The Women’s Manifesto has been written in accordance with the ideals of the PEN Charter that calls for one humanity living in peace and equality. We also acknowledge the important work undertaken for 25 years by the PEN International Women Writers Committee.
In the manifold varieties of violence – from murder and sex-selective abortion to stolen girls who are sold and trafficked to female students at universities who are rated and slut shamed on social media – one common result is to silence the voices of women and hamper the transmission of their words and stories across the boundaries of culture, class and nation, leaving unfilled pages and impoverished literatures.
The historical lack of freedoms for women and girls has almost always been defended by reference to culture, religion and tradition. These arguments underscore that few groups have suffered greater violations of human rights in the name of culture than women. Women are killed every day because they write or speak out.
The denial of fundamental human freedoms to millions of women, such as the right to literacy and education, equality, participation in political discourse as well as vilification of their ideas and scorn of their bodies is extreme. Victim-blaming also has a silencing effect on women, as it can lead to self-censorship as a way to cope and survive.
In a truly equal world, pledging to uphold the PEN Charter protects the right to freedom of expression for women and acknowledges that women and girls need to be witnesses of their own lives. However, the use of culture, religion and tradition as the defence for keeping women silent as well as the way in which violence against women is a form of censorship needs to be both acknowledged and addressed within the organization. This manifesto is a public statement of our position on this issue and our commitment to work towards a world where women and girls can express themselves safely, fully and freely.
PEN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S MANIFESTO
The first and founding principle of PEN International’s Charter asserts that ‘literature knows no frontiers.’ These frontiers were traditionally thought of as borders between countries and peoples. For many women in the world – and for almost all women until relatively recently – the first and the last and perhaps the most powerful frontier was the door of the house she lived in: her parents’ or her husband’s home.
For women to have free speech, the right to read, the right to write, they need to have the right to roam physically, socially and intellectually. There are few social systems that do not regard with hostility a woman who walks by herself.
PEN believes that violence against women, in all its many forms, both within the walls of a home or in the public sphere, creates dangerous forms of censorship. Across the globe, culture, religion and tradition are repeatedly valued above human rights and are used as arguments to encourage or defend harm against women and girls.
PEN International believes that the act of silencing a person is to deny their existence. It’s a kind of death. Humanity is both wanting and bereft without the full and free expression of women’s creativity and knowledge.
PEN INTERNATIONAL ENDORSES THE FOLLOWING INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED PRINCIPLES:
1. NON-VIOLENCE: End violence against women and girls in all of its forms including legal, physical, sexual, psychological, verbal and digital; promote a non-discriminatory, safe and enabling environment for women; and ensure that all gender-based violence is comprehensively investigated and punished and compensation provided for victims.
2. SAFETY: Protect women writers and journalists and combat impunity for violent acts and harassment committed against women writers and journalists in the world and online.
3. EDUCATION: Eliminate gender disparity at all levels of education by promoting full access to quality education for all women and girls and ensuring that women can fully exercise their education rights to read and write.
4. EQUALITY: Ensure that women are accorded equality with men before the law, condemn discrimination against women in all its forms and take all necessary steps to eliminate discrimination and ensure full equality of all people through the development and advancement of women writers.
5. ACCESS: Ensure that women are given the same access to the full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights to enable the full and free participation and public recognition of women in all media and across the spectrum of literary forms. Additionally, ensure equal access for women and girls to all forms of media as a means of freedom of expression.
6. PARITY: Promote the equal economic participation of women writers and ensure that women writers and journalists are employed and paid on equal terms to men without any discrimination.
Women Writers Committee, PEN International
MIRA, Slovenia
PEN Argentina
PEN Belgique
PEN Estonia
PEN Germany
PEN Finland
PEN Lebanon
PEN Portugal
P.E.N Quebec
PEN Mexico
PEN Myanmar
PEN Netherlands
PEN Norway
PEN San Miguel
PEN Sierra Leone
PEN South Africa
PEN Suisse Romand
PEN Sweden
PEN Sydney
PEN Trieste
PEN Turkey
PEN Zimbabwe
ADVISORS
Jennifer Clement, President PEN International
Margie Orford, Board member and President Emerita of PEN South Africa
Kätlin Kaldmaa, International Secretary PEN International
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Vice President, PEN International
Teresa Cadete, President PEN Portugal
Lisa Appignanesi, President Emerita of English PEN
Gillian Slovo, President Emerita of English PEN
Aline Davidoff, President Emerita of PEN Mexico
Nina George, Board Member German PEN
Salil Tripathi, Chair, Writers in Prison Committee, PEN International
Sarah Lawson, Board member of the PEN Women Writers Committee, PEN International
Ellah Allfrey
Caroline Criado Perez
Deanna Rodger
Rebecca Servadio
Kamila Shamsie
Laure Thorel
Gillian Slovo, President Emerita of English PEN
Aline Davidoff, President Emerita of PEN Mexico
Nina George, Board Member German PEN
Salil Tripathi, Chair, Writers in Prison Committee, PEN International
Sarah Lawson, Board member of the PEN Women Writers Committee, PEN International
Ellah Allfrey
Caroline Criado Perez
Deanna Rodger
Rebecca Servadio
Kamila Shamsie
Laure Thorel
Gaby Wood
Romana Cacchioli, PEN International
Sarah Clarke, PEN International
Josie O’Reilly, PEN International
