Opening the seminar, Sonja Licht, President of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, stressed that by creating the Women’s Parliamentary Network the women MPs have won new ground and a significant place in the history of Serbian parliamentarism and emancipation of women in Serbia.
Zorana Antonijevic, advisor on gender equality issues at the OSCE Mission to Serbia, opined that the seminar would motivate the Women’s Parliamentary Network to continue working toward making sure that women’s policies and women’s interests take a more important position on the state agenda.
In the course of the two-day seminar, Professor Ann Snitow, Director of the Gender Studies Programme of the New York New School for Social Research, lectured on the basics of the feminist theory and feminist policies and practices in countries in transition. In her lecture, Professor Snitow focused on the development of feminist sensibility in the deliberation on policies and gender budgeting. An analysis of the global economic crisis from a feminist angle was also among the topics of the seminar.
In the course of the seminar, the women MPs, members of the Women’s Parliamentary Network, shared their views and experience related to the status of women in Serbia and the status of women MPs at the National Assembly.
On the second day of the seminar, Professor Ann Snitow spoke of the forms women’s intervention can take at the Parliament and other state institutions, listing her ideas and proposals related to the future activities of the Women’s Parliamentary Network.
Taking part in a workshop with the representative of the Centre for Modern Skills, Milos Djajic, the members of the Women’s Parliamentary Network outlined the strategic activity plans for the upcoming period. Increasing the visibility of the Women’s Parliamentary Network in the National Assembly and the public, increased participation of women MPs in parliamentary diplomacy, support for women politicians on the local level and cooperation with non-governmental women’s organisations are the basic strategic plans of the future activities of the Women’s Parliamentary Network.