Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic was one of the key participants of the conference “Strong Women – Strong Village” in Nova Varos, which was organized on the occasion of International Day of Rural Women in cooperation between Embassy of Australia, UN WOMEN, Prijepolje Women Forum and Commissioner for Protection of Equality. The conference aim was to contribute to greater visibility of rural women and improve cooperation of national and local authorities and civil society organizations regarding the issues concerning women from rural areas.
Improving the quality of life of women in rural areas, more equal share in property ownership and income and economic empowerment are extremely important aspect not only for improvement of the position of rural women but also for sustainable development of rural areas in Serbia, said Commissioner Jankovic. That is why rural women have to be more visible and included in decision making processes in their environment, so that their needs could be more recognized and their problems more successfully solved, stressed Commissioner. Last year, we established the award for city/municipality of equal possibilities which is awarded to local self-government with aim to promote and strengthen the equality in local self-governments in Serbia, said Jankovic.
Main topics of the conference were social and economic aspect of the position of rural women, violence and media picture of women in village, while Commissioner Jankovic stressed that we must advocate different approach by media which will not support stereotypes, but real life and potential that these women have.
All conference participants visited Kurcubic household where they spoke with their hosts about division of work, relations between traditional and modern way of life and their plans for the future. Also, the best creators of Viber stickers for empowerment of rural women were announced, young panelists of Commissioner for Protection of Equality, Milica Kojic and Jovan Aksentijevic.
Participants at this conference were also Ambassador of Australia Ruth Stewart, Ambassador of Canada Kati Csaba, Ambassador of Great Britain in Montenegro Alison Kemp, Deputy Ambassador of Great Britain in Serbia Rebecca Fabrizi, representative of UN WOMEN Olja Jankovic Lekovic, president of Prijepolje Women Forum Mileva Malesic and many representatives of other women’s organizations from Serbia and Montenegro.