Laila Balga, Chairperson of the Board, Women S Rights Institute

Laila Balga, Chairperson of the Board, Women’s Rights Institute

25/08/2016, Riga, Latvia

Questionnaire: Latvian NGOs and Civil Society, Gender, and Politics

1. Online, I found multiple websites that list only 7-10 NGOs and civil societies focused on women’s rights, gender mainstreaming, and gender equality policy in Latvia. Is this number accurate? If so, why do you believe there are only a handful of groups in operation?

The number is correct, unfortunately, to an extent. I have been at the helm of Women’s Rights Institute since 1997, but NGOs focused on women’s rights came into existence in Latvia in 1991 with the founding of the Organization of Women-Social Democrats. In 1992 the Council for Cooperation of Latvian Women’s Organizations was established, and until 1998, the following organizations were in operation: Women’s Rights Institute, Cooperation Network of Latvian Women’s NGOs, Association of Latvian Women in Rural Areas, Latvian Business Women Association, Association of Women with Special Needs “Aspazija”, Latvian Women Sports Association, Latvian Catholic Women’s Association, and some others. At the end of the 1990s, two women-only political parties run in the general elections of the Latvian Parliament – namely, the Women’s Party and the Organization of Women-Social Democrats.

At the moment the following NGOs and civil societies focused on women’s rights, gender mainstreaming and gender equality policy are in some way active: Women’s Rights Institute, IWO – International Women’s Organization, Association of Women’s Microenterprises, Cooperation Network of Latvian Women’s NGOs, Association of Women Researchers, Association of Latvian Women in Rural Areas, Resource Centre for Women MARTA, Association “Līdere” (Woman in Leadership), Latvian Business Women Association, Association of Women with Special Needs “Aspazija”, Society “Shelter “Safe House””, and Centerof Gender Studies at the University of Latvia. All of them cooperate closely with the Latvian Ministry of Welfare, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economics, and Ministry of Agriculture.

However, over 20,000 NGOs are registered in Latvia, and the absolute majority – around 80% - of their governing boards are comprised of women. Thus, I would like to make a point that the NGOs and civil societies in Latvia give a large indirect support for women’s rights, interests, and gender equality. For example, such organizations as the Mothers’ Club, Large Family Center “Family Support”, Lady HUNT Latvia, several rural women’s clubs, artisan and craftspeople organizations, and organizations for women with special needs also work mainly in support of the situation of women. 54% of the residents of Latvia are women.

NGOs that directly and actively work on gender equality policies are volunteer-based – they take part in the working groups of several Ministries and the Parliament of Latvia, participate in legislation making etc. Implementation of gender equality policies suggested by NGOs is mostly not funded by the Republic of Latvia; some separate projects implemented have been funded by the USA or the European Union. There have been opportunities used to fund initiatives of gender equality policies via the EEA/Norway Grants Programs, and the Latvian-Swiss Cooperation Program in the time period 2008-2012. At the moment these programs have ended. Co-funding for gender equality policies from the European Union at the moment goes to governmental organizations.

1. Do women choose to work through foreign groups, such as the European Union to push gender policy?

Yes, all of the leading women’s rights organizations work at the level of the European Union; part of them also work through Asian and the US cooperation projects. For instance, the Cooperation Network of Latvian Women’s NGOs is a member of European Women’s Lobby; Women’s Rights Institute, Association of Women’s Microenterprises, and IWO – International Women’s Organization work through the European Anti-Poverty Network; Latvian Business Women Association cooperates with organizations in Russia; Resource Centre for Women MARTA has joint projects with Azerbaijan. Each of these leading women’s rights organizations of Latvia has several tens of partner organizations in the European Union.

1. How has European Union policy and Western Europe influence Latvia’s gender policies and gender mainstreaming?

The influence has been very positive and far-reaching: the general public in Latvia is sufficiently educated and that contributes to the success in taking over European Union (Westernized) policies, and the recommendations of the EU policy documents are implemented in the policy documents, programs and initiatives of the Republic of Latvia. Women Members of the Latvian Parliament, the former president of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, and other women leaders work in different women’s organizations of the European Union and across the globe. Gender Equality Committee, which was established at the Ministry of Welfare of Latvia in 2010, cooperates with Latvian NGOs and tries to work with the public at large – at the moment its biggest project, in cooperation with NGOs, is drafting the Concept of Gender Equality for years 2017-2020.

1. Do most women who are involved in civil society in Latvia have a degree from a university or a higher education level?

Almost all leaders of civil society organizations in Latvia have a university degree, many of them have several degrees. Most are professors or lecturers and know several languages. For example, the leader of the Cooperation Network of Latvian Women’s NGOs is a PhD in Social Sciences, the leader of Women’s Rights Institute – an LLM in Criminal Law. As to women in civil society organizations in general, certainly no less than 60% of them have a degree from a university or a higher education level.

1. Regarding your organization, the Women’s Rights Institute of Latvia, what projects and fundraisers have you organized in the last few years?

From November 2014 to April 2016, the Women’s Rights Institute of Latvia, in cooperation with seven NGOs from Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, implemented the project, co-funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, “Support for Civil Society and Equality in Baltic”. The activities of this project were targeted at the development of the civil society in the countries of the Baltic Sea region. 90 experts and over 800 participants took part in the activities of the project. Of them 80% were women. The budget of the project was EUR 66,823.

There are no other projects currently scheduled.

