AmsterDames: Inspiring Women in the Netherlands ... An English Feminist Podcast in Amsterdam

Every eight days.

Every eight days, a woman in the Netherlands is killed by her partner or her ex-partner.

Every eight days, in this country, there is a femicide.

And until the Netherlands manage to bring structural change on the way. It is going to continue to happen. Every eight days.

Tessel ten Zweege is an activist and author of several books about gender-based violence and femicide in the Netherlands. And she is going to explain to us the dynamics or abusive relationships, why it is not always easy to leave, what needs to change to prevent femicide and what friends and family can do to help.

They are evil, they are ugly and we should all be afraid of them. We have learned that from fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel.  But what if witches were never the bad ones? What if they were in fact the victims of the story?

Jente Posthuma and Bregje Hofstede have been working on the topic of witches and witch trials for a while now and they know the witch hunts are by no means only a thing of the past.

Do you want to become a freelancer in the Netherlands? But you feel overwhelmed by the paperwork of the registration, you have no idea of how to do your tax report as a Dutch freelancer, you don’t know where to start and you don’t know what to do and how?

And, what is life as a freelancer like? How many hours will you work and how much money will you make?

Dana Marin, founder of the multimedia website The Amsterdamian, is a successful freelancer herself and in this episode, she is going to share all the insights on how to be a freelancer in the Netherlands.

In this episode, we are going to break two taboos. This is not me saying this, this is what my guest said. Lex van Delft is the founder of de stoute vrouw, the naughty woman, a lesbian escort service agency. That obviously includes sex work and female sexuality which is still an issue for some people or at least something they have a strong opinion on. But Lex van Delft knows that – even though, yes of course, it can also just be sex, pleasure, horniness, fun and a good time – her agency offers so much more than that.

In the patriarchy, anyone who is not white, straight and cis-male, has to work extra hard to make it in this world. But for women of color, it is even more difficult. Due to lack of support and chances, the feeling of constantly swimming against the current and the lack of role models.

This is why Sela Graaven wants to introduce the world to women of color who have made it on their own terms. With womenselfmade, a platform and a podcast for women of color and allies.

The film industry is one of the best (or the worst if you will) examples of male domination and the male gaze. Female actresses earn significantly less than their male counterparts and the amount of women behind the camera is minimal in comparison.

That is the status quo. But it is not the future. Because there are women in the industry who are determined to break this system. Women like Valentina El Harizi want to create a film industry with a real representation of the complexity of society, the world, and yes, women.

Would a Person of Color in the Netherlands feel safe enough to report an incident of discrimination at their workplace? Would a muslim woman with a hijab understand Dutch police as a safe enough space for her to report an islamophobic attack?

Just because certain systems are in place doesn't mean they work for everybody. Sometimes, it might be safer to keep quiet to avoid even more hate, aggression or abuse.

Geraldine Moodley is a human rights lawyer and founder of her own company in which she trains, advises and consults with organisations in developing a tangible strategy and execution for diversity, inclusion and leadership.

And together, we are going to take a good long hard look at the Netherlands and the systems that it has put in place.

Did you know that when you ask AI to visualize a professional, less than 20 % are women? In other words: If you tell AI: Show me an image of a pilot, an astronaut, a doctor, most of the results are images of white cis-male.

But now, there is Miss Journey. And Helen Pink, my guest for today, is going to explain what Miss Journey has to do with AI and why we all need to be critical in the use of AI in general.

Sex is everywhere in Amsterdam. At least, so it seems in the Red Light District, with the windows, live sex shows, and in souvenir shops with genitalia-shaped candy. Everything is legal, no big deal and everyone is cool with it. At least, this is the image that the Netherlands wants the world to have.

I am sure you already guessed it. It is not that easy. Because even though sex work is – technically – legal in the Netherlands, there are a lof of rules and restrictions as well as issues such as exploitation and human trafficking. The entire system is complex, to say the least.

My guest knows the system really well. Violet is a sex worker herself and a coordinator at Prostitution Information Centre in the Red Light District. Please note, Violet is not her real name. And she is going to help us understand how sex work in the Netherlands works, if the society is really as accepting as it seems and which changes she would like to see in the industry.

Traveling with kids is always stressful. Parents hardly have the time to enjoy themselves when they are going on a citytrip with kids, for example. Let Debora Dielingen help you. The founder of Wanderlust Mama & Co offers kid-friendly tours in Amsterdam to entertain your kids and to give you a relaxed time.

