SERBIA: Women Do Not Like Politics

The number of women on political scene of Serbia, especially at influential posts, has been significantly dropping each year. Some of them are leaving because the politics directed by men became ugly for women, some because they could not realize what they wanted and some are simply forced out of politics by their political parties. Unofficially politicians claim that there is no quality female staff. Former and actual women in politics claim opposite.

Recently in Serbian Parliament an amendment was filed to the proposal of the Law on election of deputies suggesting that the percentage of women in every caucus is cut from 30 to 25 percent.

Gordana Matkovic, former minister for social issues in the governments of Zoran Djindjic and Zoran Zivkovic claims that the problem is not in lack of quality female staff.

‘Definitely in this region politics is much more attractive to men than to women. The first problem is in working hours leaving to women less time to spend with their families.

Some women do not like to appear in public. A serious problem can be the language and communication in our Parliament', Matkovic says.

Svetlana Vukajlovic one of the most powerful female figure on the political scene of Serbia claims that women have difficulty in accepting the rules of the game.

‘It is necessary to be arrogant and even worse than that, however, sensibility of women is different', she says.

‘Women have so many things to do – take children to kindergarten, be successful at work, cook, visit parents and improve themselves. Unfortunately we frequently give up intellectual and spiritual improvement', Rebeka Bozovic, former deputy in Serbian Parliament says.

Ivana Dulic-Markovic says that successful women in politics are more present at local level but that they do not succeed to go further to the higher levels of power.