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Romani Women and Public Policies in Countries of
Central and Eastern Europe
Report on the international conference organized by :
Association of Roma Women in Romania
Sos. Colentina nr. 43, Bl.R-13,Sc.B, etj.9, apt.83, sector 2, Bucharest
Romania , Postall Code : 72446
Phone / Fax: + 401 688 53 85
E-mail: Violeta@dnt.ro
December 3-4, 1999 Bucharest
INTRODUCTION
On December 2-3, 1999 the international conference ‘Romani Women and Public Policies in Countries of Central and Eastern Europe’ took place in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting brought together over 20 Romani women from Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Romania and Macedonia. The conference was organized by the Association of Romani Women in Romania, with the support of the East-East program of the Open Society Institute - New York.
The aim of the conference was to better define some of the particular needs, issues, and approaches concerning Romani women, in view of influencing the emerging public policies on Roma in the region. Also, in comparison with other issues, there has been a relatively smaller amount of organization and attention centered on Romani women. Therefore, the opportunity to meet and exchange experiences and perspectives was important in itself, especially with regards to improving communication, mutual understanding and coordination efforts among Romani women in Central and East European countries.
Participants first gathered in a plenary session to introduce themselves, to state their expectations of the conference, and to identify themes for working group discussions. Following this, the women separated into two working groups to discuss more in-depth needs and possible strategies related to 1) health and education of Romani women, and 2) human rights and public policies in connection with Romani women.
The day after the closing of the conference, the remaining participants had the opportunity to visit a Romani community on the outskirts of Bucharest, where health education and mediation activities are carried out by the Association of Roma Women in Romania. Coincidentally, it was also a special day of celebration in the community, as one of the young girls had been ‘promised’ for marriage.
BACKGROUND ON THE PARTICIPANTS
The women present came from a broad range of professions such as teaching, journalism, social work, and medicine, along with some university students. Currently, they are engaged in different types of activities, either in the context of organizations dealing primarily with Romani women’s issues, or more broadly with Romani human rights and local development.
Some of the projects mentioned include: professional training courses to provide Romani women with practical skills for job placement and advancement; health education in Romani communities, including family planning, mediating medical assistance and HIV/AIDS prevention; counseling services; setting up a center for abused women; schooling of Romani children; the development of local medical services, including training of health mediators from the community; cultural publications, radio and television programs on Roma, and inter-ethnic conflict prevention and management.
VISIONS, EXPECTATIONS AND NEEDS OF ROMANI WOMEN
During the morning session on the first day of the conference, the participants were asked to express their expectations and desired outcomes of the meeting.
One participant stated that she hoped they could continue to build on the momentum of this meeting by constructing something together, in particular greater affirmation in public life. ‘The Romani women’s movement and political affirmation should come with the thoughts and wishes of women, and to do this a sustainable policy and strategy is needed’. This includes the issue of emancipation, she added, as there are Romani women whose freedoms are restricted owing to traditions. In addressing the need for a strategy, another participant stated that such the strategy should be in line with European standards.
In relating her experiences working with Romani women on how to plan their own futures, one participant affirmed that ‘We women should say what we want; that this is our road ahead’, and gave examples of how this can lead to institutional responses that result in the targeting of funds and a multiplication of the respective approaches and initiatives.
The importance of addressing governments was underlined, and it was pointed out that for years the governments had failed to take responsibility for Roma. However, the moment has come where many countries want to develop strategies on Roma, and there is a need to listen to Romani women in strategizing for the future. While past Romani women’s meeting were important contributions, it was also stressed that this meeting should go further in developing a concrete strategy, not only discussions about problems.
At the same time, a number of participants expressed their concern about how to address issues of domestic violence, prostitution and trafficking of women and children. While one participant mentioned that they had opened a center to help Romani women confronted with violence in the home, it was also underlined how it is difficult to go public and address openly these problems. Nonetheless, it is important to find solutions. Another participant said that in her experiences there is violence in the family, and it should be addressed, along with methods to provoke greater self-respect amongst Romani women. ‘As many of us are human rights activists’, she added, ‘it should be asked how violence in the home is seen from this perspective’.
In giving examples of her organization’s work with Romani women, the importance of opening the way for Romani women to work more; to encourage work in organizations, and to fight for Romani rights was stressed. Here they should have the support of Romani women’s organizations behind them. One way is to provide training so that they may have more choices. The idea is not to break from their husbands and families, but to help each other to keep both the family and the career of Romani women. Other participants expressed their belief that Romani women in general work very hard, even more so than men, especially within the communities, and ‘as the soul of the family, and the soul of the society, we need to encourage them and strengthen them’.
