With the opening of a multimedia exhibition of art photographs of ten women from all over Serbia who bravely and selflessly took the lead during the pandemic, the United Nations Agency for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment UN Women with the Coordination Body for Gender Equality, Ministry of European Integration, EU Delegation to Serbia and the French Embassy in Belgrade, marks International Women’s Day.
The exhibition entitled “When the world stopped, they are not”, which will last from March 8 to 22 at the French Cultural Center, and which will then travel throughout Serbia, shows large-format art photographs of 10 women from Serbia from all walks of life which set an example and contributed to the betterment of our society during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them are a nurse, a teacher, a pharmacist, a saleswoman, etc. The photo of each woman was accompanied by an audio story about their experience and work during the pandemic – how they felt, what their role was and how they contributed to their community. The authors of the photographs and audio stories, Sandra and Igor Mandić, took the audience through the exhibition.
“International Women’s Day celebrates women, their achievements and what we as a society can do to achieve real gender equality. It is appropriate that this year’s theme is Women and Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in the World KOVID 19. We should pay tribute to women leaders in science and medicine, in politics and economics and their outstanding achievements in these extremely difficult times. We should also understand that – among the many challenges that COVID has brought us – gender equality is under additional pressure, socially and economically, on a global scale. Therefore, the celebrations in 2021 should be based on recognising the role of women and continuing the fight for gender equality. That is the duty we have for future generations “, said the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Ambassador Sam Fabrizi.
The Minister for European Integration, Jadranka Joksimović, pointed out that the global crisis caused by the pandemic showed that women of all generations and professions resolutely faced and bore a large part of the burden of fighting the consequences of a serious health, economic and social crisis: “Responsible action, encouraging self-discipline models of civilised behaviour of individuals in such crises, have contributed to the overall response of Serbia to be flexibly efficient and resilient even compared to larger and more developed countries. ”
“Last year was difficult, but it showed that the burden of the Kovid crisis was disproportionately mostly on women. We have seen that when the world stopped, women did not. The faces in the exhibition represent the faces of all women in our country. We cannot give up the fight for a single moment, because we still, as women, do not have equal conditions “, said prof. Dr. Zorana Mihajlović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and President of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality.
The Minister of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Gordana Čomić, pointed out that the faces of women at the exhibition are a symbol of hundreds of thousands of women across Serbia: “We want to send a message for March 8, these faces are proof that we are equally ready to share dialogue for the future of Serbia. Thanks to everyone who made these women’s faces visible. ”
Jean-Louis Falconi, the French ambassador to Serbia, thanked “all those women who, in Serbia and France, when the population had to close in order to avoid the spread of the virus, remained at the forefront, to enable the whole world to continue to “emphasises the fact that the economic and social consequences of the health crisis are already, and threaten to be, more pronounced in the future, leading to an increase in violence against women and girls, anywhere in the world, whether domestic violence or job loss. “.
Paying tribute to women from all walks of life for their professional and personal commitment during the crisis, the exhibition aims to draw attention to the role of women in creating a just and prosperous society. Also, this exhibition is a reminder to the public of the importance of gender equality and drawing attention to specific areas, such as more women in management positions, equal pay, reduction of discrimination and violence against women.
International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8, is a day of struggle for economic, political and social equality of women. The Coordinating Body for Gender Equality of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the United Nations Agency for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Serbia, UN Women, join the celebration of this important date within the project “Key Steps to Gender Equality” funded by the European Union.
