Gender Barometer in Serbia: Development and Everyday Life

First conducted in Serbia in 2006,  the Gender Barometer Survey was the first survey to offer a complex analysis of everyday life in Serbia from a gender perspective. The survey presents a complex analysis of everyday life from a gender perspective, analyses trends over time and provides a perspective on the ways gender in Serbia is being transformed. 

The Gender Barometer in Serbia tried to pave the way for a new understanding of gender in everyday life. It offered a consensus vision that sought to harmonise relations between men and women, or any inclusion based on gender or any other defining characteristic. 

The starting point for this vision is the notion that men and women are equally engendered, that their de-gendering – or stripping of gender and gender determination– is a condition for their personal integrity and necessary to establish a harmonious relationship with other men and other women – with people in general – and with nature. 

The study argued that gender had to be recognized and acknowledged, while also deconstructed and overcome. Demonstrating that gender matters is still very important in Serbia, it argued, but gender, just like other social identities, was itself a limitation that inhibited the expression of individual differences and capabilities. 

In addition to providing a timely, comprehensive picture of gender dynamics within households, this study introduces some important topics and questions begging for further discussion among anyone actively interested in formulating a development program for Serbian society.