Participants underlined the importance of a strategy to improve the image of Romani women, especially by showing more of their work and activities in the mass media. Also, when strategizing for Romani women’s issues, it is important to take into account the diversity amongst Romani women, including the status of Romani women in the movement.
HEALTH AND EDUCATION OF ROMANI WOMEN
In this workshop, a group of women gathered to discuss needs and strategies in the areas of health and education of Romani women, based on their experiences working with different communities. In doing so, some problem areas and related approaches to addressing issues such as access to health care services, family planning, prostitution and HIV prevention, and education, in general, were discussed.
Improving access to health care services.
For a number of the participants, their work centered on health and health education activities carried out with Romani women whose socio-economic conditions circumstances made it difficult for them to obtain necessary health care. Participants from Romania and Bulgaria underlined dynamics such as a lack of employment and money, and a lack of birth certificates and registered residence, which meant that the women had no practical access to regular health care. In addition, as doctors are not obliged to care for the families, they received no medical attention, and here discriminatory treatment was stressed as an ongoing problem. In addition, the relative isolation of some Romani communities meant that there was no medical point or doctor in the community, necessitating significant travel to receive medical care, and therefore sought only in urgent conditions, including child-birth.
In addressing these situations, it was stressed that it is important to construct cooperative relations with persons from key institutions. This may include the mayor’s office, county officials such as those of the Ministry of Health, and local doctors and nurses, whose understanding and cooperation may help to overcome these structural deficiencies and lack of elementary requirements as citizens of their respective countries. Activities with women from the project communities also included a mediating role, where doctors and nurses are brought into the communities to provide general consulting, prescriptions, and first-aid training. In terms of discrimination, a comprehensive anti-discrimination law needs to be enacted, with effective means to monitor and enforce the principle of equality.
Family planning education for greater choices
While carrying out a number of family planning activities, participants agreed that the issue is a sensitive one, and should be dealt with accordingly. In particular, the aim is not to force a decision upon the women and their families, but to provide more knowledge and more choices, including access to contraceptive measures if desired. It was pointed out that, it is important to take into consideration the need to include the education of men, and other relatives who can also have an influence on family decisions. A few of the participants stated that it can also be difficult for some Romani women to take contraceptive measures when a high value on having male offspring means that many children are born until this is achieved.
In terms of public policies concerning family planning, participants stated that there was a need to take some precautions, based both on the historical experiences of forced sterilization and present-day discourses which point to ‘dangers’ of high birth rates amongst Romani women. Therefore, in the current circumstances, if there are to be government policies in this area, then they should focus on increasing access and choices of Romani women. Nonetheless, it was underlined that there needs to be an evaluation of the diverse experiences with family planning activities before considering public policies. In any case eventual implementation of a policy would be better carried out with the aid of civil society organizations, especially Romani ones, who can serve as mediators between public institutions and local Romani communities.
Further researching into prostitution
Another difficult issue discussed was that of prostitution of Romani women. Participants discussed the profile of these women, whom they felt are from ‘nowhere’, neither ‘traditional’ nor ‘modern’ or assimilated, and therefore confronted with particularly dangerous or vulnerable circumstances. They are marginalized in that a modern women would look for other resources, and a traditional women, in respecting Romani customs and culture, would not be a prostitute.
Some young Romani women working as health mediators in a Bucharest district stated that there has been an increase in prostitution of Romani women in their neighborhood. ‘For them, it is not a shame to be a prostitute’, it was said, ‘because they make more money’. In working with some of these women in the area of HIV prevention, it was underlined that ‘prostitution is like a drug, since the effects and harm that is and can be caused is not known [by the women]’. For this there should be educational activities to show the women that they are on a destructive path, and that they should at least take preventive measures. In addition, more could be known about relevant laws, so that the women could be better informed about their rights, and there should be attempts to provide other opportunities to gain income and employment for the women.
However, it was agreed that there is still insufficient information in this domain to propose an appropriate strategy. Therefore, an in-depth research should be carried out, in which a first-hand understanding of the situation is gained.
Mediation for greater participation in education
In addition to educational activities addressing health-related concerns, some of the participants also carried out other, more general, educational or schooling activities. As with difficulties in access to health care, discriminatory treatment as Roma was identified as an underlying problem. With regards to Romani women and girls, it was noted that Romani girls from more traditional communities were usually withdrawn from the schools after about 5 years, either for marriage reasons, or out of fear of being ‘stolen’. In adult literacy courses, participants were largely men, as they were motivated by the desire to obtain driving licenses. In other cases, the participants’ experiences included parents who sent their children to the schools in order to receive a schooling allocation, which provides for necessary family income.
Therefore, while there should be more community activities to increase interest and understanding of the value of education, this also raises questions and problems related to the loss of identity, and differences between education in the school and education in the family.
On the one hand, there should be specific measures of the Ministry of Education to address Romani women. The mass media should be used to create new images of Romani women, targeting both men and women, and there need to be greater efforts to introduce Romani history and culture into school curricula. Middle and lower level functionaries (i.e. school inspectors) need to be more flexible, while respecting the principle of equality. In addition, Romani women should be recruited and trained to work as schooling mediators, both in terms of education within the respective community, and facilitating the identification of working solutions with schooling institutions. Where traditions lead to the interruption of formal schooling, such mediators may create opportunities for the women to receive local vocational training or alternative education, which can provide a basis for personal income and development.
In the context of discussions on both health and education, the participants underlined that it is extremely important that local women be educated and trained so that they have the capabilities to organize themselves, resolve local problems and assume responsibilities for community activities and projects.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND PUBLIC POLICIES IN CONNECTION
WITH ROMANI WOMEN
In discussing general concepts of public policies, it was decided that the integration of Romani women’s issues, and Romani women’s participation should happen at a number of different levels. These included a microbe-like permeation amongst Romani men, integration into the broader women’s movement, and forming of alliances with the ecumenical movement of women, at national and international levels. This latter movement was seen as particularly important considering that Roma make part of different religions.
Priority needs and tasks to further the rights of Romani women
In comparing the emerging governmental policies on Roma in the region, it was pointed out that there is a need to form a more powerful lobby to push for the concept of equality in government policies on Roma, and where this is already foreseen, there needs to be the introduction of specific provisions concerning Romani women. Also, more Romani women should participate in the decision-making on these policies, as the related commissions are currently dominated by men. Therefore, both the government and Romani organizations should be approached in view of increasing Romani women’s participation in decision-making bodies.
A priority task for gaining the necessary grounding for public policy measures concerning Romani women is the creation of an inventory of programs and activities targeting women. This should include an updated database of Romani women’s organizations and programs; the scope of activities, and an evaluation of the impact and results. In addition, participants stressed that there should be activities to strengthen, improve and increase the number of Romani women’s organizations, while promoting activities to raise solidarity amongst different groups. Most importantly, there is still a need to know how to work and with what instruments, to organize better, to develop a discourse and ultimately to have more political power, especially governmental and parliamentary representation.
In this regard, it was also mentioned that the Open Society Institute / Soros 2000 policy foresees activities related to Romani women and women’s rights, particularly the organization of a training course, and that there are plans to organize a meeting to ensure that Romani women participate in formulating the curricula.
Institutional bodies and resources for developing a lobbying
strategy
Participants discussed dynamics of the various institutional resources, both political and monetary, which should be taken into account when developing a lobbying strategy to introduce and further promote the rights of Romani women. Within the context of civil society organizations, the Roma and non-Roma organizations working with Roma should be addressed, along with organizations working with women in general, and various donor agencies. It was suggested that rather than creating separate programs concerning Romani women, Romani women’s issues and perspectives should be integrated (or mainstreamed) to already existing programs concerning Roma, such as those of the Open Society Institute and the Soros Foundations network.
In the public sphere, there are governmental policies concerning national and ethnic minorities, and Roma in particular, provisions regarding equality between men and women, and relevant parliamentary bodies. In terms of international organizations, mention was made of the Council of Europe Specialist Group on Roma, the European Union Human Rights reports and EC Phare funding schemes, and women and gender issues in the context of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. With regards to instruments for lobbying, the provisions in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women were also underlined, especially that of the state’s obligation to abolish or modify existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women. In this sense, states cannot use culture to hide or excuse discrimination against women.
The participants stressed that public policies on Roma should hold the perspective that discrimination and racism confronting Roma is the starting point or basis of other problems, such as poverty. Therefore public policies should also seek to reduce racial hatred, while promoting equality between men and women, Roma and non-Roma.
European network of Romani women’s organizations
It was agreed that a starting point for addressing all of the above issues was to create a network of Romani women and organizations that can strengthen communication, and produce more information that can be directed to the mass media, along with concrete proposals toward other organizations and institutions, including CEE governments. In the current situation, it was decided that such a network would function without a president and lead organization, so that all organizations would participate on an equal basis. A follow-up meeting should be organized to decide on the sharing of responsibilities in the operations of the network and related, action-oriented projects of Romani women themselves. On the final evening of the conference, a Declaration outlining the priority tasks and the establishment of the network was prepared so that it may be reviewed by the participants, and taken home for further distribution. See attachment.
CONCLUSION
During the two-day discussions, which took place in Romani and Romanian languages, the participants succeeded to identify some guiding principles of a strategy and policy measures concerning Romani women. These included the need for specific measures to ensure equality between men and women, and the underlying aim of creating more choices and alternative opportunities, especially in relation to questions of family planning, domestic violence, and prostitution. Likewise, Romani women’s groups should be encouraged to develop services providing information and support to other Romani women, while forming alliances with the broader women’s movement and ecumenical movement, at national and international levels.
