To raise awareness of rural women about their rights and protection mechanisms
Deputy Protector of Citizens, Jelena Stojanović, on the occasion of marking 15 October – International Day of Rural Women, stressed that rural women are in a bad position and that it is very important to work on raising their awareness of rights and protection mechanisms, as well as their independence and economic empowerment.
"Women in the countryside face a number of problems – they often do not have access to basic community services – health services, public transport or kindergartens. Many of them are not health insured and do not have a pension, so they depend on other family members, and they face abuse and domestic violence", said Stojanović in Mladenovac.
The Deputy Protector of Citizens opened an exhibition of handicrafts of rural women from the municipality of Mladenovac, organized by the Center for the Protection of Human and Minority Rights and Values "OKO".
"It is very important to work on raising the awareness of women about what rights they have and what protection mechanisms are available to them, as well as to work on the independence and economic empowerment of women, support for women's entrepreneurship and on enabling the sale of their quality, useful and beautiful products", Stojanović pointed out.
At the meeting, Stojanović presented the competencies of the Protector of Citizens and called on all present, with special reference to older women, to contact the Protector of Citizens if they believe that their rights have been violated by the competent authorities and if they are exposed to abuse and violence.
The exhibition presents more than 100 works that were submitted to the competition for the selection of the most beautiful handicrafts of rural women, which was announced in August 2021 by the organization "OKO".