Also, don't bother either to bring all your baby gear to Amsterdam. That's just unnecessary luggage and too much of a hazzle. Because with Rent Baby Gear, she also has a solution for that.

All in all, Debora Dielingen offers you a worry-free package for your trip to Amsterdam with your kids.

Girls and women with a disability are rarely seen in Dutch media, in campaigns or in pop culture. And if they are shown, then they are often reduced to only one thing: Their disability. Sophie-Anne Onland knows that girls and women with a disability are so much more and that they are capable of so many amazing things. This is why she wants to be a role model. With her public work, her speeches and her activism, she wants to help empower girls and women with a disability in the Netherlands.

On July 17, 2014, Flight MH17 takes off from Amsterdam bound for the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. But the plane with 298 people on board never arrives.

The route takes Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, where an armed conflict is raging between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists. Civil aviation is banned from flying at low altitudes. But MH17 is flying ten kilometers above the ground. At 1:20 p.m. Dutch time, the plane disappears from radar. A ground missile explodes next to the plane and rips it apart. No one on board survives.

My guest for today, Ria van der Steen, was personally affected by this tragedy as she has lost family members in the crash. But she is also the one that dares to speak up against the people that are responsible for this.

We have probably all been there at some point, when we were a teenager. We felt like the world is against us and nobody can really understand us. We felt like we were not being heard. Many children and young people in the Netherlands share the same feeling – and they are in fact probably not being heard – because they have a certain cultural background, social class or they are from a certain neighborhood.

Even more important that these kids have someone that really listens and supports them. Those are the credible messengers of the organization ADAMAS. Street workers, criminologists, psychologists. And my guest for today, Drita Hajdini, is one of them.

** Drita Hajdini also wishes to point out that ADAMAS operates preventively**

If you live in Amsterdam Oost, you have probably come across the Javaplein, the Javastraat or the Molukkenstraat. Right at Amsterdam Central Station, there is the gebouw Batavia. And if you have ever visited Hoorn, then you have probably walked past a statue of a man called Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The history of Indonesia, as it is called today, Nederlands Oost Indie, as it was called in the past, is linked to the Netherlands, but in a much darker way as the country seems to want to admit.

Only slowly, this topic becomes a part of the public discussions.

One of the organizations that makes sure that the topic gets the attention it deserves is the Indisch Herinneringscentrum in The Hague. Yulia Pattopang works there and today, she is going to talk with us about the Dutch colonialism, historical reappraisal and the educational work of her organisation.

Amsterdam breathes history. I am sure you have already visited the Rijksmuseum, the van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. Maybe you even took a boat tour and learned everything there is to know about this city and this country. But is it really everything?

What about the history of Jewish people before the 20th century? Or the history of women? The history of queer people or people with disabilities?

When we look at these stories, Amsterdam still has plenty of hidden gems to offer.

And Elyzabeth Gorman is ready to find all of them for us. She started Amsterdam Badass Tours and she offers guided tours and customized tours that focus on People of Color in Amsterdam, women, Jewish people and all the stories that tend to be overheard and overlooked.

There are so many benefits in networking, but still it seems that as women we still sometimes struggle with it. Maybe because we see other women as competition, maybe we feel like we are simply too shy or we just don't know how and where to start. Helen Pink knows: Networking for women is about quality, not quantity. And each woman just needs to find the way of networking that is right for her.

But in the end, networking is female empowerment and we can all only benefit from that.

When we hear about racial profiling and police brutality, we often think of the US. But these problems also exist in the Netherlands. On the street, during protests, or by institutions. In the daily life of way too many people.

One person that knows this all too well is my guest Marisella de Cuba who works for Controle Alt Delete that wants to fight ethnic profiling in the Netherlands.

Loverboys trick women into sexwork by making them believe that they are in a relation and that they are doing this out of love for their partner. And this happens more often than we think, and surely not only in the Netherlands. 

Esther Ehlting is a victim of a loverboy and a survivor of forced prostitution and now she wants to help other girls and women in the Netherlands. 

Not getting a house because of the way you look. Being stopped by the police because of the way you look. Being physically attacked because of the way you look.

If you never had any of these experiences, then there is a good chance that you are white.

The city of Amsterdam prides itself of being a home to more than 170 nationalities, but they clearly do not all have the same every day life realities.

