Serb election campaign not female-friendly as women still ‘follow orders from men’

As Serbia gears up for the upcoming elections, the visibility of female candidates is not as strong as in the previous 2020 campaign, as representation in the Serbian Assembly has only slightly increased over the past decade, according to the Academy in Women’s Leadership.

From 2014 to 2023, Serbia’s National Assembly has seen limited progress regarding gender parity, with the share of women working in the legislative house currently hovering at around 35%. Speaking to Euractiv, the Academy of Women’s leadership noted that despite the progress, including within major parties – and even the government – women are often merely viewed as numbers.

“They are subservient to the rule of authoritarian leaders of political parties. So, in both the parliament and the government, they essentially work according to the orders of male state and party leaders. Only in some opposition parties do we have authentic female politicians who have both political influence and the professional strength they bring into politics,” activists from the Academy explained.

In the first month of the electoral campaign, analyses even show that women are more underrepresented than at the start of the previous election campaign in 2020. Female politicians participating in the campaign are almost invisible in the media.

“The fact that the peak of the pre-election campaign coincides with the Global Campaign ’16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence’ also affects media reporting. Therefore, it is necessary to somewhat amend one of the conclusions of the analysis of previous elections, which stated that violence against women in the pre-election campaign is not recognised by the media as an important issue,” they added.

“The media report on violence against women; however, they rarely place the problem in the context of the pre-election campaign. Some campaign participants problematise femicide and propose systemic changes that could contribute to reducing gender-based violence,” they also said.

“Female politicians are rarely present on the front pages of daily newspapers, but even when they appear, the presentation is problematic.”

According to data available to the Academy, Serbia ranks second in the region after Albania regarding women’s representation in parliament, government and local authorities.

“The value ranges from 0-100, with 100 being full political participation. According to the Gender Equality Index for 2023, presented in October, the EU-27 has a value of 61.4 points, meaning that we are not far from the EU average regarding numerical representation of women in government.”

(Euractiv.rs | Milena Antonijević)