Roma Women

According to the Roma Programme Director at Open Society, Maria Metodieva, towards the end of 2007 there were over 6000 NGOs registered as working towards Roma integration (Fileva, 2007). These organisations are usually established spontaneously, financed by short-term projects and very few of them manage to remain active for a long time (Fileva, 2007; Spirova, 2000: 9). A large proportion of these cease to exist after their funding from the first project finishes (Fileva, 2007).

The NGOs working on Roma issues have most actively focused on the overall improvement of the Romas’ situation in Bulgaria (Spirova, 2000: 9). The main activities have been in access to education, higher employment, improvement of housing conditions, access to healthcare, social integration (Kolev et al, 2007: 7), promotion of Roma culture, protection against discrimination and violence, and mainstreaming of Roma issues.

During the past several years the Roma NGO sector has been unified in demanding a more active role for Roma organisations in the implementation of government policy towards Roma, and access to EU funds (Centre ‘Amalipe’, 2007). A campaign in 2006 and 2007 was lead by 47 Roma NGOs who sought the inclusion of Roma issues in strategic documents and in funding programmes (Kolev et al, 2007: 10). They also demanded Roma integration to be made one of the priorities of key programmes such as the National Employment Plan for Action in 2008 (Centre ‘Amalipe’, 2007). A letter of protest was sent from 53 Roma organisations to the Commission for Roma Integration, protesting against their exclusion from the discussions of the Roma Integration Framework (Centre ‘Amalipe’, 2007; SEGA, 2007).

Within all these demands, women’s issues have remained at the margin of NGO activism, and intimate citizenship issues even more so. Attention remains to be paid to the problems of Roma women facing inequality in all main spheres compared to Roma men, and to majority women (National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues, 2008: 47).

The centre ‘Amalipe’, which is one of the biggest Roma organisations in the country, has selected Roma women’s issues as one of its priority areas. They have developed a programme, ‘The Roma Woman’, aiming at raising the awareness of institutions and society about the issue of equality for Roma girls and women. Through this programme the organisation places the following demands (Krumova, 2008):

• For a government policy for the improvement Roma women’s situation, with the participation of all institutions and organisations working in the area: gender relations in the Roma community to be included in the University curriculum in the multiculturalism modules; gender aspects to be included in the Roma education programmes as part of the ‘Development of Human Resources’ programme;

• Increasing the level of education of Roma women: working with Roma parents ‘targeted at overcoming culturally-determined obstacles’; recognition of skills acquired outside schools and implementation of follow-up education opportunities which are ‘taking into consideration the engagements of the woman-mother’ (Krumova, 2008); increasing the number of Roma women with secondary and higher education.

• Higher participation of Roma women at the labour market: measures against high unemployment; ‘overcoming the stereotypical image of Roma women in relation to work occupation’;

• Active participation of Roma women in social life: more Roma women in public administration in all levels; programmes and training for leadership skills in Roma women; building of positive role models.

• Roma gender mainstreaming

Reproductive Rights and Parenting

There are various Roma and non-Roma organisations working on sexual and reproductive health and family planning in the Roma community. This seems to be one of the main areas of intimate citizenship addressed by NGOs. The government has also adopted a ‘Health Strategy for People in Unequal Position from the Ethnic Minorities (2005). The programme includes activities related

to Roma women and children’s health, reproductive heath and education, family planning, domestic violence against women from the Roma minoritised group (Open Society, 2008b: 63). The Association of Roma Women and Children, ‘Hope’ (СдружениенаРомскитежениидеца

‘Надежда’), often carries out projects focused on health, reproduction and family planning. They have organised educational seminars on the consequences of early marriages, family planning, children’s health, violence against women and children (Open Society, 2002). The NGO assists pregnant Roma women in finding jobs in order that they can be entitled to paid maternity leave, and helps homeless Roma children to find a place in childcare institutions. Association ‘Hope’ also opened a few health centres for Roma women as part of one of its projects (Open Society, 2002). The Women’s Roma Association ‘Good Mother’ is another that has dedicated part of its work on Roma women’s and children’s health, and also on improving the quality of life and social status of Roma women, education, and unemployment (EthnosBG, 2004). The Association of Roma Women and Children (Дружество наромските жении деца) and the Foundation for Regional Development, ‘Roma-Plovidv’ (Фондация за регионално развитие “Рома –

Пловдив’), have worked together to offer sex education in the Roma Community in Plovdiv, and have opened a health centre for women (Fund for Prevention of Crime, 2008).

