Strasbourg, 19 December 2024
Today at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Member of the European Parliament Željana Zovko participated in the debate on the EU priorities for the upcoming session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
She stressed that it is inconceivable to acknowledge that, outside the European Parliament and Commission, women remain largely absent from global decision-making roles. Today, women continue to struggle with the impossible task of balancing their responsibilities as mothers while striving to achieve their professional goals, often feeling they are sacrificing one for the other and some are also fighting with violence at home.
Zovko added that having been raised by a strong working mother, she is highly aware of this reality.
She also emphasised that there is a blatant paradox in Europe, where countries claim to defend women rights and at the same time fail to acknowledge the visible violence that leads to the rape of the body and the killing of the soul, refusing to call this for what it is and leads to: a femicide.
“Infanticide begins at conception. Femicide begins with dehumanising women’s body. True heroes of today are mothers who fight the system unfit to help them thrive”.
After the votes on this report failed to recognize these facts and failed to call on European countries to consider femicide a criminal offense, Zovko decided to vote against the report.
Let us remind that Zovko actively supports the protection of women and girls from all forms of violence and regularly shares her experience to highlight harassment and cyberviolence against female politicians.