“It is crucial to place our work in context and overcome the arrogance of thinking that we are the first ones doing the things we do.”
We have been taught for millennia that muscle and strength are not for women. We were taught to be as small as possible, to take up as little space as possible, to provide as little resistance as possible – we were taught how to become the “weaker sex”.
In early March 2021, the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography initiated the long-awaited public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on financial support for families with children. The Draft Law brought positive changes regarding the legal rights of mothers of children with disabilities, introduced penalties for institutions, managers and executors who make omissions in … Read more
“Part time workers will be equal in disenfranchisement and exploitation of their work.”
Sarah Leonard is a journalist and editor of several left-leaning magazines and online magazines, which are becoming more and more common in the United States. Together with Bhaskar Sunkara, she edited a collection of essays entitled: “The Future We Want: Radical Ideas for the New Century”. We met Sarah in Belgrade last year on her journey through Southeast Europe, and we renewed the conversation during the past few months marked by the coronavirus pandemic.
At the end of July this year, 15-year-old Alexandra was killed in Caracal, southern Romania. The fact that the police, whom she had called three times, took nineteen hours to locate the call and arrive at the scene of the killing, caused shock and indignation across Romania, but also pointed to the state apparatuses’ mechanisms of subordination, and the catastrophic effect of capitalism on the outskirts of Europe.
Violence against women in Serbia is more and more frequent, in public space and in the workplace. In spite of the social atmosphere which further normalises male violence against women, women are not silent. They show resistance, raise their voices and provide examples to other women.
International Women’s Day was celebrated in Belgrade with a Protest march under slogans “Work, not famine – food, not weapons!” and “If women stop the whole world stops”.
Contrary to the officials’ pompous announcements, the newly introduced legal measures diminish financial support for expectant and new mothers.
A protest march marking International Women’s Day took place in Belgrade.
The Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence makes provisions that could be considered progressive. While the public reception of this law was shaped by the right-wing misogynist narrative, its implementation is made questionable by the foreseen evaluation and assessment methods, as well as the systematic socio-economic inequality of women.