Because institutional racism is still a huge problem in the Netherlands.

Only centuries after slavery, slave trading and colonialism, the recognition of these events in the Netherlands has finally started – but things are still moving rather slow. Too slow. Too many topics are still not discussed, too many Dutch people are not informed about their countries past, too many Black people in the Dutch history remain unseen and too many issues of today’s Black community are not adressed.

The Black Archives want to change that.

There are so many ways to tell a story. In a book, in music, face to face, in podcasts, like this one. Or in movies. Sometimes, these movies manage to change our perspective on the world we live in and sometimes they manage to open our eyes.

Those are the movies that matter.

Movies that matter is a film festival in the Netherlands and Julie Nederkoorn, my guest for today, is going to tell us more about it.

Instructions for the giveaway:

Follow @moviesthatmatterfestival and @amsterdamespodcast. 

When I post this episode, you can comment and tag a person that you would like to take to the festival. And please don’t forget the hashtag #MtMF23.

When was the last time you ordered something online? Maybe on bol.com or by H&M? When was the last time you went to the supermarket, to Albert Heijn for example, or that you bought flowers? Or the last time that you received a parcel by Post NL? All of these examples are usual things to do, for us who live in the Netherlands. We do not even conciously think about it. And we definitely do not think about the people who work in the background of these companies, in the factories or distribution centers. Well, maybe we should.

Hassnae Bouazza is a journalist and author oft he new book „arbeidsmigranten in Nederland“ migrant workers in the Netherlands and she is going to explain where most labour migrants come from, what the work conditions look like and why this kind of exploitation seems to be accepted by large parts of the society.

Dear listeners,

first of all, let me wish you a happy, healthy and successful new year 2023. I hope that this year is going to be everything that you need it and want it to be.

Second of all, thank you very much for being such a strong supporter of my work and of all the amazing women that have spoken on this podcast. I greatly appreciate every single person that has listened to one or more episodes, has subscribed to this podcast and has shared it with the world.

AmsterDames will take a bit of a break – two months to be precise – as I will be working on a project outside of the Netherlands. But don’t worry, AmsterDames will come back, probably in March.

Until then, take good care of yourself and if you come across more inspiring women in the Netherlands that need to be interviewed for AmsterDames, please let me know.

For months and years even, the right to have an abortion has caused heated discussions all over the world. In Poland, women took to the streets to demand their right to have an abortion. In the US, this right was recently taken away from them.

But even though in the Netherlands, abortions are theoretically legal and there are abortion clinics available at least in the cities, not everything goes smoothly. Conservatives pro-life voices have become louder in the past years and the access to an abortion is not the easy path it seems to be.

Ava wants to change that. This organisation stands up for people‘s interests regarding abortion and contraception.

For those among us who do not have a law degree, legal issues can be quite overwhelming. But it is still very likely that we will have to face them at some point in our life. Maybe after being fired, getting divorced and when we wish to take someone to court who caused us harm.

Then it is important to know our rights. But if we don’t know them, there is a place that can help. It is called the vrouwenrechtswinkel. Raja Azaroual is a lawyer, working at the vrouwenrechtswinkel and today she is going to explain the legal situation of women in the Netherlands and what still needs to improve.

Additional info: Vrouwenrechtswinkel is an initiative of Bureau Clara Wichmann together with the Law Hub of the University of Amsterdam and is subsidized by the city of Amsterdam

Food always brings people together. During a family dinner, a religious holiday or birthdays. Also, living in a foreign country, most of us have probably experienced the feeling of loneliness in one way or another.

So why not bringing these two things together: food and making new friends?

This is exactly what Samantha Wolfson is trying to do with her project And the Table.

& the Table

Babies and children grow out of their clothes insanely fast. So, what are parents supposed to do? Buy new outfits every other week? And what happens to the old clothes that were barely worn. Puck Middelkoop came up with an idea to make the lives of parents a lot easier. 

Sadly, IT is still a field where women are underrepresented – for multiple reasons. But there is a woman who wants to change that. After graduating from a Coding Bootcamp herself in 2017, Valerie Fuchs founded Cafe Robot that aims to be a little different to your usual tech community.

