“We are in the war and first victims are women” started the stormy debate about the women rights Jeannette Bougrabis, a French lawyer and politician. About the problem of discrimination women in their countries talked also Magdalena Vášáryová, a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Jana Smiggels Kavková, member of Council for Equal Opportunities of Women and Men of the Government and board member of European Women’s Lobby and Marta Dzido, writer, documentary filmmaker and film editor. The discuss was moderated by Wojciech Przybylski.
“Feminism is almost a dirty word nowadays” – admitted Jana Smiggels Kavková. She mentioned about treating women as sexual objects, the lack of access to the capital and associatedwith that poverty. Magdalena Vášáryováwho was the first woman ambassador in the history of the country added that she was 20% less pay then her male colleagues. On the other hand Jeannette Bougrabis stressed that economic discrimination of course is a problem but the real one is violence.
Wojciech Przybylski mentioned that feminism in the Eastern and the Western block was completely different. He also asked about individualization in feminism path and the lack of solidarity after 1990. “There is noproblem of solidarity among the women but the lack of support of men” – stressed Jeannette Bougrabis and said that only women fight for women rights in Arabic countries.
In the end of discussion she also presented the good practice to improve women situation which included: quota system in politics, separating religion and law and educating civil servants. Law is the first step to change the world – she summed up the debate.
Roma population in V4 countries
The second lecture was dedicated to the problem of Roma population especially in Hungary. Attila Z. Papp, director of the Budapest-based Institute for Minority Studies, started his presentation with the question “Who is Roma/a Gypsy?”. He presented the history of Roma people from the 15th century when they appeared for the first time in the Central Europe. Since the beginning they were the target of xenophobic attitudes and during the World War II it is estimated that 220,000-1,500,000 of Roma people were killed during so called the Romani genocide or Holocaust.
Attila Z. Papp focused on the cultural point of view and the problem of operationalization of ethnic identity which is connected with the social atmosphere. During the discussion with participants the expert stressed that the Roma population in Hungary is not a homogenous ethnic group, what is the main problem in integration with the rest of society. For this reason,it is necessary to ensure an adequate level of education of Roma children.
Solidarity according to women
In the evening the participants took part in the Visegrad Film Marathon and watched a poignant film about the role of women while fightingfor a free Poland.It was women who closed the gates and launched the Solidarity strike when, on a Saturday in August 1980, workers, satisfied with a raise, stopped their protest and wanted to leave the Gdansk shipyard. If it had not been for the initiative of several determined women, perhaps there would not have been any August 1980 in Polish history.
