French Talks: Defending Women's Rights: Today and Tomorrow

[FRENCH TALKS] Defending Women’s Rights: Today and Tomorrow
Talk conducted in English
Free entrance upon RSVP
Monday 18 March – 8pm @AFKL

This month we will have the pleasure of hosting a discussion on the issue of women's rights between Rozana Isa, executive director of Sister in Islam forum, and Anne-Cécile Mailfert, founder of the French foundation "Fondation des femmes". This French Talk will be moderated by Kartini Ariffin, former host of 3R (Respek, Relaks, Respon) who has spearheaded numerous digital media projects in the area of young women empowerment.

The speakers, both experienced activists, will share their experiences in advocating women's rights in Malaysia and France and reflect on the way ahead for us: what methods can be used most effectively to advocate women's rights today? In the light of the recent #metoo movement and its ripples worldwide, to what extent are women's rights to be understood universally or adapted to specific cultural contexts? How much progress still needs to be done to ensure equal rights between men and women ?

SPEAKERS:

Anne-Cecile MAILFERT

Anne-Cécile Mailfert is a French feminist activist. On the 8th of March 2016 she founded ‘La Fondation des Femmes’ (The Women’s Foundation), an organisation that aims to fund actions for women-men equality, fight against violence and for women’s rights. Active in civil society from a young age, she was the president and spokesperson of one of the largest feminist organisation in France, ‘Osez le féminisme’, from 2013 to May 2015. She was also the director of development for the Movement of Social Entrepreneurs (MOUVES) from 2012 to the beginning of 2016. She holds a double Master's degree from SciencesPo Lille (France) and Universidad de Salamanca (Spain). In 2015 she published « Ils ne décideront plus pour nous » a book about the French 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion and in 2015 "Tu Seras Une Femme, guide féministe pour ma nièce et ses ami.e.s", a feminist survival guide for young and not so young girls! 

Rozana ISA

Rozana Isa is a member of Sisters in Islam (SIS), a non-governmental organisation working on the rights of Muslim women within the framework of Islam. She is currently Coordinator of the secretariat for Musawah, the SIS-initiated Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family. Rozana is also a trainer with special focus on the SIS training module on Women’s Rights in Islam and facilitator for the Musawah course on Islam and Gender Equality and Justice (I-nGEJ). Rozana was also Senior Programme Officer on Building Capacity for Change at the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW Asia Pacific), an international women’s rights organization that contribute to the realisation of women’s rights through the lens of CEDAW and other international human rights instruments. Prior to that, she was Programme Assistant with The Urban Governance Initiative (TUGI) and Project Coordinator at Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), a national level NGO with focus on the issue of violence against women.

MODERATOR: Freda Liu 

A Producer/Presenter for the Enterprise show which airs on BFM. Freda has conducted over 5,000 interviews with prominent names. She has authored five books called "PR Yourself", “Shake & Spear Your Busine The Romeo & Juliet Way”, "Everybody Loves Ray" , "Bursting Fixed Mindsets- How 15 Women Broke the Million Ringgit Mark" and "In Your Skin". Freda has awarded the ASEAN Rice Bowl Awards for Malaysia Startup Journalist Of The Year and The ASEAN IN Peronality Award as an influencer by the Malaysian Global Chamber of Commerce.

Organised by

Embassy of France in Malaysia

Alliance Française de Kuala Lumpur

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What is French Talks?

Welcoming French and Malaysian experts, it aims at creating a space of dialogue, and a bridge between the two countries and their cultures. This is particularly timely in this new Malaysia where people are willing to express their views