The Deputy Protector of Citizens for Gender Equality Jelena Stojanović pointed out to the difficult position of women from rural areas, primarily because they are not economically independent, and they frequently have difficult access to healthcare, social and other services in the community and called on them to contact the Protector of Citizens for any violation of their rights.
“Women from rural areas rarely own property, they do not always exercise the right to pension, until recently there was no legal ground to rate numerous hours that they spend in doing unpaid house work, looking after other members of the family, household and agricultural farms, “said Stojanović at the forum “Preventing violence against elderly women in the conditions of the pandemic and challenges to accessing services of social welfare and health care”
At the event in Topola, Stojanović said that women often have more difficult access to healthcare, social and other services in the community, as well as public transport and called on them to approach the Protector of Citizens in any situation when they believe that their rights were violated or when the competent authorities failed to take measures within their competences in order for women, particularly the elderly, to exercise their rights.
The Deputy Protector of Citizens highlighted that it is necessary to work on raising women’s awareness, particularly the elderly ones, about different forms of domestic violence and on the protection mechanisms that are at their disposal, as well as about the fact that it is very important to empower the women in rural areas to exercise and protect their rights.
The representative of the Volunteers’ Center in Topola, Ms. Svetlana Mladenović stated that the center employed geronto-housewives from the villages: Blaznava, Šatorije, Lipovac and the others who, during the pandemic had continuously delivered food and medication at the beneficiaries’ doorsteps and sanitary material.
The representative of the Association "Snaga prijateljstva-Amity", Nadežda Satarić, pointed out that a third of the volunteers are elderly people who in that way promote active aging, preventing loneliness and enabling them to be of assistance to someone who is in a more difficult situation.
"In that way, physical and mental activity and exchange of positive emotions is achieved between volunteers and those people they help. The competent authorities should create a valid legal basis for improving the position of women in the countryside, and women should not permit that they are not owners of at least part of the property because everyone, including their children, will appreciate them more if they have something of their own", said Satarić.
The gathering was attended by many volunteers from the Volunteers’ Center "Koraci" in Topola, but also from the surrounding villages of Lipovac, Blaznava, Šatorije, Žabar, Vinča, Kićevac, Jablanovac, Natalinac and Kloka, who pointed out that during the pandemic they did not have sufficient access to health care services, especially when health care workers were supposed to go out on the field and help immobile patients.
The forum is part of the project "Promotion of non-discrimination and protection from violence against the elderly women in a pandemic”, supported by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, within the program "Implementation of anti-discrimination policies in the Republic of Serbia for 2021", financed from the budget of the Republic of Serbia.