Young Women and Gender Equality in Post-Yugoslav Societies: Research, Practice and Policy

Post-socialist societies of former Yugoslavia are still undergoing many social, economic and political processes whose characteristics largely determine the social status of one of the most vulnerable social groups - young women. Observing it through the prism of age-related perspective, in ex-Yugoslav societies unfavorable social conditions delay or impede youth from entering and adopting permanent public, family and professional roles, which points to slow dynamics of their social integration. From a gender perspective, the durability of patriarchal patterns and their influence is reflected in the presence of many gender discriminatory practices that represent the obstacle to the realization not only of women’s human rights and gender equality, but also of democracy in general. Preparing the conference we were primarily interested in a scientific, professional and interdisciplinary aspect of the approach to gender issues, while taking into account the specific needs and problems of young women.
Therefore, the aim of this project is to define guidelines for future scientific research that would represent the foundation for forming public policies and civil society activities oriented toward improving the social position of young women in post-Yugoslav societies. That is why the conference programme includes presentations of researchers from various scientific fields – anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, law, etc., as well as from experts from public institutions and civil society. The conference brings together 26 presenters from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and United States. Presentations are arranged in six panel discussions in accordance with the problems identified in the areas of human rights of women, family and reproductive politics, education, labour market, culture and violence against women.
We hope that this conference will, from scientific and research point of view, open and address a number of interesting, specific and for now insufficiently researched topics and problems in context of post Yugoslav-societies that are related to the conference topic. Also, we wish this conference to be the place of scientific, public and civil sector’s ideas exchange as well as pledge of future cooperation.