COMMA Project – The comma between women and their rights

COMMA Project was created by pro-bono involvement of everyone, guests, studio, make-up, editing.

It is a project about People, Involvement, Community.

We thank all those who have given us their time and expertise to give a common voice to the

# 16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives!

At the end of 2019, there is still a comma between women and their rights. A subtle comma, implied or directly expressed, but it is still there.

COMMA is an independent journalistic project that wants to talk about the subtleties of inequality, about the meanings of discrimination, about directly expressed inequity.

pozajowebsiteA young journalist, Ioana Sabo, graduate of the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations, passionate about people with life stories, together with Necuvinte Association presents #16GenderPerspectives.

Interesting people, whom you will meet in the films below, have talked about them, about Romania and especially about Women in Romania.
Past. Present. Future.

,,In ’87, the Romanian state was closing its doors to a battered woman, who had no money and her clothes burned down, carrying two daughters who were 13 and 12 at that time. It was my grandma. Why? Because no one had time for a woman who had “issues with her husband”. In 2019, doors are still being closed for women who suffer same abuses. Why? Because no one said enough. Nevermind, it will pass. Nevermind, it’s not that bad. Nevermind, it’s only been 32 years ? (+a couple of thousand more of abuse throughout the history).” 

This project comes in the context of #16DaysOf Activism against violence towards women and girls.

25th of November  – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – December 10th – International Human Rights Day

cover-25-noi

The General Assembly of the United Nations has designated through Resolution 54/134, 25th of  November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The premise of this day is to raise awareness that women around the world are subjected to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence.

The Butterflies  (La Mariposas)

Patria Mercedes Mirabal born on February 27th, 1924 – murdered on 25th of November 1960

Minerva Argentina Mirabal born on 12th of March, 1926 – murdered on 25th of November 1960

Antonia Maria Teresa Mirabal born on October 15th, 1935 – murdered on 25th of November 1960

Who were the Mirabal sisters?logosite

November 25th – The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

My Grandmother, my mother, me. Comma Project – interview with Ioana Sabo

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

“In ’87, the Romanian state was closing its doors to a battered woman, who had no money and her clothes burned down, carrying two daughters who were 13 and 12 at that time. It was my grandma. Why? Because no one had time for a woman who had “issues with her husband”. In 2019, doors are still being closed for women who suffer same abuses. Why? Because no one said enough. Nevermind, it will pass. Nevermind, it’s not that bad. Nevermind, it’s only been 32 years ? (+a couple of thousand more of abuse throughout the history).” – Ioana Sabo

Past. Present. Future.

We thank: Ioana Sabo, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

November 26th

God created the Man, then the Woman – interview with Gelu Duminică

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

“But the dogma is just one and the Holy Matrimony, which is used by a lot of men in order to emphasize their superiority, and it goes like this: ”the man shall be feared by the woman, just like the man fears God”.
Some people understand that the woman needs to fear the man. And that’s that. This means that the woman is inferior and that the man can impose his will through violence as well.
But fearing God, according to the New Testament is about respect, it is about the fear of not losing what you love.
The church, as a whole, is not saying this. It is not saying that the woman should obey the man. It does say, indeed, that one should obey the other, but in different contexts.
I, for one, would like not to generalize, I would not say that the church per se, or that the orthodox dogma is misogynistic, but rather that the priests are misogynistic and make a social norm out of this.” – Gelu Duminică, Executive Director at Agenţia de Dezvoltare Comunitară Împreună, Doctor in Sociology and associate professor of the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest

We thank: Gelu Duminică, Agenția Împreună, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

November 27th

Roma women, sisterhood, respect – interview with Crina Marina Mureșanu

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

“The main difference between the Roma women and other women is that it is expected from the Roma woman to tolerate violence.” – Crina Marina Mureșanu, activist for human rights, social assistant

We thank: Crina Marina Mureșanu, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan și Monica Tudorache

November 28th

Woman as product – human trafficking – interview with Monica Boseff and Bogdan, police officer D.C.C.O.

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

Woman as product – human trafficking – interview with Monica Boseff – Open Door Foundation and Bogdan, police office at Combating Organized Crime Directorate

Romania is still one of the main source countries in Europe regarding human trafficking, but it also stands in a high place regarding the number of investigations and convictions against crime gangs. Most of the trafficked persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation are women and girls, some of them minors. The traffickers are most often using the Loverly method or the promise of a stable job abroad.

We need to better emphasize the importance of education and to understand that consumers of illegal sexual services are committing crimes. And the victims can’t say anything. Monsters often have a friendly face, even familiar. A high number of the trafficked persons who are taken abroad are the victims of their own families.

