We want to utilise cultural roots in Europe that convey an image of strong women in order to provide women with support and empowerment. "Children should get two things from their parents: Roots and wings." What this saying describes can still be beneficial for many people in adulthood: becoming aware of your own roots and using them to realise your full potential. The demand on women to fulfil the ever-present ideal of beauty in the media is omnipresent and perhaps stronger than ever before. To dance flamenco expressively or carry on the tradition of powerful Baltic chants, you don't have to conform to the ideal of beauty that Instagram provides us with. We wanted to discuss which traditions can help to give women self-confidence in today's world beyond the modern obsession with beauty and make this effect more tangible with the help of body therapy exercises. We wanted to bring the findings to adult education in our networks in order to sensitise and professionalise course instructors and empower women.
Women are under enormous pressure, fighting on many fronts and yet often do not dare to stand up for themselves and show their strength. There are still injustices such as the part-time trap, the gender pay gap, unfairly distributed care work and, at the same time, high demands on outward appearances, e.g. in social media. The lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic in particular have greatly exacerbated injustice, and in our daily work we have noticed that many women do not dare to realise their full potential and stand up for themselves, that they hold themselves back and are intimidated by all the perfect images that are spread on social media every day. During our dialogue with AIFED and SocHub staff, we found out that many women in Spain and Lithuania feel the same way. It is time to initiate and facilitate social change from different angles and offer women support. With this project, we want to make a small contribution by utilising the European sense of community and cultural roots, which are supported by strong women beyond modern ideals of beauty, to empower women.