≠igfem
E.P.E.S.E.P
Project
Equal Pay
Equal Show
Equal Pension
The "Equal Pay, Equal Show, Equal Pension" project aims to raise public awareness on misogynistic and sexist structures in the literary world and to propose measures to improve the social and economic position, reception, and standing of female authors in the European Union and in Armenia. Our objective is to propose countermeasures to address the pay gap, show gap, and pension gap in the literary sector, specifically for women.
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Equal Pay
Female writers often have lower income than male writers. Not only are they less published than men, but they are also financially disadvantaged as they are less rewarded with prizes. These differences impact female writers' working and living conditions.
OUR
OBJECTIVES
Equal Show
Female writers suffer from a lack of
visibility, as they are less invited to readings, receptions and awards ceremonies as male writers. The literary field is not exempt of sexist violences, and sexual harassment, misogynistic comments and behaviours become additional obstacles when it comes to achieving success and participating in public events .
Equal Pension
Due to the pay gap, retired female authors have lower income than male retired authors, which has consequences on their living conditions.
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Collecting data on the visibility, social and economic standing of female authors in the European Union.
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Increasing the visibility of feminist and especially socio-critical female authors, thanks to an online reading list consisting exclusively of the works of mainly contemporary female writers from the countries of all participating organisations. The project team will offer suggestions on how the reading list can be used by schools, universities, and the general public.
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Networking and enabling the exchange of experiences: we will organise an online writing and networking group, in which female writers can jointly work on texts and discuss improvements.
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Promoting the transnational collaboration among writers and feminist/literary organisations and experts, by organising four symposia (Munich, Amsterdam, Yerevan, Vienna) to present the outcome of the online survey, the online reading list, the writing and the networking group. Experts will be invited from different countries like Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
E.P.E.S.E.P
Project
partners
The project, funded by Creative Europe programme, aims to promote the situation of women writers in different European countries by bringing together experts from various countries to discuss the current situation, identify challenges, and develop strategies for further development and cooperation in a collaborative and participatory approach.
Austria: ≠igfem is the leading partner of the EPESEP project. It is a non-profit organisation, founded in 2019 and based in Vienna, Austria. Its name is an abbreviation for Interessensgemeinschaft Feministische Autorinnen, which translates into Association of Feminist Authors. The core missions of ≠igfem are to represent the concerns of female writers, fight against sexist inequalities in the literary field and to offer professional training for female writers.
Germany: Schamrock is an international forum for women poets. It was founded in 2009 with the intention of encouraging poets to develop readings, extraordinary ideas and fresh performance forms with creative fury and poetic verve.
The Netherlands: The Dutch writers’ collective Fixdit was founded in 2019. They write lemmas for handbooks, tip readers off in a regular column in the review “Nederlandse Boekengids”, make podcasts and organise a canon festival. They have a website, a newsletter, a reading club, and published a noted manifest in 2022.
Armenia: Today Art Initiative (TAI) was founded in 2014. The aim of the organization is to develop contemporary art activities and create a platform for experimental and innovative art practices and exchanges. TAI provides opportunities to reflect society’s issues locally and internationally. The aim of exchanges and residencies is to create the dialogue between art practitioners in larger contextual level such as identity, community, nationality.Through eco-art initiatives, TAI aims to raise awareness about environmental challenges and encourage sustainable practices. By integrating art into environmental activism, TAI seeks to inspire individuals to take action and make positive changes in their communities.
