Romani Women's Participation in Public Life

07 February 2004

Romani Women's Participation in Public Life¹

Isabela Mihalache²

The objective of this paper is to look briefly at the role of Romani women in the Romani movement and to explore the concurrent process of the emergence of a "consciousness" among Romani women about the realities of a patriarchal culture.

Serious violations of the rights of Roma, especially in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, have been the focus of the European community in the past five-to-six years. However, the issue of the violations of the rights of Romani women remained unaddressed for a long time. The discourse focusing on the fight against violence and discrimination against Roma left out such issues as violence against Romani women, trafficking and gender discrimination.

There are very few statistics on Romani women in Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from reports, interviews and discussion papers, one can find very few studies in relation to Romani women. In order to fill the gap on the health-care status of Romani women, the Council of Europe undertook a study in nine European countries on Roma Women and Access to Public Health Care. The report was prepared by Anna Pomykala in May 2002 for the Migration and Roma/Gypsies Division of the Council of Europe. A general lack of information has been further compounded by the reluctance of the Romani community to address certain issues having to do with private life, such as gender relationships, sexuality and some traditional customs. Probably among the most important reasons why there is so little information on women's issues in the Romani community are that Romani women are underrepresented in public life, on the one hand, and that, on the other, the Romani women's rights movement has not been part of the Romani movement as we have known it in the past decade.

The effort of the Romani women activists to start a gender-sensitive discourse was considered by many Romani men activists defiance to patriarchy. As a result, in recent years, Romani women have more-and-more felt the need to challenge the patriarchal order and fight for their rights and freedoms - for their right to education, for their right to be free from violence and for their right to participate in public life. As one Romani woman stated:

I am absolutely in favor of the idea that we should preserve our language and culture and pass it on to our children. I am, however, not in favor of preserving our traditional relationships, relationships that oppress the personalities of other people. I refuse to accept traditions that imprison people and do not allow them their freedom.³

Nevertheless, it is extremely difficult for Romani women activists, who are at the same time frequently wives and mothers, to embark on a road full of risks and insecurities - the road of activism against oppression from within the community. Some still prefer to remain silent on aspects of their life with which they do not feel comfortable. In some cases, Romani women may not consider patriarchy as something that needs to be questioned, not to say challenged. Violation of women's rights is not acknowledged as such, but it is seen as an exaggeration on the part of some women activists. Other Romani women think that "women's rights is an excuse by women who are unable to express themselves in other ways. I do not think that anyone - even if she is a woman - has the right to interfere with the life of a family."⁴ As Ms Azbija Memedova declared at the World Bank/Open Society Institute Conference "Roma in an Expanding Europe" held in June 2003, "This was one of our challenges: to try to find the real way to deal with Roma women's issues without attacking frontally the patriarchal structure of Roma families and communities."⁵

One of the first important opportunities for Romani women to make their voices heard was the First Congress of Roma from the European Union, organised with the support of the European Commission, in May 1994, in Seville, Spain, where Romani women from all over Europe discussed their problems. The outcome of the meeting was a Manifesto of Roma/Gypsy Women.⁶ The Manifesto referred to the situation of Romani women in Europe and stressed the need for Romani women to have access to education that would empower them in their fight against discrimination and patriarchal rules within and outside the family.⁷ One novelty of the document was the reference to Romani women from Western Europe. Although the Manifesto proposed the setting up of a women's working group, this proposal has only been realised very recently.⁸

The following year, the Council of Europe held a Hearing of Roma/Gypsy women in Strasbourg. According to Ms Nicoleta Biţu, a Romani woman activist from Romania, "The hearing introduced a new dimension in the discussion about the situation of Roma women as it was convened by the Steering Committee for the Equality between Women and Men of the Council of Europe, which shows the beginning of an integrated approach to the Roma/Gypsy women issues within the gender equality programs rather than within the specific Roma/Gypsy programs."⁹

In May 1995, the Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe organised a training for young Roma leaders, the Situation and Perspectives for the Young Roma/Gypsy and Travellers in Europe. As a result, the Forum of European Roma Young People was established in 1998 to provide information, training and representation of Romani young people in Europe.¹⁰ One of the first steps of the Forum was to organise a training course in July 1988, Development of the European Roma/Gypsy Youth Movement. The training was followed by several seminars: Training of Roma/Gypsy Young Multipliers and Young Roma/Gypsy Women: Twice Discriminated?? in 1999; Young Roma Gypsy people in the New Millennium: Between Tradition and Modernity in 2000; and a training course on project management in October 2001.