Book Recommendations

“Broad Band - the untold story of the women who made the Internet” by Claire L Evans
“Brotopia - breaking up the boys club of Silicon Valley” by Emily Chang

Links

Frederike Geerdink is a Dutch journalist who specializes in reporting on Kurdish people and political issues in Turkey. Her work has been nominated for the Brusseprijs, an annual prize for the best journalistic book in the Netherlands. The nomination stated, Fréderike Geerdink is one of those courageous Dutch journalists who do their work in dangerous conflict zones. Her book became a both political and beautiful personal account of the struggle for self determination in Turkish Kurdistan.

There are certain rules that our society follows that we accept as a given. We do not think much about it. One of these rules is the following one: A person who commits a crime goes to prison. But what if prisons didn't exist? Could you imagine a world without prisons? Rescaled most certainly can, because they are challenging the concept of prisons, offering a replacement: small detentions houses. Veronique Aicha works for Rescaled Netherlands and she explains what this movement wants to achieve. 

Moving to a new place is always a challenge. Especially, when it is a new country. We need to figure out how things work, we need to find a home, apply for a job or fix our health insurance. When all of this is done, then there is the next step. Get to know the locals and find new friends. Often, we find our people in other expats.

When you take this sense of community and you through NFTs and web3 into the mix, then you get house of Peregrine. Founder Mickelle Weber is going to explain the concept and how people can participate.

Art and creative work show who we are. They show how we see the world, they show our ideas and our passion. But also where we come from. But unfortunately, there are still parts of the world that we do not get to see very often in art. Three designers and curators wanted to change that. This is how Non Native Native was born.

Non Native Native is co-founded by designers and curators: Belle Phromchanya, Darunee Terdtoontaveedej, and Honey Kraiwee.

There are a lot of adjectives that are commonly used to describe women. Sexy, beautiful, charming, sweet, hot, cute …. Funny is not one of them. And indeed, on international stages, we mostly see male comedians. But there are two women who have decided to change that and have founded Funny Women Amsterdam.

Today’s episode is about the Dutch afstandsmoeders. Between 1956 and 1984, thousands of unmarried women were forced to give up their babies against their will. Their babies were taken away from them the moment they were born and some of the mothers never got to see their children ever again.

Until today, the investigation and the compensation of it’s victims – the mothers and the children – in the Netherlands have been rather slow.

Dr. Eugenie Smit van Waesberghe is an afstandskind herself and for years and years, she is all over the Dutch media to draw attention to the cases of afstandsmoeders and afstandskinderen.

If you think back on your childhood days, did you play with dolls? What did they look like? Very much like you? But for many children around the world, this is not the case. Because dolls are very often white and able-bodied. But what about dolls with Afro hair, male dolls or dolls with a certain skin condition or Down syndrome? Those can be found in a little shop in Amsterdam Noord, called coloured goodies. Because founder Ellen Brudet knows very well what it was like as a child to not feel represented.

Every day, we are confronted with news. Often so many of them, that it can be quite overwhelming. But it seems, that we often only hear the stories of the same groups of people over and over again. In our world, there are still many people who don’t get a chance to share their stories, experiences and their view of the world. Mira Kinn wanted to change that and has founded the platform correspondents of the world where people from all over the world get the chance to be heard.

When you think of design, what is it that comes to your mind? Maybe something practical that you use every day? Or maybe something very technical around electronic devices?

Shahar Livne is a conceptual material designer and what she wants to achieve with her designs is that people listen to a story. But not only her personal ones. She also tells stories about places, cultures, and relations with resources in the past, present, and future. Her work combines biology with science and philosophy and focuses on material research. Some of her projects even deal with obscure materials such as blood. 

"I don't see color. I only see people"

The Netherlands, or at least the city of Amsterdam, prides itself on being a cultural melting pot. Almost 180 nationalities live here. But is life the same for all of them? People of color, Muslims or disabled people experience situations in their daily life that for example straight white people cannot imagine or are simply not aware of.

Sarita Bajnath is a diversity and inclusion coach, who offers unconscious bias training for us to understand life experiences that lie beyond our own.

Volunteering has become a huge market. Many young people take a gap year to work with children in Africa, Asia or Latin America - very often in orphanages. On social media, they post pictures of themselves with a group of happy children. But unfortunately, it is mostly the volunteers who benefit from this experience. Agencies who organize these volunteering trips exploit the children and the young adults who are very often uninformed. 

Kristen Cheney is an expert on volunteering, voluntourism, international adoption and the white saviour complex and in this episode, she explains what is currently wrong in all these broken systems that exist worldwide.

