The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

Working conditions for women’s organizations are today in some cases
even more difficult than immediately after the war. At that time, work
with refugees and displaced people was more concrete and more clear,
and European feminists supplied sufficient funds for the work. Now,
many organizations have had to close down for lack of funds. The pressing
issues are the same as ever: violence against women and children,
equal pay for women and men (men’s salaries are 11 to 20% higher),
revising schoolbooks in which disinformation about gender roles are
stated, etc. Poorly paid sectors, such as school, health and journalism,
are increasingly being abandoned by capital – and by men; more women
than men today work at universities. Men dominate in the well-paid construction
and energy projects.
After the war, women first fought to regain their old positions. Women
who had previously worked on these issues and were networked before
the war took over this task. After the war, they built democratic organizations
in which they could train women for work in the public sector and in
leadership positions. They travelled from school to school in the “peace
schools”, and taught non-violence, human rights, women in politics, international
solidarity etc. They held summer solidarity camps, published
books and newspapers, and participated internationally in building the pac -
ifist movement. This work is continuing. In order to be more effective,
many women’s organizations have come together in networks.
For example, in 2006, Nataša Kandic ´
put together RECOM, a regional
association of NGOs and associations of war victims from all parts of
former Yugoslavia. Its goal is to establish an independent commission
to investigate and clear up incidents and crimes in the region during the
war in former Yugoslavia. The coalition consists of many hundreds of
NGOs for human rights and democracy, victims’ associations, veterans’
organizations, media and individuals from the victims groups, academics,
artists, journalists lawyers and others. By mid-2010, the Coalition
for RECOM had held a constituent to meetings to talk about its goals
and forms of work. An attempt was made to collect one million signatures
to be submitted to the parliaments in the region, to get them to
establish RECOM at the parliamentary level.
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