In September 1996, the Roma Women's Association from Romania (RWAR) was founded, the first women's organisation in Romania. It has more than 100 members, among whom is Ms Violeta Dumitru, the executive director and program coordinator, and Ms Mihaela Zatreanu, graduate of the Philological Faculty at the Bucharest University, and author of school manuals for grades 1-4 in Romania who is currently working in the Romanian Ministry of Education, Research and Youth. According to its statute, the RWAR's main objective is to defend the right of development and expression of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of its members.

In June 1999, the Roma Participation Program of the Open Society Institute (OSI) in Budapest organised the International Conference of Romani Women in Budapest. As a result, the Roma Participation Program and the Network Women Program supported a joint internship for a six-month period in the Budapest office of the OSI and one fellowship for women leadership training. Beneficiaries of these grants were Ms Liliana Kovatcheva, from Bulgaria, and Ms Biţu from Romania. Their activity focused on creating a database of Romani women's associations and activists in eastern Europe and Human Rights Leadership Training for women, respectively.

In accordance with the new modalities for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Implementation Meeting on Human Dimension Issues, approved in July 1998, the OSCE held the second of three Supplementary Meetings in Vienna on 14-15 June 1999. The meeting was dedicated to gender issues. The goal was to discuss key substantive concerns, identify examples of good and bad practice and make recommendations as to how the OSCE and its participating states can better address gender issues in policy making and projects. At the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Gender Issues, held in Vienna, in June 1999, it was decided that a gender component should be included on the agenda for the following meeting, Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Roma and Sinti Issues, Vienna, September 6, 1999.

Political participation and leadership skills were some of the key issues discussed at the 1999, December conference on Romani Women and Public Policies in Central and Eastern Europe, organised by the Association of Romani Women in Romania with the support of the East-East Program of the OSI-New York. Participants from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Yugoslavia and Croatia discussed and tried to find strategies related to health, education, human rights and public policies regarding Romani women. Improving access to health care services, family planning education, research into prostitution, greater participation in education and establishing a European network of Romani women's organisations, were some of the issues that were addressed in-depth. Additionally, the conference was a good opportunity for Romani women to meet and exchange ideas and experiences. A concrete result of the meeting was the drafting of a declaration that put together all the priorities identified for future work. A means to implement them was, through the establishment of a European network to facilitate the communication among Romani women who are advocating Romani women's rights.¹¹

In June 2000, Romani women participated in the Beijing Plus Five meeting in New York. Le Journal Quotidien wrote on the occasion: "For the first time in the history of the United Nations, Gypsy women have come to New York to defend the rights of women from the Roma community. [?] They want to create solidarity among the Gypsy women and Europeans. They want to create relationships with women that live in similar conditions. Finally, they want to sensitise the European governments to their situation."¹²

In the same year, the Roma Participation Program and the Roma Women's Initiative of the Network Women Program organised Leadership Training for Young Romani Women Activists from the Balkans in Ohrid, Macedonia, October 4-8, 2000. It was coordinated by Ms BiĹŁu and Ms Memedova and focused on rights advocacy, project writing, and fundraising strategies.¹³ The seminar proved to be highly efficient, as in the following time period, Romani women activists developed projects addressing specific women's needs and participated in a series of seminars at the national level, organised by the Women's Programs of the national Open Society foundations.

