Female rights in smaller communities in Western Balkans (Serbia)

A non-formal group of women aged 18-40 is promoting female rights in smaller communities in Serbia, considering their religious beliefs, marital status and employment capabilities.

Given that in Novi Pazar there is no strategically positioned group of women actively engaged in the rights and protection of women multilayered: education, art, religious and national determination, social and health care - the idea has been created to create a movement among the same people who through concrete activities and to the public denote the problem with which young women, wives, mothers are encountered today in closed environments. Discrimination settings for women on various bases are common in communities like ours: with very few dialogues and understanding by the community and local institutions, with a degree of prejudice and wrong approach. The Movement aims to present successful and active members of the community who will demonstrate to their wider audiences that women are the driving force behind change, an active decision-maker, and in that way mobilizes those less visible groups of women in the community who feel threatened, discriminated and degraded in any life sphere. Through their intellectual work and presentation of social skills, members would encourage successful women from the district to share their experiences and animate more women to take an active part in education on gender-based issues, artistic creation, philanthropy, and support for social and health protection of women in the region.

Through several years of individual and team work by members of the group, various activities have been implemented that contribute to the trend of active communities. Members are already recognized in the community as organizers of cultural and artistic events (music festivals, literary evenings, public debates, art exhibitions, participation in the work of the civil sector, humanitarian action, the promotion of philanthropy) and created the idea that a group of members present a synergy of their potentials as a collective who wants to highlight the strength of women's ambition, success, knowledge and incentives for the involvement of less visible groups of women from the region (women who have experienced any form of violence at work, in the family, in the community, women from rural areas, Roma women, women who are in any way labeled, i.e. religion / nationality). The campaign targets female population aged 14-74 from the region, and through activities will involve successful community members 15-60 years old, with a special focus on primary school graduates, high school students, women entrepreneurs, business women, mothers, wives.

Campaign activities: