As Switzerland is celebrating the 50th anniversary of voting rights for women, at the edge of International Women’s Day, what does be a feminist mean today? Data-driven, inclusive, and active in the public debate, modern feminism is getting ready to change the world. Not less.

 

While some individuals and organizations still derive their actions from ideologies, some are aligned with a more pragmatic approach, based on data, inclusiveness, and dialogue. Building on the legacy of pioneers, feminism today is fired by an equal goal to promote gender equality, but driven by even larger ambitions, and served by a powerful set of tools. Feminism is no more exclusively a case about women’s rights. It now feeds a multitude of crucial conversations about family, education, work, the evolution of society, the future of the planet, and much more.

The word belongs to all, including to an exponential number of men who proudly label themselves as feminists.

A sign of the times, the 2021 theme of International Women’s Day is #ChooseToChallenge. “We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.”

Does feminism work for the common good? UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 says  “Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world”.  In contributing actively to these crucial conversations, feminists are reshaping our world.

Please join this crucial conversation and engage with our panelists:

 

  • Lynn Bertholet was born for the first time in Lausanne in 1959, and a second time in Geneva on October 19, 2015, when she was the first trans * woman recognized without an operation. She is passionate about issues relating to diversity and inclusion in general, to that of trans * people in particular, and has been active for several years in LGBTQI groups. Always motivated by the struggles in favor of the human being, she led visually impaired people on skis, founded with her father an association to promote the education of children in the Khumbu valley in Nepal, created and co-directed the “CAS in financial services ”from the University of Geneva. During her transition, she was the first woman in Switzerland to force her health insurance fund to pay for her facial surgery. She recently completed her studies in the Leadership for Executive LGBT program at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University in California. Lynn was a senior manager for 30 years, taught at the University of Geneva from 2003 to 2019. On a voluntary basis, she is also a member of the board of directors, treasurer, and chair of the audit committee of the International Francophone Alliance for Equality and Diversity – Égides, based in Montreal. Founder of ÉPICÈNE, a registered nonprofit organization to support trans* people, she is deeply involved in various legal procedures to improve trans* situation in Switzerland.

 

  • Diana Palomba is a lawyer in Florence specialized in Trust and Committee member of the Italian Trustee Company Ingad Trust Srl. She has worked for 8 years as a legal consultant at the Benedict Partnership LLP, a London-based company, specialized in International Tax Planning. She was in charge of the Trust Department and fiscal advisor. Before the collaboration with Benedict, she worked in London, with another local financial company part of the Fortis Bank Group, where she was focusing on fiscal and legal issues, with particular attention to the trust and its practical implications in the civil law jurisdictions. She took part as a speaker at various conferences on Trust, both in Italy and abroad, often organized by STEP, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Diana is currently Ambassador for the Fashion Trust at the Italian Fashion Chambers in Milan. In 2015 she founded the Italian branch of Feminin Pluriel, since then she is the President, the Club is very committed to fighting violence against woman, supporting orphans of feminicide with a special focus on education and it is also carrying on an important lobbying activity to concretely promote gender equality, especially by sustaining female occupation.

 

  • Laure Gabus Journalist, podcaster, co-founder of Reportage, Laure began her career in journalism in 2008. Specialist in politics, passionate about social issues and particularlymigration and equality, she has made several major reports in Ecuador, Haiti, and Greece. Her book “Leros, île au cœur de la crise migratoire”won the Nicolas Bouvier Award 2016. Graduated in international history and journalism, she obtained a SAC in documentary films at the HKB, Bern. After ten years in print media, she moved on to audio and podcast creation with La 4e dimension (best report at the SONOHR 2020 radio & podcast Festival) or Message Viral (Le Temps). In 2019 she co-founded Reportage, an association to help create, produce and broadcast stories in french-speaking Switzerland. She is also a founding member of the new network of women in the media, Journalista.

 

We will welcome a representative of the Women’s Brain Project.

 

The debate will be moderated by Léa Grüter– Lea is a dynamic multilingual moderator (English, German and French) based in Zurich, Switzerland. She confronts all her projects openly and curiously, in a direct way with a critical view. She is committed to empowering others by creating platforms to interact and collaborate with. Excited to host the panel for Feminin Pluriel, she will inquire what it means to be a feminist.

The debate will be followed by a networking session where all participants will be invited to meet and continue the conversation in small groups