Roma and Sinti women: Understanding inequalities through an intersectional lens

As part of the 2026 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, ODIHR and the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the OSCE are organizing a side event on the overlapping forms of discrimination and inequality experienced by Roma and Sinti women.

Intersectionality can provide a valuable framework for understanding and recognising the lived experiences of women facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and inequality, including racism, sexism, misogyny, classism and systemic marginalization simultaneously. Applying this lens to Roma and Sinti women explains how overlapping forms of inequalities and oppression compound one another and why single-issue approaches fall short. Through its Fourth Status Report, ODIHR emphasised that intersectional discrimination facing Roma women should be both responded to at the policy level and integrated into broader equality and anti-discrimination frameworks. 

This event will provide a platform to discuss the strategies devised by Roma and Sinti women advocates to combat intersectional discrimination while promoting equal rights and equitable opportunities. Panellists will employ an intersectional lens to examine how gender-based vulnerabilities among Roma are deepened by emerging concerns, including growing societal polarization, armed conflicts, and digital threats. A central focus of these discussions will be the narratives surrounding gender-based violence, often oversimplified through a single analytical lens and mischaracterised as a ‘cultural behaviour’. Particular attention will be paid to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and its impact on Roma and Sinti women.

Opening remarks

• Maria Telalian, Director, ODIHR
• Cathal McMorrow, Deputy Director, Human Rights Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland

Presentations and discussion

• Aldessa Georgiana Lincan, Director and Co-founder, Romnja Feminist Library, Romania
• Fatoș Kaytan, Policy Specialist, Romani Godi, Türkiye
• Alba Hernández Sánchez, Executive Director and Co-founder, Feminist Collective of Romani Gender Experts, Spain

Moderator

Natalia Duminica, Associate Programme Officer, Roma and Sinti Issues, ODIHR