- Human rights
BiH society does not recognize women's rights as human rights. Women's NGOs promote women's human rights as a priority and significant element of BiH society in order to point out the state of social women's needs in relation to health protection, social care, employment, health, accommodation, education and non-discrimination.
In BiH the scope of women's human rights depends more on political and economic situation in the country than on legislation based on international human rights documents.
The difficult social context disables realization of rights guaranteed by local legislation and international conventions and declarations. There are many examples of violation of women's human rights.
Most of women are not informed about possibilities that certain laws and institutions can provide.
Žene Ženama has played a very important role in civil society development in BiH in area of understanding of the concept of «democracy» and «human rights».
By working on improvement of lives of women and other marginalized groups and individuals, we recognized disharmony between speeches of politicians about gender equality and their rejection to accept women out of their traditional roles. It stimulated us to reexamine women's approach to human rights and to let human rights be a priority in context of democratic reconstruction.
The model of our approach to women's human rights helped women to get rid of old symbiotic forms regarding male/ female relations determined by culture, religion, state and economic structure, but it also made us different from other groups.
By providing unique creative space for women's empowerment and advocacy in area of education, social rights, security, peace and gender equality, «Žene Ženama» members built an approach that preserves coherency of women's human rights and women's solidarity in BiH.
At the beginning, women establishers of «Žene Ženama» had different motives. Some of them wanted a safe space for articulation of war and post- war experiences; others wished for a creative space in which they will reexamine their knowledge through feminist theory and practice and plan actions in order to make changes in BiH society in area of human rights and male/ female relations.
Methodology and working principles
• Team work
• Feminist approaches in definition of goals and values of the organization
• Good information exchange
• Respect of diversities
• Good communication
• Motivation and voluntarism
• Partnership and solidarity
• Transparency of work and actions
The mission of the organization is a guideline for everyone whose social needs can be satisfied through the organization’s work. It determines the organization’s position in the society.
The mission is everlasting and came as a result of common work on definition of goals, values and future of the organization.
Žene Ženama has developed a program which integrates gender perspective in interpretation of human rights, democracy, feminism and non- violent communication using unique and creative model focused on education and activities of women and women’s groups in BiH context.
Program called «domestic concept of women's empowerment» is realized through:
• Education
• Support and
• Promotion
Program activities are education, research, publishing and public work.
Žene Ženama is aware of the current situation and that is why we rationally plan the activities by harmonizing our real goals with personal and organizational capacities as well as with assumptions of the surrounding which gives us possibility to find alternative ways of action which will lead us to the society which respects and realizes women's human rights.