Gender Task Force

SPOT REPORT
Women's Activism prior to Serbian elections, September 24, 2000

GTF Background

The Gender Task Force (GTF), an initiative sponsored by the OSCE and the Central and East European Network for Gender Issues, was born out of the Appeal to the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, July 29,1999. Signed by more than 100 prominent Southeast European women activists and distributed during the Stability Pact Summit in Sarajevo, the Appeal called for an equal and active role for women in the development and implementation of the Stability Pact. Their call was heard. At the inaugural meeting of the Stability Pact Working Table One in October 1999, the political empowerment of women was named as a top priority. The Gender Task Force Inaugural Meeting that was held in November 1999 works through a combined government and non-governmental network of focal points that combine to form an Advisory Board, headed by a representative from Southeast Europe. Established to coordinate projects to improve women’s political representation and participation across Southeast Europe, the GTF operates in ten Southeast European Countries; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, FRY (Montenegro, Vojvodina and Serbia), Romania and Slovenia.

Stability Pact GTF Prepapration for Serbian Elections

The Stability Pact GTF began preparations for the then unscheduled national elections in February 2000 with women from opposition parties, NGO’s, independent trade unions, and independent media. At a strategic conference held in Palic in February 2000 women defined five strategic points of a womens' electoral campaign and opened the process of helping women in all opposition parties to become visible and get a real chance to elect and be elected. Another result of the Palic Strategic Conference in February 2000 was the creation of three women’s networks: an NGO Women’s Network, a Political Women’s Network and a Media Women’s Network. UNIFEM and the Swiss Government supported the SP GTF’s first projects in Serbia and Vojvodina.

Palic Women’s Conference Platform:

1. Education for peace, equality, solidarity and respect for the other

Women Can Do It / Media Projects 2000 Serbia / Vojvodina

In April 2000 the SP GTF organized a Women Can Do It (WCDI) Train the Trainer Seminar in order to prepare future women candidates for their specific role in the democratic Serbia and Vojvodina of tomorrow. By the end of July 2000 these trainers organised 56 local seminars and reached out to 2400 potential women candidates of all opposition parties.

The SP GTF will undertake three interconnected women’s Media Campaign Projects led by three women’s networks and has secured funding from the Austrian Government. This project has three specific goals:

The SP GTF started printing and disseminating women’s electoral materials in August. By the last week of August, gender equality messages were posted on billboards throughout Belgrade. The Swiss Government has also offered to fund the project so that additional materials have been printed and prepared for door-to-door distribution. All of these efforts will lead to the successful implementation of the women’s electoral campaign in two successive waves. The first wave in the first week and the second in the second week of September.

The biggest issue concerning the coming elections is whether the Milosevic Regime will survive. A broad coalition of opposition forces running in the election has made competition on the electoral lists very intense and difficult for women. However, this campaign has also brought to life three interconnected women’s networks that will continue to work on gender equality in the future. For the first time, women in one country's civil society are sufficiently organized and aware of their specific interests that they can start to act as a political subject from the beginning of their country’s transition.