WUNRN
Global Fund for Women
ROMA WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CULTURAL
CHANGE BEYOND DISCRIMINATION TO RIGHTS & GREATER EQUALITY
When
Katalin Bársony’s grandmother wanted to send her daughter to high school in
Budapest, her husband said she would become an “outsider whore.” Her
grandmother didn’t listen to him, went against tradition and as a result,
Katalin’s mother became a well-known activist for Roma rights.
When it was Katalin’s turn to go to school, there was no question about her right to education. Even though only one in ten Roma children complete high school in Hungary, she went to university and bucked the patriarchal tradition and anti-Roma prejudice that prevented many of her girl friends from even getting through schoolhouse doors.
Katalin
Bársony, Executive Director of Romedia Foundation.
At the age of 23, Katalin directed the first-ever
documentary series on Roma communities around the world. Mundi
Romani, a project of Global Fund for Women grantee partner, Romedia Foundation, was broadcasted on TV stations
all over Hungary and received numerous awards. After an episode uncovering the death of 28
Roma due to the worst lead poising in Europe’s history, the Roma refugee
camp was closed and around 3,000 people relocated to a safer, nevertheless
segregated, neighborhood.
“Things are changing and we are part of that
change,” said Katalin, today the executive director of Romedia Foundation,
where she uses film to change how people perceive Roma communities. Not an easy
job, as hatred of Romahas been woven into Europe’s cultural fabric for hundreds
of years.
A
History of Social Exclusion
At 12 million, Roma are the largest and most
discriminated minority in Europe. Roma communities are isolated in ghettos and
have trouble getting jobs because employers don’t want to hire Roma workers.
Roma students are segregated into substandard schools and often sent to
institutions for children with mental disabilities. There is such an inequality
in health care that infant mortality rates are doubled and the average lifespan
for Roma is around 10 years lower than the rest of the population, according to
an OSCE study.
On top of all this, Roma women experience high
levels of violence and in many traditional Roma communities a woman’s job is
only to support her family. When they do exist, data on Roma women show that
they are less educated and fare worse economically than their male
counterparts.
Roma
Women Rise Together
Despite these statics, Roma women are the most
powerful agents of change as they relentlessly challenge the “customary” ways
women are treated in Roma communities and in the society beyond. Global Fund
has doubled our support for Roma women’s rights organizations over the past
three years and we’ve seen some major wins.
Roma women activists advocated for and won the
European Court of Human Rights condemnation of the Czech authorities’ practice
of forced sterilization. In Macedonia, Roma women’s organizations are going
beyond providing services to local communities by connecting with like-minded
groups so they are better positioned to fight for social justice together.
Funding
Change
Global Fund steps in with general support for Roma
women’s organizations because often times, local authorities in Eastern Europe
are unwilling to spend or be seen as spending on the Roma community and
“women’s issues.” At the same time, spending on housing, education and health
care, which should improve the situation of both the majority population and
Roma women, often stops where the Roma neighborhood starts.
“If you just throw money at the problem, but neglect
changing society, then nothing will happen,” said Gabriela Hrabanova, Policy
Coordinator at European Roma Grassroots Organizations
Network and RomaReact.
A
New Future
One of the only ways to fight prejudice is to change
cultural norms - change the way people perceive and relate with their Roma
neighbors. This is a serious undertaking that requires work across generations.
Knowing this, Katalin and her colleagues train Roma girls to use media so they
can become advocates of a different vision for their community.
“You have to keep moving, even when it seems that the work is leading nowhere, the impact will come later,” said Gabriela about what motivates her. “You have to sacrifice to make life better.”