Since 2000, the Romani Women's Initiative, designed and led in partnership with Romani women activists, has focused on leadership development by and for Romani women. The region-wide training in Ohrid, Macedonia, in 2000, led to the establishment of an informal regional network of Romani women activists. The meetings in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia, helped identify agendas and linked key activists.

In September 2001, Romani women attended the UN World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. In the course of the training held by the European Roma Rights Center before the conference, they identified the most significant issues to be addressed at the NGO Forum, such as: forced sterilisation, unemployment and domestic violence. Ms Andrea Bučková, the President of the Cultural Association of Roma in Slovakia recalls that, "Romani [men] leaders only allowed them to discuss one issue - involuntary sterilisation - at the Forum. Seen as an effort to reduce the Romani population and thus as a racist attack, sterilisation of Romani women was presented as a violation of Roma rights and not necessarily women's human rights. In addition, leaders said that violence against women was not a big problem."¹⁴

In 2002, the Roma Information Project (RIP) was founded by the Advocacy Project.¹⁵ RIP is supported by the Network Women's Program, Roma Participation Program and the Information Program of the OSI. The main aim of the project is to increase the information and communication capacity of leading Roma organisations with a team of information technology experts - the so-called "eRiders", who are technology consultants working with non-profit organisations. The experts' team consisted of six Romani eRiders who provided ICT support to over 100 of OSI's Roma grantees. Ms Gabriela Hrabaňová is a RIP eRider in the Czech Republic. She is a student at the Anglo-American Institute of Liberal Studies in Prague and chairwoman of the Student Civil Organisation, Athinganoi. As an eRider, she supports several organisations with a special focus on the growing Roma women's organisation, Manushe.

In Macedonia, Ms Enisa Eminova is working with Ms Memedova of the Roma Center of Skopje and Ms Roza Ilić of the Roma Information Center on the development of a databased collection of activist profiles. Ms Eminova launched a campaign against the humiliating practice of a public ritual confirming the virginity of Roma brides in Macedonia. In total, 660 individuals (220 parents, 220 boys and 220 girls aged 14-25 years) from 10 Romani communities participated in the research.

Ms Maria Metodieva is an eRider with the Roma in Bulgaria. She is a graduate of a Master's program in public administration and a committed activist who has worked with several Romani organizations. She serves as a member of the board of the Roma program at the Bulgarian Open Society Foundation. As an eRider, she works with two sectors of NGOs - women's organisations and organisations working on the desegregation of Romani education.

In June 29, 2003, Romani women had a special place in the World Bank/Open Society Conference "Roma in an Expanding Europe", held in Budapest. More than one hundred Romani women activists, governmental representatives, donors, etc. participated at the Romani Women's Forum. It was the first great opportunity for Romani women to express their concerns and to present themselves as a coherent group with a structured policy agenda. The Forum was comprised of four panels focusing on education, economic opportunities, sexual and reproductive rights, grassroots leadership and political participation.¹⁶

Ms Žaklina Durmis, president of the Skopje-based Romani Organization for Youth and Children Dendo Vas, spoke at the panel on education. She spoke about the poor school attendance of Romani girls in Macedonia and of their failure to complete elementary school because they usually marry at young ages (between 12 and 17). She congratulated some of the programs that encourage Romani women to become teaching assistants, stressing the double benefits that they bring to both students and women themselves.¹⁷ She concluded that Romani women names in school curricula and textbooks would positively change students' attitudes toward gender bias and "would break down barriers between boys and girls".¹⁸

Ms Kalinka Vassileva is the Executive Director of the Equal Access Foundation in Bulgaria and worked with NGOs for over six years on human rights and Roma education advocacy. She graduated with a degree in Applied Linguistics from the New Bulgarian University and she is one of the most active Romani women activists in promoting desegregation policy in Bulgaria. Her speech was focused on the causes and effects of institutional segregation. She urged governments to adopt desegregation policies at the national level.

