Joanna Maycock (born 22 January 1971) is a European women's rights campaigner. She is a British and Belgian citizen. Maycock was the Secretary General of the

European Women's Lobby The European Women's Lobby (EWL) is the largest umbrella organization of women's associations in the European Union, founded in 1990, working to promote women's rights and equality between women and men, and representing a total of more than 200 ...

for seven years, until July 2021. Maycock arrived in Brussels in 1992. She has been for 12 years chief of the Brussels office of the international NGO

ActionAid ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide. ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organis ...

dedicated to fighting poverty. She took over the leadership of the

in 2014. Maycock has been described by

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

as a “powerhouse on the Brussels NGO and political scene”.

Denouncing the gender gap in society

Maycock has been denouncing the

Gender pay gap The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted ...

, which in combination with other factors such as lower work force participation by women, translated into women's pensions in Europe being almost 40% lower than men's. Because austerity measures affect women more than men, the austerity policy in Europe in the wake of the financial crisis contributed to create a ''Pink Ghetto''. According to Maycock, there is a gender gap in the coverage of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, similar to the coverage gap of the

Global financial crisis in 2009 On the evening of January 18, the Danish Parliament agreed to a financial package worth 100 billion Danish kroner (17.6 billion USD). In response, markets panicked yet again. On January 22, the editorial board of ''The Christian Science Monitor ...

, described by Maycock as “overwhelmingly a boys’ club of commentary.”

Political participation of women

Maycock has been advocating for an equal number of female and male commissioners at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. Maycock has been leading transatlantic efforts to increase women's participation in politics.

Feminist leadership

Maycock warned against complacency among civil society organizations towards gender inequality in the leadership of civil rights organizations themselves. Even if on the surface representation of women in civil society organizations such as

Civicus CIVICUS is an international non-profit organisation, which describes itself as “a global alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world." Founded in 1993, the organisation today counts more than 8500 memb ...

seems ensured to a great degree, Maycock called on their leadership to keep challenging visible and invisible barriers in the daily experiences of women. In 2019, Maycock contributed to launch the initiative ''W100'' at the level of the city of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. The initiative aims at connecting women within the city across different social and cultural backgrounds, in order to amplify their voice in local politics and acknowledge the contribution of women in the society, in particular during the

Combating male violence against women

In her role at the

, Maycock advocated in favour of legislation combating male violence against women. She campaigned in Europe in favour of the

Istanbul Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a human rights treaty of the Council of Europe against violence against women and domestic v ...

, a treaty of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

against violence against women and domestic violence, as well as, for the introduction by the

of an EU

Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence The Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence is an EU Directive proposal by the European Commission tabled on 8 March 2022. The European Commission proposed an EU-wide legislation in this area following a request to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maycock, Joanna British women's rights activists 1971 births Living people