Since RuPaul's Drag Race on Netflix, Drag has become quite famous. Also in the Netherlands. Even though it has a way longer tradition here. But even if the Netherlands are quite liberal in comparison, things are far from perfect for Drag Queens especially. Danielle Jiskoot, my guest for today has decided to start an agency for Drag artists to support local artists in the Netherlands.

On TV, in magazines and on social media, we are always encouraged to consume. People are standing in line to get the latest iPhone. Physical fights on Black Friday are a very common thing. The fashion industry is no exception there. Stores offer several new collections of clothes multiple times a year, but the clothes we buy for cheap prices usually never last very long. The term for this is fast fashion and it turns out to be extremely harmful to the environment but also to the people that work in this industry. My guests for today are Yophi Ignacia and Dieuwertje de Wagenaar work as country coordinators for the organization Fashion Revolution which wants to change that.

A Syrian, a Dutch and a Ukrainian. These three characters are part of the debut novel that my guest has recently published. For her research for this book, she has spoken to many people from Syria to understand their situation. But only a few weeks ago, this has changed. Now her friends from Syria are asking my guest whether her family and friends are okay. Because on the 24th of February, the Russian president Vladimir Putin has declared war on her home country.

**trigger warning**: In this episode, you will be confronted with content about war and refugees. In case you do not feel safe with this topic, please skip this episode and listen to it with a person that can emotionally support you.

If you could send one thing to the moon, what would it be? In case you are now thinking that the question is pointless because something like that is never going to happen anyway, think again. At this very moment, preparations are made to send a very important box into space. And the preparations are not made in some high-tech NASA underground headquarter, they are made in our very own city of Amsterdam. 

Elizaveta Glukhova and Anna Sitnikova are the curators of Moon Gallery and in this episode, they will explain why we need art in space, why the universe has always inspired people and why aliens are not their target group. 

Art is a very unique way for a person to express their feelings and their experiences but also to represent their region and their cultural background. However, it seems like that in the art world some regions are more looked at than others, unfortunately. My guest for today wants to change that. She has founded Victory art, that strongly focuses on central and eastern european contemporary art. In this episode, Viktória Pikovská talks about the impact the Sowjet Union had on eastern european art, female artists being objectified and an inspriring project called Majak. 

If you think of the sweaters you usually wear – what are they made of? Wool probably. For centuries, human beings have been wearing animal hair to keep themselves warm. But have you ever considered wearing a sweater made of human hair? My guest for today is Designer Zsofia Kollar and she has founded Human Material Loop in Amsterdam that produces clothes made of human hair.

As a photojournalist, Sanne Derks travels the world and observes it through her lens. Her work has already been published in New York Times, El País, Deutsche Welle and Al Jazeera. Still, she knows, photojournalism is strongly male-dominated and female photographers need to prove themselves five times as often to be taken seriously. In this episode, we talk about the sexism she has experienced, frustration, rejection and a real passion for your job. 

Are you in a relationship but your sex life is pretty much nonexistent? Or are you single but you are struggling to understand your own needs and your own sexuality? Sex and intimacy coach Irene Fehr has experienced a sexless marriage herself and has completely lost her libido which is why she now wants to help single (women) and couples to achieve a healthy sexless and wants to break common myths that still exist among society around sex, passion and (female) sexuality.   

During the summer of 2020, Belarus, its president Lukashenka and police brutality against peaceful protestors were all over the world’s news. Since then, the country has disappeared from the media. The world is looking in another direction now. But that doesn’t mean that the situation in Belarus has changed. Human rights defenders are in detention, members of the opposition are sentenced to multiple years in prison and free media has pretty much disappeared. Tasha Arlova is a filmmaker from Belarus, currently living in the Netherlands and she uses her art to remind us about what is still happening in her country.

One character is parting the Netherlands and its society. His name is Zwarte Piet. Is he just the amusing, friendly helper of Sinterklaas or is he a slave and a caricature of a Black person? For years, Anti Zwarte Piet activists call for either a removal of the character or at least an alteration to make him less hurtful to Black people. Pro Zwarte Piet Activists fear the destruction of Dutch culture and the end of festive moments for children. Stacey Lamptey grew up in Belgium before her family moved to Ghana and she knows that Zwarte Piet can be traumatizing for Black children, for example when they are told that they look like Zwarte Piet. In this episode, she talks about her own experience, her activism and her organization Black Ladies of Groningen.