CONTEXT:
Women in Romania can access a generous list of public health rights and benefits. On paper.
In reality, free contraception initiatives are dodged, kept in drawers, never truly funded.
A decade of unkept promises.
So, to help pass a necessary contraception bill, we fought for money with money, using a powerful, local tool: the 20 lei banknote.
The only bill in Romania’s modern history with a women’s figure, war hero Ecaterina Teodoroiu,
was launched on National Day in 2021 to celebrate all women and their merits. But its circulation was so restricted that people can swear it doesn’t exist even 4 years later.
‘Just like there is no money WITH women, there is no money FOR women’ actress Ilinca Manolache stated in our manifest video.
Together with The Coalition for Gender Equality, we printed our own version of the 20 lei bill that was distributed nation-wide through family planning cabinets and the largest healthcare network.
Not for spending, but to give people a voice towards this unjustice. Every scan became a symbolic signature lawmakers couldn’t ignore. Our 20 lei reached women senators who brought up the plan for debate once again, making the free contraception bill a legal priority.