We thank: The General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, Combating Organized Crime Directorate, Open Door Foundation, Monica Boseff, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan și Monica Tudorache

November 29th

Women, rights and politics – interview with Oana Băluță

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

“We’re not discussing women in politics, but women and men in politics, and in what way is the masculinization of politics compatible with democracy. Because if their (women’s) representation is at 10%, and we say they are under-represented, and men are 90%, that means they are over-represented.” – Oana Băluță Conf.univ.dr.at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, University of Bucharest; Activist for women’s rights

We thank: Oana Băluță, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan și Monica Tudorache

November 30th

Again, what it is and how we do SexEd – interview with Adina Manea and Alexandra Mihalache, Youth for Youth

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

”Refusing the access to education, we allow online inaccurate information to misguide. The curiosity exists regardless of the restrictions placed against human nature. And sexuality is also a component of human nature. A piece of information that we come across without any further explanations remains a simple piece of information. It leads to no clarification of attitudes. And this is what we are trying to do, through the programs we address. We are trying to create contexts where we can #think. To think”. – Adina Manea and Alexandra Mihalache, Youth for Youth, talking about sexual education in Romania, which is also about emotional health and relational intimacy.

The way in which the young generation thinks should reflect in an informed decision, which eventually leads to certain attitudes and core values.

We thank: Adina Manea, Alexandra Mihalache, Youth for Youth, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

December 1st

Femininity, the weakness behind the uniform? – interview with Lieutenant Cătălina Grigore, Military Police and Military Master Geanina Iacob, from the Naval Forces, member of the crew of Mărășești Frigate

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

On the occasion of the National Day of Romania it is important to also talk about women in uniform, women who have defended and continue to defend the country. Women in the military system have long been understood as having the role of doing office work, although they have always been actively involved in the defence of the country.

“Now the reality shows that this is not the case anymore. Currently, women participate in theaters of operations, women conduct plutons, women conduct instruction. ” – Lieutenant Cătălina Grigore

“Gradually, the woman gained her role in society, in many areas. She made her mark on what is happening in those areas, in those corporations, companies, shops, etc. And I think she has played a decisive role, and she has a decisive role and will play one in the future, because, basically, we are all human beings. ” – Military Master Geanina Iacob

We thank: The Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant Cătălina Grigore, Military Master Geanina Iacob, Mindopoly Studio, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

December 2nd

Women in tech – from innovative to minority – interview with Sabina Alexandra Ștefănescu

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

„The first programmers were women. They were called computers … because all they were doing was writing programs.” – Sabina Alexandra Ștefănescu

An apparently boring work until the tech world came to fruition and was taken over by men. Women write code, coordinate security to prevent cyber attacks, lead departments, are leaders in the technology that brings evolution.

From innovative to minority. Even though Romania is one of the countries with the most women in the field of technology, the prejudices still give way to discrimination – even though she sign her emails with the name Alexandra, there are still people who are waiting to meet the great Alex who wrote that code.

In a highly competitive field, “we kill our time thinking about the digital goat of our neighbor instead of collaborating” – in dialogue with Sabina Alexandra Ștefănescu, Tech Officer and volunteer at Code For Romania.

We thank: Sabina Alexandra Ștefănescu, Code for Romania, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan și Monica Tudorache

December 3rd

Sex in advertising, women objectification and influential marketing – interview with Olga Hosu

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

,,If within your family you don’t do education, you don’t pass on values, and you push your child into the fashion and lifestyle industry, and a little inaction if we’re to be fair, at a young age, how can a girl earn values? Where from? You would say from school. But I’m circumspect about that” – in dialogue with Olga Hosu, Public Relations Manager, V8 Interactive

The sexual objectification actually means to degrade a person to being an object. This practice ignores the personality and dignity of women, and the consequences are yet to appear. The moment you objectify a woman you are separating her sexual parts from anything she is as human. From this point, we get to the creation and the upkeep of gender stereotypes, or even worse, to the discrimination based on gender, and this is reflected in any social environment that woman is part of.

We thank: Olga Hosu, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

December 4th

The agenda woman, the post-it woman, the label woman – interview with Anca Maco

“The conversation about losing the feminine identity has never truly existed. It has been rather discussed the loss of the relevance of the feminine and of the feminity. It is being discussed rather the perception of masculine versus feminine, or how you should introduce yourself as a woman. And this is something you are being told by men, women, ancestors, friends, detractors. You are a woman the way in which you choose to be a woman.” – Anca Maco, Digital Consulatnt

We thank: Anca Maco, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit By Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan și Monica Tudorache
December 5th

Women in literature, from muses to creators – interview with Ana Barton

“Look at yourself fondly, accept yourself, try to get to know yourself better, stay curious, learn something new, respect yourself in order to be able to respect the others, you need a starting point in order to gain experience. As long as you don’t respect yourself, you cannot respect those around you either. Try to love yourself in order to learn how to love the others. It is pretty much the same. This is my only message, because for someone who respects himself/herself, the odds of being able to respect and love those around, are quite high. Respect everybody and love a few, of course.” – Ana Barton, Writer

