RIGHTS-SERBIA: Women’s Issues Come Up with New President

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Dec 16 2002 (IPS) - Opposition to the imminent appointment of a woman as Serbian President has led to a new debate on discrimination against women.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica who led the election race for the post of Serbian President is at the centre of the disputes after he declared that there was "no way" the 37-year old speaker of Parliament Natasa Micic could take the post.

Kostunica did not win because the turnout fell short of the required 50 per cent. That left Serbia without an elected President after three presidential elections. Serbia is the bigger republic within the Yugoslav Federation that includes also tiny Montenegro.

"The comment was clumsy, as the President is an institution and not a person," says Zarko Korac, deputy Prime Minister of the Serbian government. "Such comments are clearly sexist. Part of the public is now talking about a woman and not about a President as an institution."

The constitution dating to the days of former president Slobodan Milosevic does not specify who takes the post of president until the successful election of a new one. But the Supreme Court confirmed last week that the speaker would take over as President for 60 days.

That would make the tall and attractive Natasa Micic, "the Serbian Nicole Kidman" as she is often called, the first woman President of Serbia. Newspapers and magazines in Serbia carried photographs last week showing Micic leaving her car or walking in parliament house wearing a mini skirt.

A women’s organisation sees Kostunica’s remark as sexist. "Although the statement was given in a moment of anger, it is certain that it would be different had a man been the speaker of Parliament," says Natasa Radovic of the Women Political Network, a prominent NGO (non-governmental organisation). "It shows how women are treated in this society."

Kostunica’s aides say his comment was made in relation to the legal mess rather than the fact that the speaker is a woman.

Micic is calm about taking over as President. "It will be just another burden for me," she said in an interview over the weekend. "But, in all aspects, I’ll do my best to be better than my predecessors at the job – Milosevic and Milutinovic."

Slobodan Milosevic led Serbia into wars and isolation, culminating in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) bombing in 1999. He now faces trial for war crimes in former Yugoslavia before the UN (United Nations) tribunal at The Hague. His successor Milan Milutinovic is due to be extradited to the tribunal in January when his term ends.

The comments on Micic have led to a wider debate on the position of women in Serbia. A recent survey of 2,000 women by the Serbian Victimology Society indicated that one in three women becomes a victim of family violence, though only one in seven reports it to the police. "Violence is practically the invisible third partner in those marriages," says Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic, head of the society.

"Serbian women make 52 per cent of the 7.4 million population, but less than 10 per cent are in important or executive positions," says Nikolic-Ristanovic. "Only seven per cent have private property in their name."

Of 250 MPs in the Serbian parliament, only 27 are women. "That is less than 11 per cent, and it is our aim to promote the role of women in political life and the decision-making process as much as we can," says Olga Kircanski from the Women Political Network.

The study on women, the first in the past three decades, showed that Serbian women do not face discrimination in pay, but that seems to be the only area where they are equal to men. "In almost all other areas they face discrimination," says Nikolic-Ristanovic.

The study showed that half of working women are sexually harassed at their work place. "The spectrum is wide, from comments, physical gestures to sexual blackmail," says Marija Lukic from Voice of Difference, a prominent NGO. "Unfortunately, there is no law against it, and we expect one to be brought soon."

RIGHTS-SERBIA: Women’s Issues Come Up with New President

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Dec 16 2002 (IPS) - Opposition to the imminent appointment of a woman as Serbian President has led to a new debate on discrimination against women.
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