By Paula Iudica

The National Meeting of Women arose after a group of Argentine women participated in the III World Conference in Nairobi (Kenya-Africa) with the aim of examining and evaluating the achievements of the Decade for Women, which had previously been declared at the Conference World International Women's Year (Mexico, 1975).

The first Encounter was held at the San Martín Cultural Center in the city of Buenos Aires between May 23 and 25, 1986. 1,000 women from different provinces attended. The organizing commission was made up of 45 women, who surely at that time did not imagine that they were organizing something that was going to become a unique, transformative, and massive phenomenon. They proposed an agenda for the workshops, which could be expanded with the proposals of the participants. The central axis of the meeting was the current situation of women in Argentina and the strategies for change, analyzed from different aspects. “At that time, they fought for shared parental authority, when men still had in their power – over mothers – the legal decisions about their children. Some of the issues that were raised in the eighties are still valid and others capture a photograph of the advances in women's rights that Argentina experienced.”*. The number of participants increased year by year. The Meeting is unique in the world, it is inspiring for women's movements from neighboring countries who come to expose their problems and their current situation, and to gather experiences to promote the journey in their countries and forge alliances. Last year in Rosario it is estimated that around 70,000 women participated.

This year the Meeting will take place in Resistencia, Chaco, on October 14, 15 and 16. 71 workshops were organized, which will address issues related to gender violence, access to justice, femicide, sexual harassment, comprehensive sexual education, youth and adolescence, as well as issues related to health such as reproductive rights, addictions, education, workshops on human rights, trafficking and exploitation, the prison system, neighborhood organization, workshops on rural issues, the economy, the world crisis, the media, culture, and a long list.

In these workshops each one of the participants, each one of the organizations, is informed and shares information and experiences, weaves networks, listens to ideas, they take them to their homes, schools, universities, organizations, companies, unions, political parties, student centers, group of friends, study or the place from where each one joins. In this way, among all of us, we continue to support each other, move forward and fight for our rights and for an egalitarian society, without gender violence. That may be why the motto of the Encounter this year is “The Encounter is all of us”.

For more information about the 32nd National Meeting of Women, you can visit http://encuentrodemujeres.com.ar/

*https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/subnotas/234317-65830-2013-11-25.html