Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Girl of Sarajevo, cca. 1890 – 1900
Gender Inequality Index[1]
Value 0.201 (2013)
Rank 36th out of 152
Maternal mortality (per 100,000) 8 (2010)
Women in parliament 19.3% (2013)
Females over 25 with secondary education 44.8% (2012)
Women in labour force 42% (2014)[2]
Bosnian woman and girl, early 20th century

Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina are European women who live in and are from Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), women of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been affected by three types of transition after the Bosnian War (1992-1995), namely: the "transition from war to peace", economic transition, and political transition. [3]

Background

Bosnia and Herzegovina declared sovereignty in 1991 and independence from the former SFR Yugoslavia in 1992.[4] The Bosnian War (1992-1995) was responsible for extreme acts of violence (ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War) and an economic collapse. Today Bosnia and Herzegovina is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society - the population consists of: Bosniaks 48.4%, Serbs 32.7%, Croats 14.6%, and others 4.3%; while the religious makeup is: Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%, and other 14% (as of 2013).[5] Most of the population is rural: only 39.8% of total population is urban.[6] The literacy rate for age 15 and over is higher for males (99.5%) than females (97.5%) - 2015 est.[7]

Gender equality

Guided by the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country's Gender Equality Law of 2003 was passed to promote and advance the equality between men and women. Laws related to elections, as well as other laws, were amended to be in line with the constitution. As a result, the law on election provides that "30% of all candidates must be women".[8]

Gender roles

Bosnia has a cultural and religious patriarchal tradition according to which women are expected to be submissive to men. Women are expected to perform most housework, including cooking, cleaning, and child rearing. The economic devastation of the civil war has had a very negative effect on women's participation in the economy; although women are better integrated in agriculture work than in other fields.[9]

In post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, women are a driving force for change. After the war, the resulting effects included the lowering of their public and social standing; and some women opted to travel outside the country to search for jobs.[10] Women from rural areas are often more marginalised, because of lower level of education and their inclination to tradition, which dictates that they must be subservient to men.[10]

Sexual violence during the Bosnian War

Women suffered mass sexual violence and sexual servitude during the Bosnian War, and the Bosnian genocide, when violence assumed a gender-targeted form through the use of rape.[11][12][13] Estimates of the total number of women raped during the war range from 12,000 to 50,000.[14][15]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) declared that "systematic rape", and "sexual enslavement" in time of war was a crime against humanity, second only to the war crime of genocide.[16][17][18][19]

Reproductive rights

Bosnian dancing girl,1869

The maternal mortality rate is 11 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.).[20] The total fertility rate is 1.27 children born/woman (2015 est.), which is below the replacement rate.[21] The contraceptive prevalence rate is 45.8% (2011/12).[22]

Violence against women

In recent years, Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken steps to address the issue of violence against women. This included enacting The Law on Protection from Domestic Violence in 2005,[23] and ratifying the Istanbul Convention.[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Table 4: Gender Inequality Index". United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  2. ↑ http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.ACTI.FE.ZS/countries
  3. ↑ In post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, women are a driving force for change, IFAD
  4. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
  5. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
  6. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
  7. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
  8. ↑ Howard, Emma. The Women of Bosnia & Herzegovina, the guardian, guardian.co.uk, 30 May 2012.
  9. ↑ http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina.html
  10. 1 2 Bosnia and Herzegovina gender profile, IFAD, 5 March 2007.
  11. ↑ Totten & Bartrop 2007, pp. 356-57.
  12. ↑ Henry 2010, p. 65.
  13. ↑ Hyndman 2009, p. 204.
  14. ↑ Wood 2013, p. 140.
  15. ↑ Crowe 2013, p. 343.
  16. ↑ Becirevic 2014, p. 117.
  17. ↑ Cohen 1996, p. 47.
  18. ↑ Boose 2002, p. 73.
  19. ↑ Johan Vetlesen 2005, p. 197.
  20. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
  21. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
  22. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html
  23. ↑ http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/population/domesticviolence/bosnia.domesticviol.05.pdf
  24. ↑ http://www.coe.int/ro/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/210/signatures

External links

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