Roma Association of Women – Drom Kotar Mestipen
“Path to freedom”
We are a non-profit organization that has been fighting for more than 20 years for the promotion of Roma women and their community, without it being a renunciation of their identity.
The Romani Association of Women Drom Kotar Mestipen (“Path of Freedom”) was created with a common goal:
To fight for equality and non-discrimination of Roma women, promoting their participation in educational, social and cultural spaces.
Roma and non-Roma women of different ages, studies, professional profiles and socioeconomic levels continue to work towards this goal. A dream that throughout our history we have seen become a reality for many Roma girls, young women and women.
Objectives and criteria
- To work to achieve equality and non-discrimination between Roma women and men within the Roma community.
- To overcome the double discrimination suffered by Roma women (based on gender and ethnicity) as well as the racism and sexism that generate it.
- To collaborate with other associations and organizations that fight to achieve equality based on the respect and promotion of their own differences.
- To encourage and make possible the equal access of Roma women and girls in all educational, social and labor spaces as a way to promote equality of rights, opportunities and results among all cultures.
- To promote the image of the Roma woman as the transmitter and promoter of the Roma cultural identity.
The people
The current Board of the Drom Kotar Mestipen is composed of:
President
Rosamaría Cisneros
Rosamaria is an artist, sociologist, researcher and activist. She graduated from the UW-Madison School of Education and completed her M.A. in Dance History and Criticism at UNM-Albuquerque (USA). Her PhD is in Sociology from the University of Barcelona (Spain) with an emphasis on Roma women, intersectionality, dialogic feminism and communicative methodologies.
Treasurer
Emilia Aiello
Emilia is a postdoctoral scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She is a research associate at the Ethnic and Migration Studies Group (GEDIME) at UAB, and a member of the CREA research network. She has been a member of Drom Kotar since 2010.
Secretary
Andrea Khalfaoui Larrañaga
Andrea holds a PhD in Education and is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh. Promoting the academic and social success of all her s tudents is her priority.
Participation spaces
Our Association also works with several networks and participates in different groups of entities at a regional, state and European level related to the Roma population, adult education, and the fight against gender violence, among other issues.
At the European level
Drom Kotar Mestipen is an invited member of three recognized organizations. The aim of our participation is to contribute the voices of Roma women at the grassroots level through our methodology based on equal dialogue.
At the national level
KAMIRA, National Federation of Roma Women, which works for the empowerment and integral promotion of Roma women. Our collaborations have become closer in recent years, especially in the promotion of Roma women, and concerns on how to address gender-based violence and human trafficking, which also affects Roma communities.
At the local level
- Roma Intergroup of the Parliament of Catalonia.
- Integral Plan of the Roma People of Catalonia of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and especially,
in the working groups of Women and Education; as well as its Advisory Council. - Municipal Council of the Roma People of the Barcelona City Council,both in the permanent
commission and the working commissions. - Federation of Cultural and Educational Associations of Adults (FACEPA).
- Center of Roma Studies of CREA-University of Barcelona.