In the Sexual and Reproductive Rights panel at the Budapest conference, Romani women talked about forced sterilisation, domestic violence and early arranged marriages. Ms Viola Horváthová from Slovakia has been an activist since she was 16. She coordinates the Slovak Pakiv European Roma Fund. She stressed the responsibility of the Slovak government to address the issue of involuntary sterilisation of Romani women in Slovakia. Ms Vera Kurtić addressed domestic violence. She is a sociologist and the President of the Women's Space organisation in Serbia. She is a Romani activist in the field of women's rights, focusing on education and health. At the conference, she highlighted the problems of domestic violence and trafficking in women, stating that as a result of the Romani community's reluctance to publicly tackle such issues, it is very difficult for the Romani women activists to assist Romani women victims.

Coming back to the Women's Forum, among the Romani activists in the panel of the Women's Leadership and Political Participation was Ms Memedova, who tried to give an overview of the Romani women's human rights movement. She underscored that "one of our first challenges is to try to find the real way to deal with Roma women's issues without attacking frontally the patriarchal structure of Roma families and communities."

Ms Slavica Vasić, the president of the Roma Women's Centre, Bibija, stressed that the best way to better Romani women's life is to increase their political participation. She added that women have taken steps to achieve this goal through various projects, such as "Roma Women Can Do It" and "Your Voice, Voice of Difference". The project "Roma Women Can Do It", started in February 2003, is in the process of being implemented in 12 countries in southeast Europe. Its goals are to enhance Romani women's participation in public life through increasing their self-esteem and raising awareness among them. Setting up the project "Your voice?", meant that about 450 women had the opportunity to attend various workshops that enabled them to become more gender aware and to become involved in general Romani women's activism.

Inadequate health care is one of the aspects that Romani communities are facing, and this has a particularly negative impact on Romani women. The first meeting of Romani NGOs was held in Vienna in November 2002, to map out the current situation of the health status of Roma women. The project is being implemented at the local level in Armenia and Azerbaijan. On March 2003, a seminar was organised in Budapest in order to elaborate projects that would help improve the services at the local level. Particular attention was paid to the Guidelines for improving access to social protection, adopted by the European Committee for Social Cohesion (CDSC) in 2001.¹⁹

In September 2003, the Council of Europe organised the conference Roma Women and Access to Public Health Care in Strasbourg. At the conference, Ms Miranda Vuolasranta from Finland delivered a presentation for health care professionals giving as a positive example the Finnish experience. Ms Vuolasranta is a Finnish Romani woman and she is the first Romani person to work at the Council of Europe. In 1998 she was nominated secretary general in the Advisory Board on Romani Affairs in the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. She started working in the Directorate General for Social Cohesion in the Roma/Gypsy Division in early October 2002. At the Council of Europe, she is involved in a number of activities, such as the project "Roma Women and Access to Health Care" of the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Council of Europe and the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. She is also involved in the project, "Education of Roma/Gypsy Children in Europe", of the Council of Europe, which aims at elaborating textbooks and other school materials for Romani children and teachers.²⁰

At the conference Ms Soraya Post, the President of the International Roma Women's Network (IRWN), challenged European governments to improve the health of Romani women: "You have drafted laws against discrimination and laws that protect minorities and laws that respect our cultural identity. You have drawn up a Social Charter in Europe that sets a standard for the whole world. Yet, these laws are often not enforced. They do nothing for millions of Roma."²¹ She emphasized that things will not change unless Romani women take matters into their own hands and European governments respect their legal responsibilities. Soraya Post is a prominent leader of the Sinti community in Sweden, as well as a businesswoman and mother of four children.²² The IRWN was established on March 8 with the help of the Advocacy Project and has Romani women leaders from 28 European countries. Its aim is to lobby governments for better conditions and to fight for Roma women's human rights. In February, the IRWN held a meeting at the Council of Europe and participants adopted a charter and elected a provisional coordinating committee. They agreed that the network would be independent of governments and international agencies.²³

