the women and health space recently?

After decades of gradual progress, women’s rights have come under pressure. And not just reproductive rights. Al over the world there are attempts to silence women; in Afghanistan they are literally prohibited to have their voices heard. As a researcher of women’s history, throughout the last century I can see waves of female empowerment followed by a pushback from patriarchal society advocates. Paradoxally, war has been an important catalyst in the emancipation of women: in wartime it is simply a waste to not put the power of the female workforce to use. In World War I, women participating in the war economy led to the right to vote in many western countries. In World War II married women and mothers en masse worked in ‘male’ sectors like construction and even enlisted in the army: something we now see happening in Ukraine as well.

In the fifties, however, patriarchical structures were largely restored. In the Netherlands, women could not have bankaccounts. After they were married or had children, they automatically lost their government jobs. It took decades to secure the right for women to run their own lives and be financially independant. And even now, the gender gap is real.

Based on your experience, what are the major challenges in the next three years?

To me, recent developments just confirm that we can never consider the fight for women’s rights a battle won; the needle gets moved back and forth all the time. Women all over the world are losing rights the generations before them fought so hard to attain. To be able to move forward, men need to get involved. Because women’s rights are not an issue exclusive to women, just as childrens’ rights are not something only children should advocate for. Men will not be worse off if the lives of women improve, quite the opposite.

What could be a catalyst to address these challenges?

We need to get the history of women, or as they like to call it: herstory, in the centre of attention. Because the erasure of women from public life always begins by downplaying their contribution to society, followed by leaving their accomplishments out or attributing them to men instead. Giving women their rightful place in history is an important step towards recognizing women’s rightful place in society now.