We thank: Ana Barton, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache
December 6th

The activist woman, changing the paradigm about normality – interview with Simona Voicescu

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

“I would re-soft the humanity, so that we could live in a world with no discrimination whatsoever. Further on, we are still talking about women’s and girls’ rights. Why are we still talking about this? Aren’t we supposed to already have them? Aren’t we supposed to start from a ground zero, where both men and women are equals, and where, I would say that a better term to use is equity. Why don’t we talk about equity, why are we not there yet? My normality would take a re-soft. A re-soft which I obviously cannot make happen, which is why, we are left with education, education, education and with talking in the public space, as much as we can, about these problems, so that nowadays’ generations, as well as those who come from behind, would be able to bring a different soft, just like that.” – Simona Voicescu, Necuvinte Association Founder, Activist for human rights

We thank: Simona Voicescu, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

December 7th

#MeToo, Social Media and a scroll through the Millenials generation – interview with Lorena Frunțișanu și Cătălin Florea

“We know well enough that in religion, the man is the head of the family and the woman is supposed to…somehow bow, be grateful, to…it sounds as if she is an accessory, from my point of view. Really!?” – Lorena Frunțișanu, Manager Marketing Research
“We’re now facing a total lack of interest for the other people’s emotions and things they are going through, and everybody follows the saying: a tooth for a tooth. Which is not ok, because this is why we got to this point” – Cătălin Florea, Project Manager
There have been many prejudices about the Millenials generation, whether talking about mindset, looks or habits. They are seen as a generation that should function without problems, but has been named one of the most abused generation – verbally, physically and sexually. #MeToo, porn, soft porn, social networks, dating platform, sexting, nudes, abuse, silence, mental health and fears. A scroll through the Millenials generation.
We thank: Lorena Frunțișanu, Cătălin Florea, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

 December 8th

Sexism through the eyes of journalists, let’s make some waves! – interview with Diana Oncioiu and Oana Dimofte

“It seems to me that there is no form of solidarity. I did not see only men who would say “hey, the victim is, the girl is to blame because she did x, y. I saw even women. My explanation to justify sexual harassment of a teacher was given to me by other girls, students. No other boys And then I think it is very important to tax such behaviors”. – Diana Oncioiu, reporter Dela0.ro
“If you have a Facebook page, 500 people are following you, write that it is not ok to judge the victims. Writes that the woman is, in terms of civil rights, completely equal to the man. Write down what you think. Give yourself some courage. Give up the shyness. This shyness have eaten our social awareness for years. Because we were taught to stand in our bank and not to bother. And that’s not our job. No, come on. Let’s make some waves. Come on!” – Oana Dimofte, journalist, foundet educatiaprivata.ro
We thank: Diana Oncioiu, Oana Dimofte, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit By Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

 December 9th

Women are the stronger sex! – interview Christian Crăciun

“We’re deviating from the actual subject, but teaching literature and the literature program it’s bad, I’m gonna say it straight and directly. From the program we’re missing feminism themes, and the few female writers we have. There’s no, in the baccalaureate program there’s no woman. And I repeat, I don’t mean an arithmetic parity, because we have female writers that showed up through forced context too late, and we can’t invent female writer, but they even took out Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu, who is one of the founders of the Romanian novel.” – Christian Crăciun, teacher, writer, literary critic
We thank: Christian Crăciun, Studio Mindopoly, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Make-up: Edit by Edith, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache
December 10th – International Human Rights Day

The state of Romania, between patriarchy and change – interview with Dragoș Pătraru

#16DaysOfActivism #16GenderPerspectives

„I grew up in a family, I spoke about this in the past, where violence was a daily accurance, a very perverse form of violence in the sense that my father, God forgive him, would never hit us, the children and that made us adore him. He was also a very charismatic man who gave off a lot of strength and empathy in a lot of moments, but he had this thing, to beat my mother regularly. I have this image in my head with me at 6 or 7 years old, we lived in an apartment building in Ploiești on the 10th floor and my father, being drunk, because we only had this problems when he drank, otherwise he was sorry for what he did, maybe this is a general caracteristic of the people with these disease, with alcohol, and he was holding my mother who was a tiny woman outside the window on the 10th floor and asking me if he should drop her or not. Outside the window.” – Dragoș Pătraru, journalist, producer of “Starea Nației” TV show

„So, my message to all women and girls is to try to create around them by taking attitude, a world with less inegalities. Anywhere they see inegalities, to speak up, say what they have to say and to try to educate as many as possible, especially men, because here is the problem. I remain optimistic that if we continue to pursue education, we can only reach a much better place.” – Dragoș Pătraru

We thank: Dragoș Pătraru, Filming: Starea Nației, Editing: Alexandru Ioniță, Project Team: Ioana Sabo, Andreea Talmazan and Monica Tudorache

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