In important contribution to the conference was Ms Mariana Buceanu's presentation. She is the coordinator of the Health Department of the Bucharest-based Romani organisation, Romani CRISS, and, in 2001, she was a consultant to the Council of Europe in the Roma Women and Health Project. The presentation focused on the Romanian experience as a positive model for future approaches regarding programs of health mediators within the Roma communities. She was delegated as an expert to the Working Group of Roma Associations (GLAR), which was the Romanian government's partner in the elaboration of the Governmental Strategy for Improving the Situation of Roma. Accordingly, the Health Department of Romani CRISS was assigned as partner of the Ministry of Health and Family for the implementation of this strategy.²⁴

Romani women's participation in politics continues to be limited. Public and political institutions need a balance of women and men whose experiences give them a personal understanding of a wide range of issues. But Roma, generally, are dramatically under-represented in both state and local administrations. Few Roma occupy seats in the parliaments of their countries or the local councils. In most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Roma are either not represented at all in parliament, or there are only one or two Roma representatives.

Hungary has recently undertaken positive measures with respect to the inclusion of Roma in the national-level administration. Following the elections in 2002, Ms Viktória Mohácsi took up the position of Ministry of Education's Commissioner for the Integration of disadvantaged and Romani Children, and Ms Éva Orsós became Deputy State Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs.

In Slovakia, Ms Klara Orgovanová is the Commissioner for Romani affairs. The office falls under the supervision of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Human Rights and Minorities.

In Romania, Ms Maria Ionescu is the Chief of the Phare Implementation Unit in the National Office for Roma of the Ministry of Public Information. She worked as a General Secretary at the Ethnic Roma Community from Romania between 1993-1994. She was then named Secretary of the National Minorities Office within the Ministry of Culture until 1995. Ms Maria Ionescu has been a consultant to the Association of Human Rights Defence, Apador, and was project coordinator at Romani CRISS on the project "The Development of Roma Communities in Romania" until 1998. She is a member of several professional bodies, such as: deputy, SPO, Phare Pr. 98.03.01. "The Improvement of the Roma Situation", member of the Steering Committee of M.A.E. Stability Pact, member of the Steering Committee of the Resource Center for Roma Communities, member of the Coordinating Council of "Voluntary Return of Asylum Seekers" project - IOM, Consultant - Co-Operating Dutch Funds in Central and Eastern Europe- Netherlands, Consultant to the organisation Save the Children, member of the Working Group for the Elaboration of the Law Against all Forms of Discrimination, deputy expert of the Working Group for Roma Associations in the Interministerial Subcommission for Roma People, within the Romanian Government - National Minority Direction. She graduated from the Juridical and Administrative Sciences Faculty of the University Dimitrie Cantemir in Bucharest.

This year Ms Angéla Kóczé was named director of the European Roma Information Office in Brussels. It is the first time a Romani advocacy organisation started operating in the EU capital. The European Roma Information Office was founded by two Dutch non-governmental organisations on Romani issues. Previously, Ms Kóczé worked as Human Rights Education Director at the European Roma Rights Center. She is also the Council of Europe's representative for Hungary on their Specialist Group on Roma/ Sinti Issues. Between 2000-2001, she was an International Policy Fellow (IPF) of the Center for Policy Studies, Open Society Institute, Budapest. As an IPF fellow, she conducted the "Background Research for A Policy Paper on Roma Higher Education", where she analysed the situation of Roma in education from elementary through post secondary level in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. She has a BA degree in sociology and an MA degree in Human Rights from the Central European University in Budapest.

In conclusion, Romani women's participation in public life is essential for improving the situation of Romani women. It represents a driving force for ensuring women's equal opportunity for participation in leadership and decision making - networking, capacity building, empowering and lobbying.

Nevertheless, although the number of Romani women's NGOs has certainly increased over the years, participation in non-governmental organisations has not been sufficient to ensure Romani women's effective participation in public life. Effective participation in public life requires that Romani women leaders and activists play a stronger role in both electoral politics and governmental policy-making. As Romani women are not adequately represented in the political sphere, women's NGOs should understand that political action is integral in the issues that affect their daily life.

