Lala Pasquinelli, feminist lawyer and artistwas chosen by the BBC, in its project BBC100 Women, among the 100 most influential women in the world for her work in Mujeres que no fue tapa, on stereotypes and mandates. She is the only Argentine on the list, which is made up of the feminist icon Gloria Steinem, the former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama, and the Nobel Prize winner in Economics Claudia Goldín, among many other talented women.
Pasquinelli is the second Argentine woman to integrate the recognized list. The first was Mabel Bianco in 2019. A doctor, feminist, Bianco is at the head of the Foundation for the Study and Research of Women (FEIM).
“In these very particular moments for feminisms in our country, receiving this recognition, integrating a list full of women that we admire and who have paved the way for us, confirms us in our work, and in our actions, legitimizes us and makes us visible,” they say from Mujeres Que No Fuen Tapa (MQNFT).
“Women who were not the cover” (of a magazine) is an original idea by the artist Lala Pasquinelli, founded in 2015 to question beauty stereotypes and the representation of women in the media and popular culture,” says the BBC as an argument for the award.
“The project is behind viral campaigns that invite women to reevaluate the narrative around their bodies, addressing issues such as aging and diets. Your recent call to action #HermanaSoltaLaPanza highlighted real stories of people of all shapes and sizes,” he continues.
And she adds: “As a lawyer, poet, lesbian and feminist activist, Pasquinelli works to dismantle the ideals of feminine beauty homogeneous that, according to her, are “classist, sexist and racist”, and that further fuel gender inequality.
“A prize for everyone”
“I am very happy with this recognition, because I feel like a recognition of our feminismsto the work that feminisms in Argentina have been doing for so many years and that others have done before us,” Pasquinelli tells Clarion. .
“It especially makes me happy because particularly at MQNFT we work a lot to politicize the daily lives of women, to politicize discourses about our bodies, beauty, relationships, motherhood, non-motherhoodall that seems to have nothing to do with politics and is perhaps the most political of all, because that is where patriarchy is reproduced every day,” he adds.
“We work on all those logics and pedagogies in which we are educated and that come together to produce us submissive, obedient, to exploit us with the excuse of love – Pasquinelli continues -. And it makes us happy because it is a recognition of all the people in our community who, by sharing their stories, do the work of making the personal political and realizing that “There is a system of oppression that needs to control and tame our bodies and lives.”
“The recognition at this moment has to do with the effects of sustained work over time. It is a commitment to individual and collective processes, to the work of translation of the big ideas and abstract concepts of feminism so you can recognize and give a name to what you feel, to those violence that crossed your life and Realize that you are not the problem. What is recognized is a collective and community work of resistance to the oppressions we suffer,” adds Pasquinelli.
And she concludes: “For us it is very important that this recognition comes at this time in the world and particularly in the country, because As feminist activists we are receiving a lot of hate, a lot of violence and threats, simply by having a voice, by trying to sustain it and express our ideas. That in this context an Argentine activist is recognized gives legitimacy and visibility to all of us. And personally I celebrate it a lot.”
Climate change
In a year when extreme heat, bushfires, floods and other natural disasters have dominated the headlines, the BBC’s list also highlights women who have been working to help their communities confront climate change and take measures to adapt to its impacts.
Among the BBC’s 100 women, there are 28 climate pioneers, facing the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP28.
