La Paeria de Lleida is finalizing a plan of actions to foster social participation and the autonomy of Muslim women in the city. The initiative is being developed in parallel to the prohibition of the burqa in public spaces, with the aim of avoiding situations of social isolation and reinforcing support tools.
Measures to detect possible situations of imposition
The municipal plan foresees activating action mechanisms in those cases in which a woman may be being forced to wear a full veil. The strategy is proposed from a perspective of social accompaniment and rights, with measures aimed at facilitating safe spaces and specific resources.
Among the proposals is the creation of women's groups to carry out shared activities, a formula with which the City Council seeks to favor community participation and expand relationship networks in the closest environment.
Training, employment and accompaniment
The roadmap also incorporates courses to learn Catalan and Castilian, in addition to job orientation. The intention is to strengthen personal autonomy through basic tools for daily life, communication and access to the labor market.
Alongside this, an accompaniment service will be enabled for women who want to explore their personal, family, and social situation with a gender and rights perspective. This resource aims to offer support to those who decide to review their daily reality and assess possible processes of change.
Network of referents within the community
Another of the plan's axes involves promoting a network with Muslim women who act as referents to share experiences and accompany others in freely decided change processes. La Paeria proposes this path as a close support instrument, based on the direct knowledge of the social and cultural context of the participants themselves.
With this package of measures, the City Council of Lleida outlines an intervention focused on inclusion, autonomy and the detection of possible situations of vulnerability, at a time when the debate on the use of the full veil is once again on the municipal agenda.