Ensuring the covid response after the next elections takes in the gendered impact of the crisis

Location: Lyon, France

When you're working exclusively with women, the impact of the crisis is harshly felt : as their second shift becomes a full-time job under lock-down, a lot of them are less available to do campaign work and activism. To make sure we don't add guilt on top of that, we try to be as flexible as we can. Concretely, it's deciding collectively of the best time to do a meeting, and allowing women to jump in and contribute whenever they can, with a very open process. It's also getting on the phone to reassure them, it's being kind and understanding, and reminding everyone that it's ok to simply do what they can, even if what they can is nothing at all, at the moment.Under Covid19, we've taken our campaigning activities to a virtual space. We kept the energy of the women's movement strong as we work for the Greens to be elected at the next municipal/metropolitan elections.

As the Greens are getting ready for the second round of the municipal/metropolitan elections in June, we've worked hard to make sure the response to the sanitary crisis at the city/metropolis level would take into account the specific needs of women who have been particularly been impacted by the pandemic.

Even if you had to step back from your activism or change the way you fight, your work matters. You work matters, your voice is valid, and you, no matter what you are doing right now, are important.