Endnotes

1. The author is especially grateful for the contribution to this article of the following Romani women’s rights advocates: Beata Olahová (Slovakia), Kalinka Vassileva (Bulgaria), Enisa Eminova (Macedonia), Sanela Besić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Inge Stuer, Educational Advisor, Directorate of Youth and Sport, former staff member of the National Agency of Youth in Ireland, and Valeria Bodoczky, the Head Co-ordinator of the “Bronz Klub Association”. Special thanks to Debra Schultz, Director of the Network Women Program of the Open Society Institute, New York, Nicoleta Biţu and Azbija Memedova, Director of the Roma Center of Skopje, Macedonia.
2. Isabela Mihalache holds a BA degree in Philology from Bucharest University and an MA degree in Gender Studies from the Central European University, Budapest. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Romani Linguistics at the Bucharest University. Currently, she works as a program coordinator at the Roma Participation Program, Open Society Institute, Budapest. E-mail: imihalache@osieurope.org.
3. Xhemajli, Sabina. “Everything We Don’t Want to Hear!” In Roma Rights 1/2000, p. 30.
4. Sztojka, Katalin. Roma Rights 1/2000, p. 33.
5. Memedova, Azbija. Statement in Roma Women’s Forum, Budapest, June 2003.
6. Ceneda, Sophia. “Romani Women from Central and Eastern Europe: A ‘Fourth World’, or Experience of Multiple Discrimination”. Refugee Women’s Resource Project, Asylum Aid, 2002, p.31, at www.asylumaid.org.uk.  See also Schultz, Debra. “Romani Women: Between Two Cultures”. In Bending the Bow: Targeting Women’s Human Rights and Opportunities. Open Society Institute, Network Women’s Program, 2003.
7. Schultz, Debra. “Romani Women: Between Two Cultures”.
8. Biţu, Nicoleta. The Situation of Roma/Gypsy Women in Europe. Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1999.
9. Ibid.
10. Raikova, Alexandra & Grassi Corinne. Young Roma/Gypsy Women: Twice Discriminated…? European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe & National Agency Youth for Europe, Bulgaria, 1999.
11. Association of Romani Women in Romania. Romani Women and Public Policies in Countries of Central and Eastern Europe, 1999.
12. Simerska, Lenka. “Women Action 2000”. In Journal Quotidien No 3, 8 June, 2000, at: http://www.womenaction.org/ungass/bulletin/080600_fr.html. (Translation from French by the author.)
13. Roma Women Association Romania. Report on the Leadership Training for Roma Women Activities, October 4-8, 2000, Ohrid, Macedonia.
14. Schultz, Debra. Romani Women Between Two Cultures in Bending the Bow. Targeting Women’s Human Rights and Opportunities. Open Society Institute, Network Women’s Program, 2003, p. 48.
15. The Advocacy Project was formed in 1998 to serve the needs of civil society – particularly community based advocates for peace and human rights. It helps new networks become self-sufficient in the use of information and communications technologies. A non-profit organization, the Advocacy Project is based in Washington DC.
16. Women Network Program. Putting Romani Women’s Rights on the Map. A Report on the Roma Women’s Forum, Budapest, June 29, 2003, at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/women/articles_publications/publications/ romawomensforum_20030923/romawomensforum_20030922.pdf.
17. Durmis, Zaklina, Statement at the Roma Women’s Forum, June 2003.
18. Ibid.
19. Social Cohesion: Developments, No 8/March 2003, Council of Europe, DG III Social Cohesion, pp. 8-9.
20. Ibid., p.8.
21. Post, Soraya, Statement to the Conference on Roma Women and Access to Public Heath Care, Strasbourg, September 11, 2003.
22. See Roma Women Challenge European Governments over Health Crisis in RomNews Network, September 26 at http://www.RomNews.com//modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1161.
23. For more information visit: http://adocacynet.autoupdate.com/resource_view/link_366.html.
24. For more information visit: http://www.romanicriss.ro/indexeng.html.