Members of the Women’s Initiative of the Municipality of Gracanica conducted a survey in nine environments in the territory of Gracanica Municipality in which they surveyed women of different ages from different levels of education.
Based on samples taken on 70 examinees, the most of surveyed women 54% had completed secondary school and nearly 60% of the examinees are married. An interesting fact is that the most of examinees are unemployed (42%) and none of the surveyed women have any firm in their property.
Data show that in the municipality of Gracanica the majority of women (over 70%) have no real property in their ownership and most of them have the opinion that the role of women in rural areas haven’t been sufficiently appreciated.
According to the women, the participants of the survey, the biggest problems in the infrastructure of the municipality of Gracanica are water restrictions, and its contamination and malfunction, then, the lack of public transportation, problems with electricity, street infrastructure and, ultimately, lack of informations of women about the laws that protect women’s rights.
Women believe that their economic situation can largely be improved through employment in public institutions but also by starting a private business and much lesser through the development of agriculture.
The study found that the training of women for the right to work is necessary as well as that transparency in the provision of health services in the municipality of Gracanica should be increased. As the biggest problems in health care, women accentuate long queues, lack of medical equipment and inadequate conditions of hospital accommodation for women in labor.
The survey conducted by the Women’s Initiative of Gracanica Municipality included the examination of women in working conditions and the analysis concluded that the expert opinion of men is more respected on the workplace than women’s.
Through the analysis, women recommended that Gracanica Municipality should employ females to a greater extent firstly and then to continually educate the public about gender equality.
Examinees also agree that women are not sufficiently represented in the institutions in which decisions are made.
It has been concluded that the priorities of women in the territory of the municipality of Gracanica are employment, political and economic stability, then, existence, education, training and employment of children.
“Women’s Initiative” of Gracanica Municipality, in cooperation with OSCE, presented today to the public the results of the two-month study about the needs of women in the municipality. Data from this study should be clear guideline in the development of future Municipal Gender Equality Action Plan.
