RoWo-Pact

The project "Between old discrimination and new empowerment. Political particiation and Collective Action of Romani Women" (RoWo-Pact) aims to shed light on the political participation and collective action of minority women. Romani women serve as a case study as they face overlapping forms of discrimination and obstacles to political participation, which are further worsened through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, current research shows that women with an ethnic minority background often find alternative patterns to political participation and are far from passive spectators. Hence, the project focusses on the patterns, claims, obstacles and possibilities to political participation and collective action of Romani Women in five European countries (Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Hungary and North Macedonia). The project does not limit the analysis to traditional forms of participation such as participation in elections, but includes also unconventional forms of participation and collective action, such as online petition and protest. Further, the project combines minority and gender issues in the context of political participation and collective action, and contributes to the actor-centred approach of the PACS group in two ways: first by further exploring the group’s focus on the analysis of actors‘ frames, discourses, claims and motivations as well as on of actors’ strategic deployment of these resources. Second, the specific focus on Romani women adds to research on gender and its intersectionality with ethnicity.