1. What would you consider to be the Women’s Rights Institute of Latvia’s biggest accomplishment?

I would consider the biggest accomplishment of the WRI of Latvia to be the longevity and sustainability the WRI has achieved by working constantly since 1997, and the results of that work: training women and raising their self-esteem, and awarding the Annual Prize for a Woman in Leadership for excellence in involvement, and for involving other women, in civil society.

1. What would you consider to be its biggest challenge?

The two biggest challenges of the WRI of Latvia:

1) the passive attitude of Latvian women and the conservative traditions and attitudes of the Latvian public, especially the case when those traditions and attitudesprevent women voting for women in politics as opposed to men and thus keep the numbers of women in the Latvian parliament and other decision-making institutions rather low (at the moment only 15 of the 100 Members of Parliament of Latvia are women), which should be remedied by better education and involvement for all the 54% of the residents – women – of Latvia, the necessity of which the WRI has always argued and will continue to emphasize in the future;

2) better access for Latvian women’s organizations, especially those in rural areas, to European Union and global level NGO networks that would include them as members and support their work – it is the women’s civil society organizations in rural areas of Latvia that actually create and support civil society, often without any help, and also carry social burdens that should be taken up by government services. Stimulating European and global networks to include and support the said organizations has always been among the primary goals of the Women’s Rights Institute of Latvia.

1. If you do not mind me asking, how is your Institution funded?

WRI is funded by international funds such as the European Social Fund (2006), EEA/Norway grants (2008-2010), the Latvian-Swiss Cooperation Program (2011), and the Nordic Council of Ministers (2014), etc.

1. In my research, I read that Latvian Civil Societies are not very involved in politics, is this true? If so why? If this is untrue, what is the reality of the relationship between Latvian civil society and political groups?

It is untrue, but the situation is a bit complicated.On the one hand, civil society in Latvia is very successfully involved. NGO experts and members are involved in decision-making and the mechanism of this involvement is stipulated in legislation. Each of the 13 ministries of the government of Latvia and the majority of municipalities and local government institutions are accompanied by one or several working groups that have seats guaranteed for NGO experts. For example, the Committee for Gender Equality and the National Council of Disability Rights are working groups of NGO experts at the Ministry of Welfare of Latvia. The three main social partners which work in close cooperation with the government– the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia – are the Employers’ Confederation of Latvia, Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia, and the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments. Close cooperation is established with the large NGOs of entrepreneurs – the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Foreign Investors Council in Latvia.These partners of the government, along with the Association of Large Towns of Latvia, significantly influence political processes. It is, however, telling that only the Director-General of Employers’ Confederation of Latvia is a woman – the others are led by men.

The NGO sector of Latvia also wields influence via the Implementation Council of the Cooperation Memorandum Between NGOs and the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia – of around 400 organizations, including the Women’s Rights Institute, eight representatives of NGOs have the right to vote. Via this Council, which is part of the State Chancellery of Latvia, once per month Latvian NGOs give their recommendations to the executive power – the ministries and the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia. A major event in 2016 was the newly-founded NGO Foundation which, for the first time ever in Latvia, administers funding for NGOs for advocacy of public interests (EUR 400,000 in total).

However, Latvia has a small population (around two million people, of which some 250,000 are without Latvian citizenship); due to that fact, the political environment is closely entwined with the NGO sector. Nearly every political party has an affiliated NGO, and many members of political parties who are Members of Parliament or work in government institutions of Latvia are also leading members of an NGO or establish an NGO after their term in office. Many NGOs in Latvia have developed into a basis for either lobbying or sponsoring specific policies, or starting businesses. The role of women in these corruptive ties is insignificant.

1. How did you become interested in the field of gender studies?

I began my work in the field of gender equality in 1991 when, as a group of women with shared worldviews, we established the Organization of Women-Social Democrats with over 500 members; subsequently, in 1997 we established the Women’s Rights Institute with over 700 members and in 1998– the Women’s Party that ran in the general election of the Parliament of Latvia with 16 candidates. My interest in gender equality policies was reinforced when, in the 1990s, I travelled to Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Russia for experience exchange.

1. In your personal opinion, has Latvian culture and policy towards women changed significantly in the last decade?

My personal experience shows that each decade is like a spiral that makes you return to issues that have already been resolved or ideas that are familiar and have already been disputed, proven or discarded because a new generation of people is active in civil society and has to be trained and educated anew. Also, a large problem for the society of Latvia is the rapid aging of the population. Nevertheless, I would say that the positions of women in society, both culture and policy towards women, in the last 10 years have strengthened in various significant ways. I do not mean it in the way that there is a larger proportion of women in the population than it was 10 years ago, I mean that the positions of influence the women take have increased – 80% of NGO leaders are women, 40% of business owners are women, the Speaker of the Parliament of Latvia, Minister for Finance, Minister for Culture, and Minister for Health of Latvia are women; previously, the President of Latvia, several Speakers of the Parliament, and the Prime Minister have all been women. There are some facts that should be always taken into account while speaking about Latvia, such as 1) the people of Latvia tend to be reserved and cautious, 2) the heterogeneous national makeup of the country – 45% of the population are not ethnic Latvians, and 3) the economic inequalities of the society of Latvia –1% of the people could be termed rich, and 26% are below the poverty line. However, I would dare to conclude that the women of Latvia are in a safe situation and have an advantage to be fully immersed in and influence political life and decisions as well as social matters. Women have a prominent place in society of Latvia from which to voice their opinions and wield power, and our culture in general facilitates doing so.

Translation from Latvian by Mara Anteniske

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