The participants of the online educational seminar within the program “Dialogue for the Future” continued their work and socializing on Tuesday, September 15th, 2020. They had the opportunity to gain knowledge about the institutional framework of gender equality and discuss discrimination in the second online seminar.
Visnja Bacanovic, consultant for gender equality, spoke about the international and national institutional framework.
She opened the first part of the online educational seminar by reviewing the three waves of feminism and the rights that women have won and achieved in each wave and their importance for further women’s empowerment.
The work continued with a review of the international institutional framework for gender equality. Special attention is paid to the importance of the World Convention on Women from 1975 to 1995, but also to international documents that are important for women’s rights, from the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, through EU declarations, all the way to the 2030 Agenda. Goal 5 of Agenda 2030 refers to the empowerment of women and the promotion of gender equality.
In the second part, Visnja Bacanovic also referred to the national institutional framework of gender equality policies. In this part, a discussion was initiated on the Constitutional Framework for the Protection and Guarantee of Women’s Rights, which refers to the Anti-discriminatory Law and the Law on Gender Equality, which were passed in 2009. In addition, the importance of the Strategy on Gender Equality from 2016, the importance of the existence of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for Gender Equality, as well as the importance of cooperation with women’s organizations and activists were emphasized. The importance of the Palic Declaration, which laid the foundations and framework for the fight for gender equality 20 years ago, and which was revived through the Women’s Platform for the Development of Serbia, was especially pointed out.
The last segment, “On coffee with” was dedicated to a conversation with Brankica Jankovic, the former Commissioner for gender equality. Brankica Jankovic shared with the participants her personal experience of the fight for gender equality from a practical point of view, as well as the importance of recognizing and reporting discrimination. She encouraged the girls to fight in solidarity and together for the realization of rights, to always remember and talk about the women who fought before us, as well as to spread information about institutions that can help in the fight for the protection of equality.
Online educational seminars are organized by the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence within the Joint Regional Program “Dialogue for the Future: Improving Dialogue and Social Cohesion in / between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia”, conducted by UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO, and funded by UN Peacebuilding Fund (UN PBF).
