The Women’s Movement is the Strongest Segment of Civil Society in BiH

Book Promotion: “The Women’s Movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina: In the Words of a Counterculture“

The CURE Foundation, Sarajevo Open Centre, and the Centre for Empirical Research on Religion in BiH organized a book promotion for Dr. Zlatiborka Popov Momčinović’s new book, “The Women’s Movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina: In the Words of a Counterculture“. It took place on 30.12.2013 at 12:00 in Hotel Europe.

Saša Gavrić, the Executive Director of Sarajevo Open Centre, moderated the event along with Jadranka Miličević, the Executive Director of the CURE Foundation, as well as Lejla Somun-Krupalija and Amila Ždralović.

Amila Ždralović, who wrote the foreword for the publication, emphasized how the author showed that the women’s movement is a very significant segment of civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the women inside it have fought for their own space – that has been the driving force behind its development. Then she spoke about the need to avoid the idealization of women’s organizations and women’s activism, to not give it amnesty. The author opens up and analyses the causes of the negative aspects and tendencies in the areas of women’s activism.

The author of the book, Dr. Zlatiborka Popov Momčinović, said that we can definitely conclude that women have fought for their rights and space in Bosnia’s socio-political sphere by means of civil society.

Lejla Somun Krupalija, a coordinator at the University of Sarajevo’s Centre for Human Rights, who was one of the promoters, said:

“Through the history of the women’s movement — from an international perspective to a Yugosphere perspective, and especially a Bosnian one — Dr. Zlatiborka Popov-Momčinović, a sociologist and academic, and, if I may say, a feminist, takes us with her carefully selected words and style through her research that we are presenting today in this book. The book is imbued with extensive theoretical research and in-depth empirical evidence from the field. The crown of this book is the ultimate picture of today’s women’s movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

After this, Lejla Somun-Krupalija adds: “This book is significant because it gives us a contemporary picture of the women’s movement. One section is like photographs in an album. The women’s movement is the strongest segment of civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina (p. 169) is the key sentence. The continuity and the presence of the women’s movement is evident through action on a local, regional, societal, and international level. The picture of the women’s movement that we gain in this book is powerful and positive, as the many successes that this movement has enjoyed over the past 20 years are laid out.”

During the creation of this book, Zlatiborka Popov Momčinović collaborated with around 15 NGOs from BiH who deal with the issues of women’s human rights, so after this promotion there will be other promotions in BiH cities.