PaVEM
Encyclopedia
PaVEM, the Dutch government's Committee for Participation of Women of Ethnic Minority Groups (in Dutch: Participatie van Vrouwen uit Etnische Minderheden), worked from 2003 to 2005 to improve the access of and participation by ethnic minority women in social movement
s, and thus to facilitate minority women's integration into Dutch society. The committee is of interest internationally because so many countries are dealing with similar issues in their societies.
, then Minister of Immigration and Integration, and Aart Jan de Geus
, then Minister of Social Affairs and Employment.
PaVEM was always intended to be a short-term committee with an emphasis on "speed and effectiveness;" according to one of its members, it was for this purpose populated with individuals who were expected to be able to get things done. Specifically, these members included the Argentinian-born Crown Princess Máxima, as well as two other immigrant women who had achieved a high level of educational and professional success, along with three powerful and experienced politicians.
The committee thus ceased to exist with its previous membership and as a government project, but a new NGO, a foundation called PaFemme, was formed to continue PaVEM's work. Its stated goal is to facilitate the participation of "black, migrant and refugee women" with "an emphasis on economic independence."
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
s, and thus to facilitate minority women's integration into Dutch society. The committee is of interest internationally because so many countries are dealing with similar issues in their societies.
Establishment
PaVEM was establihsed in 2003 under the second Balkenende cabinet. The initiative was spearheaded by Rita VerdonkRita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a retired Dutch politician initially of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy until she was expelled in October 2007, she later formed her own party Proud of the Netherlands . She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets...
, then Minister of Immigration and Integration, and Aart Jan de Geus
Aart Jan de Geus
Aart Jan de Geus is deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. He is a CDA Dutch politician and was the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment of the Netherlands in the first, second and third cabinet Balkenende.-Personal Life and Career:De...
, then Minister of Social Affairs and Employment.
Membership
Membership of the committee remained constant throughout its existence and comprised the following:- Paul RosenmöllerPaul RosenmöllerPaul Rosenmöller is a Dutch television presenter and former politician and trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks .-Biography:...
, Committee Chair (former Member of ParliamentStates-General of the NetherlandsThe States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
and former President of the Green LeftGreen leftThe term Green left is used primarily to refer to a combination of environmentalism, feminism, socialism, and pacifism in countries where the term is used...
Party) - Hans de Boer (former President of MKB-Nederland)
- Lilian Callender (Director of the School of Economics of INHOLLAND UniversityINHOLLAND UniversityInholland University of Applied Sciences is a vocational university , located in the Netherlands. Its organizational structure is a result of a collaboration of four formally independent institutions....
; originally from SurinameSurinameSuriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
) - Hans DijkstalHans DijkstalHenri Frans "Hans" Dijkstal was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister from 22 August 1994 until 3 August 1998...
(former Minister, former President of the VVDPeople's Party for Freedom and DemocracyThe People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
, former Member of ParliamentStates-General of the NetherlandsThe States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
) - Crown Princess MáximaPrincess Máxima of the NetherlandsPrincess Máxima of the Netherlands is the wife of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, heir apparent to the throne of the Netherlands.-Early life and education:...
- Yasemin Tümer (managing director of KPMGKPMGKPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
; originally from TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
)
PaVEM was always intended to be a short-term committee with an emphasis on "speed and effectiveness;" according to one of its members, it was for this purpose populated with individuals who were expected to be able to get things done. Specifically, these members included the Argentinian-born Crown Princess Máxima, as well as two other immigrant women who had achieved a high level of educational and professional success, along with three powerful and experienced politicians.
Strategies and Goals
Some of the main strategies of PaVEM were to improve minority women's access to employment; to remove barriers to their acquiring fluency in the Dutch language; to help municipalities engage more effectively in dialogue with immigrants; to reduce anti-immigrant sentiment, racism and oversimplification of immigrant issues in public discourse; and to develop a network of 'successful' immigrant women who could be mobilized to work on relevant participation projects. Tümer described the strategy as one of reaching the whole immigrant communities through the women of those communities, and described the group's vision as, "Don’t leave reports behind, [instead] leave insight, action, examples, agreements, [and] inspired people."Conclusions and Transformation
At its closing meeting in 2005, the committee reported the following achievements: municipalities had established a "participation agenda," covering four key areas: language, work, social dialogue, and participation. Rural structures had also been put in place spanning public sector, private sector, and social movement participants. A national action plan had also been firmly set for the integration of the 240,000 women still lacking Dutch language fluency, including a program to bring language lessons to rural women in their homes. Finally, a Rural Participation Team had been established, composed of thirty socially and economically successful immigrant women who committed to be available as liaisons between rural immigrant women and various Dutch institutions.The committee thus ceased to exist with its previous membership and as a government project, but a new NGO, a foundation called PaFemme, was formed to continue PaVEM's work. Its stated goal is to facilitate the participation of "black, migrant and refugee women" with "an emphasis on economic independence."
See also
- Africana womanismAfricana womanism"Africana Womanism" is a termed coined in the late 1980s by Clenora Hudson-Weems intended as an ideology applicable to all women of African descent. It is grounded in African culture and Afrocentrism and focuses on the experiences, struggles, needs, and desires of Africana women of the African...
- Black feminismBlack feminismBlack feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together. Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexism and class oppression. The Combahee River Collective argued in 1974 that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would...
- Postcolonial feminismPostcolonial feminismPostcolonial feminism, often referred to as Third World feminism, is a form of feminist philosophy which centers around the idea that racism, colonialism, and the long lasting effects of colonialism in the postcolonial setting, are inextricably bound up with the unique gendered realities of...
- Racism in the Netherlands
- Second-wave feminismSecond-wave feminismThe Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
- Third-wave feminismThird-wave feminismThird-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study whose exact boundaries in the historiography of feminism are a subject of debate, but often marked as beginning in the 1980s and continuing to the present...
- Third World feminism
- WomanismWomanismThe word womanism was adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker's use of the term in her book In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose...
External links
- PaFemme - foundation continuing the work of PaVEM
- Language Lessons in Your Home - a site for program begun by PaVEM - particularly to reach rural women who stayed at home for religious and cultural reasons.