Changing world of work, changing role of women - marking of International Women's Day in fYR Macedonia
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The 8th edition of Women’s Rights Nights brought together art exhibitions, documentary film projections, forum theatre and thematic discussions, creative workshops – strip, yoga, photography, screenwriting and performances, related to the role of women in times of crisis and women’s economic rights. The Mayor of Skopje, Mr. Koce Trajanovski, opened the event in the presence of broad public composed of representatives from institutions, gender equality activists, young women and men. He stated: “I would like to use this opportunity to stress the important role UN Women played in the creation of Women’s Rights Nights”. He also added: “Our future activities will be directed towards creating a city as a living and working environment where both, men and women, will have equal opportunities in realizing their personal, professional, private, spiritual and cultural potential. We view the equal participation of men and women in the family, public life and decision making processes as a base for development of a modern city.”
During the pre-programme of the event, around 60 young people and children took active part in the workshops. The official programme of the event was visited by around 500 participants. The evening screenings included selection of recent documentaries trigerring the economic position of women, gender stereotypes and tradition and women’s role in crisis, such as the Russian movie “Siberian Love”, Spanish movie “Ada for Mayor”, Croatian movie “Heart of a Women or 24/I” and USA/Indonesian movie “The Peace Agency”. The directors Olga Delane (“Siberian Love”) and Andrejka V. Skracic (“Heart of a Women or 24/I”) attended the screenings and took part in the discussions.
To accent the real values of the IWD and in line with UN Women global IWD theme – “Women in the changing world of work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”, UN Women Skopje Office supported the performance "The Invisible Women" by the feminist initiative "Fight Like a Woman". The goal of the performance was to draw attention to the "invisibility" of unpaid care work and housework, the gender pay gap andthe minimal wage. The activists of the feminist initiative "Fight Like a Woman" addressed these issues by performing household chores and seamstresses labour in one of the busiest and oldest shopping malls in Skopje, the City Shopping Mall (GTC) and interacting with passers-by.
Women’s Rights Nights (http://www.womensrightsnights.net/) is a cultural event under the patronage of the City of Skopje, supported by UN Women, in partnership with the Centre for Research and Policy Making and Cc Cyril and Methodius University, Institute for Gender Studies and University for Audio-visual Arts ESRA in the occasion of the International Women’s Day.