The fundamental problem of discrimination and racism toward Roma in general, and Romani women in particular, was also stressed. Therefore this perspective and related measures should be integrated into public policies on Roma, and specific situations confronting Romani women should become better understood in order to be addressed.
Priority tasks in view of integrating or mainstreaming Romani women’s issues and rights into various public policies, involve three broad areas: 1) field research to evaluate past and current programs and projects concerning Romani women in the region; 2) capacity-building amongst Romani women in view of developing practical skills for solving local problems, on the one hand, and lobbying skills for promoting Romani women’s rights and agendas, including greater participation in decision-making bodies and political life, on the other; and 3) strengthening, promoting and encouraging more Romani women’s organizations, while building an effective European network of communication and coordination.
In all of these areas, participants underlined the importance of increasing the presence of Romani women’s issues in the mass media, including more positive images of Romani women and their work.
The experiences and insights of the Romani women present provided for concrete discussions on the priorities for future work, which were subsequently presented in the attached declaration. By focusing on these areas, important steps would be made in terms of improving the lives of Romani women and their families, while strengthening Romani women’s capacities to organize and gain political power, and the Romani movement as a whole.
DECLARATION
of the international conference
“Public Policies and Romani Women in Central and East European Countries”
3 - 5 December 1999, Bucharest, Romania
The conference, organized by the Association of Romani Women in Romania with the support of the Open Society Institute brought together more than 20 Romani women from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Yugoslavia and Romania.
The conference addressed the participation of Romani women in public life, and issues related to health and education. The discussions focused on the status of Romani women at different levels of society, the existing resources on national and international level for promoting the rights of Romani women, and elements of a future strategy for Romani Women in civil society, governments and international organizations. Participants stressed the fundamental role of discrimination and racism confronting Romani women.
The following priorities for future work have been identified:
- organization of a broader study and inventory of the projects addressed to Romani women, with the aim of elaborating a methodology.
- to integrate Romani women’s issues in the Romani movement; women’s rights movement; ecumenical movement, and the agendas of governments and international organizations.
- to lobby for the inclusion of Romani women’s issues in the national strategies concerning Roma, and in the state policies concerning women’s rights;
- to increase the participation of Romani women in decision-making bodies related to public policies concerning Roma and in political life;
- to improve the level of leadership skills amongst Romani women;
- to promote policies that create more individual choices in relation to migration, family planning, culture and education.
- to strengthen already existing Romani women’s organizations, and to support the creation of new organizations throughout the region. Z
To implement these priorities, the participants decided to create a European network, which has the main aims of establishing the means for regular communication and promoting the rights of Romani women. This network with function horizontally, on the basis of equality of all participating organizations and women.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Bulgaria
Lili Kovatcheva : email : lkovatcheva@yahoo.com
Sali Ibrahim, Roma Mother
Slavca Rusinova, Association of Romani Women “Unia”
Vassilieva Svetlana, “Dise”
Atanaska Ivanova
Croatia
Remiza Memedi, Roma Women’s Association for a Better Future : ramiza.mehmedi@zg.hinet.hr
Hungary
Agnes Daróczi, Romedia Foundation : barsonyj@mail.matav.hu;
Blanka Kozma, Association of Roma Women in Public Life
Sarita Jasarova (Macedonia), European Roma Rights Centre :
jasarova@yahoo.com;
Jennifer Tanaka (USA), Hungarian Foundation for Self-reliance - Rapporteur : jktanaka@hotmail.com
Romania
Camelia Stanescu, interpreter
Cristinela Ionescu, Open the Doors :
Lavinia Olmazu, Aven Amentza SATRA ASTRA
Letitia Mark, Association of Gypsy Women for their Children : lmark@mail.dnttm.ro
Mariana Buceanu, Romani CRISS ( Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies) Criss@dnt.ro
Mihaela Zatreanu, Association of Roma Women in Romania : zmihaela@hotmail.com
Nicoleta Bitu, Romani CRISS, Consultant - Network Women’s
Program,
Open Society Institute : nicoletabitu@wamm.com.pl
Penelopa Statica Ramini
Petre Florica, Cristea Mihaela, Osar Mariana, Gheorghe Marinela,
Dinca Maria, Community Health Mediators - Zabrauti (Romani
CRISS)
Salomeea Romanescu, School Inspector - Olt : salomeea@snspa.ro
Violeta Dumitru, Association of Roma Women in Romania :
violeta@dnt.ro
Yugoslavia
Jelena Jovanovic, Association of Young Roma Researchers
Stanka Dimitrov, Young Romani Researchers.
