Gender
EQUAL FOR EQUAL: ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE
Equal for Equal is the result of the collaborative efforts of several young participants of the Cultural Innovators Network(CIN). The Goethe Institut came out with CIN in response to the wave of protests that swept the nations surrounding the Mediterranean in 2011. CIN invited twenty young, socially involved people to join the first “learning journey” in 2012. It served as a platform for communication, exchange and learning provided for young, active, civil society members from Europe and the MENA region.
The founders of Equal for Equal come from a variety of backgrounds and stories. CIN provided them with a platform to express shared passions and goals. When discussing the nature of sexism in their respective countries, they first recognized the value of transnational women’s narratives. According to Equal for Equal’s website, “it is not only the obvious stories that show how a society deals with gender equality, it is also ordinary aspects of daily life that can teach us about the state of women’s rights. Equal for Equal makes everyday stories visible and provides an insight into the different social and political realities of women.” By promoting stories about women’s lives, Equal for Equal transcends the limitations of sexism and xenophobia, and fosters an environment of strength, courage, and humanity.
The Gender-Neutral Prefix “Mx.” Has Been Added To The Oxford English Dictionary, Because Not Everyone Is A Mr. Or A Ms.
Linguists have long debated prescriptive and descriptive models of language: Does the dictionary describe the words already in use or prescribe how we use them? The gender-neutral prefix “Mx,” which was already in use by some government forms and banks in the U.K. when the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) decided to include it, is a perfect example of the descriptive model.
The position of women in Serbia in 2014 – Facts that disconfirm the common picture
Gender equality in Serbia has not yet been reached and women continue to face a number of problems in attempting to exercise their guaranteed rights. To improve the process, a series of studies on women in Serbia has been conducted in 2014 by the Departments of Labor, Employment, Ex-Servicemen’s and Social Issues of the Republic of Serbia within the framework of the Program for the implementation of the National Action Plan for improving the status of women and promoting gender equality for the period from 2010 to 2015.
The conference on “The situation of women in Serbia 2014″ was held on 25.09.2014 in the great hall of the Media Center, Terazije 3, at 10:00 pm. Speakers were Laslo Cikos, the State Secretary, of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Ex-Servicemen’s and Social Issues, Torgni Svenungson, adviser for policy development from the Embassy of Sweden in Serbia, Ana Delic and Predrag Kurcubic from IPSOS Strategic Marketing, and Marija Babovic from SeConS.
The conference was opened by Mr. Laslo Cikos who emphasized the project that in cooperation with the Embassy of Sweden conducted three separate investigations concerning the same area, the status of women: study on the situation of single parents, research on the position of women in business and research on the attitudes of citizens of Serbia on gender equality. He emphasized that it was the Ministry, which initiated this study because there are no statistics on these topics.
The attitude of the Coalition for Equality STEP: Position of women far away from society of equal opportunities
Podgorica – The position of women in Montenegro is still far from declarative commitment of decision-makers on achieving gender equality and a society of equal opportunities for both genders, assessed the Coalition for Equality STEP.
Representation and status of women in the social spheres of decision-making remains unsatisfactory. Of particular concern is access of decision makers, who very slow and unwillingly makes and implement the decisions when it comes to improving position of women and implementation of equality policies – it was announced from Centre for Civic Education, which is part of a coalition.
From these NGO’s, they are reminded that a group of Montenegrin NGO’s suggested that the new Law on the Election of Councillors and Representatives include a provision that would make every third place on the list went to the woman, which, they say, allow through the principle of mandate distribution in order of candidates from the electoral list in the parliamentary benches enter higher number of women.
Announcement: Political underrepresentation of women remains a problem in Montenegro
Coalition for Equality STEP, on the occasion of celebration of the 8 March, points out a fact that position of women in Montenegrin society is still far from declarative commitment of decision-makers on achieving gender equality and society of equal opportunities for both sexes.
Representation and status of women in social spheres in which decisions are being made remains unsatisfactory. It is of particular concern the approach of decision makers, who very slowly and reluctantly make and implement decisions when it comes to the improvement of status of women and implementation of equality policies.
Namely, although they constitute a majority of population of Montenegro, women are still underrepresented in decision-making places. The recent negative vote on amendments to the Law on Election of Councillors and Members of the Parliament, and rejection of amendments that were intended to improve position of women in political decision-making is only the most recent evidence of unwillingness of society to transpose the equality as a principle of gender relations from legal norms into reality.
