We must empower young people at every step, and if we listen to the strong voices of girls and their proposals, I am sure that we will more easily get rid of gender stereotypes and many prejudices that create obstacles in all spheres of life, said Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, after the meeting with representatives the Association Atina, founder of the national club “With girls and for girls” which gathered 105 young activists from Vranje, Čačak, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad and Belgrade.
Reproductive health, menstrual poverty, discrimination in sports, and digital violence are recognized as some of the key problems facing young women, about which awareness must be raised and the solution of which must involve all actors in society. We must hear what these exceptional girls from local communities have to say and what ideas and proposals they come up with. They show a great willingness to change stereotypical thinking and break patriarchal patterns through the education of their peers, and their perception of problems and experience can be an exceptional guide for us as an institution to do more, submitting new initiatives and recommendations to improve equality, Janković added.
The Commissioner pointed out that in the institution of the Commissioner the members of the club “With girls and for girls” have a sincere ally, and by presenting the work of the institution and the possibility of direct and free of charge filing of complaints as a mechanism of protection against discrimination, she singled out some of the previous initiatives that contributed to the improvement of equality and proposed several modes of collaboration.
Girls are our enormous strength and potential, as evidenced by the Republic Institute of Statistics data, which shows that girls account for 57.9 percent of the total number of students enrolled in the first year at higher education institutions in Serbia in 2023/2024. Young women must become more connected and more actively involved in the decision-making and creation of public policies, both at the local and national level, because that’s the only way they can build environments to their liking, concluded Janković.
