Feminism, feminisms, are more alive than ever before because they are also more essential than before. The conquests obtained allow that we, women, can not only have access to the labour market organized by and for men, but also change this economic model that was built on our work done in silence. Even if the Spanish legislation recognized (to an extent) a certain number of these rights, in reality the violence against women continues to take place by psychological and physical means in the work environment, family and society. It is for these reasons that we occupied the streets on the 8th of March, as well as to demand the recognition of a new economy that doesn’t only focus on money and is more concentrated on all life forms. A Care Economy, ignored by the patriarchal system but used for its power.
We can consider a myriad of ways to be feminist. One of these is very simple: to create our own social enterprises. We are talking about a generation of woman whose introduction in the work world is an acquired right with which they were born and grew up. Their purpose is to form an active part of Economy by transforming it in Social Solidarity Economy. In SSE, to be a woman entrepreneur is a politic issue. The Economic model for which she works is not The Homo Oeconomicus one, focused on productivity and on satisfying the material needs. It’s based on a model that puts life at the center and considers other kinds of needs: on one side there are the physiological needs and on the other , in a more subjective way (but not less important), the needs of tenderness, care and social links that are also a part of Economy. As Daniela Osorio (from Xarxa d’Economie Solidaria Catalunya) said:
“We are accustomed to the rationalization of politics and the androcentric strabism; to put tenderness at the center of things becomes a revolutionary question.”
And this revolution of tenderness is the radical difference between Feminist Solidarity Economy and Patriarchal Capitalist Economy.