The Centre ‘Amalipe’ has raised demands related to better access for Roma women to healthcare; a government programme for prevention of ‘early pregnancies’, as well as ‘abandonment of children’; for the organisation of information campaigns targeted at Roma women; and for more women to be appointed as health mediators for the Roma community. All these are part of their ‘The Roma Woman’ platform. As part of another platform of ‘Amalipe’, the ‘Prevention of Children’s and Mothers’ Health and Sexually Transmitted Diseases’ (STD), the NGO works on other intimate citizenship issues. The demands are for more government measures for reducing child mortality, improvement of health condition of young mothers, actions for prevention and early diagnosis of STDs, and measures to improve family planning in Roma communities. These health issues have been at the centre of attention of a unified action by about fifteen Roma NGOs in October 2008. They made a demand for the ‘creation of a mechanism for collaboration between institutions and the NGO sector for health status improvement of the Roma community’ (Centre ‘Amalipe’, 2008).

Another Roma organisation that addressed women’s sexual and reproductive health was ‘Support for the Roma 2000’ (Подкрепа за Ромите 2000) in the project ‘Roma Swallows’ (2006). The project aimed at increasing Roma women’s motivation, self-confidence, and raising ‘awareness about women’s rights as an inseparable part of human rights’ (Bulgarian Fund for Women, 2006). One of the modules of the project was focused on health education, and included seminars on sexually transmitted diseases, the use of contraceptives, and the role of women and girls in Roma communities. Another module focused on women’s rights, where domestic violence and discrimination were discussed.

The funding for this project came from the Bulgarian Fund for Women, which implemented a programme ‘Roma women’s NGOs – active members of Civil Society in Bulgaria’ (2005-2006). The aims of the programme were to enrich the capacity of Roma women’s NGOs through training and financing their activities in the community; to increase the role of Roma women and girls in overcoming the social isolation of the Roma community and ‘in the development of harmonious intra-ethnic relationships‘, and finally, encouraging collaboration between the different ethnic groups through inclusion of active Roma and non-Roma women in consolidation of Roma civil structures (Bulgarian Fund for Women, 2006). Twelve Roma women’s NGOs were included in training for writing grant applications and six of them received funding for carrying out projects.

One of the grants was given to a project on the reproductive and sexual health of Roma women and health of young children carried out by Foundation ‘Ethnic Integration’ (Фондация Етноинтеграция). The project included lectures on health and hygiene of young children; reproductive health, intimate hygiene, and family planning; pregnancy, birth, post-natal care, breastfeeding and immunisations. As a result of the project, it is suggested that ‘the participants in the project have developed readiness to look after their health, not to accept phenomena such as discrimination, domestic violence, and disrespect for Roma people and women as individuals’ (Bulgarian Fund for Women, 2006: 6). Another project focusing on health was aimed at prevention and early diagnosis of breast cancer and was carried out by the Roma Women’s Independent Organisation ‘Lachshi Romani’ (Ромскаженсканезависимаорганизация ‘Лачши Романи’).

There also was a project ‘Weekly School on Knowledge and Skills for Mothers’ carried out by Foundation ‘Ethno-Cultural Dialogue’ (ЕтнокултуренДиалог) which focused on parenting. The activities within the project included educational sessions and training related to first aid in case of accidents at home; prevention of sexually transmitted diseases; family planning, child education, etc.

Open Society Sofia is another non-government organisation offering grants to and working with Roma organisations. Open Society initiated a Programme, ‘Roma’, in 1996 aimed at inclusion of Roma NGOs and experts in policy-making and at integration of Roma people into social and political life. One branch of this programme is dedicated to the health status of the Bulgarian Roma (Open Society, 2008). There have been various projects and activities funded through this programme. ‘Medicins Sans Frontiers’ is another international organisation that has also worked in Roma communities on a project on health, part of which was focused on reproductive and sexual health (Open Society, 2002).

There are Bulgarian non-Roma organisations working on Roma reproductive health. The Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association (Българска асоциация по семейно планиране и сексуално здраве) has carried out two projects related to Roma reproductive health: a project on reproductive Health, Health and Sex Education for the Roma Population in Bulgaria’ was implemented between 1998 and 2000, which included the opening of three family planning centres in Roma communities, working with several schools attended predominantly by Roma pupils on educational seminars on reproductive and sexual health, and the filming of a short documentary (Open Society, 2002). A second project started in 2003 to support the existing health centres in several Roma communities (Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association, 2007). There are also organisations that have Roma health and reproductive practices as main areas of activity, for example Foundation ‘Health Problems of the Minorities’ (Фондация ‘Здравнипроблеминамалцинствата’). Some of their projects were on ‘Health and Sexual Education of Roma People in Sliven’ (1999-2000), and ‘Sex and Health Education of Young Parents and Children’ (2000) (Open Society, 2002).

Another organisation working on reproductive rights and parenting in relation to the ethnic minority groups has focused on adoption. The Association ‘Sauchastie’ (Varna) working towards the integration and personal development of vulnerable young people, has developed a project for

the adoption of Roma children (2008). The aim of their project is to help young Roma families to adopt Roma children raised in care institutions. The association organises training sessions for parents wanting to adopt Roma children and facilitates the faster adoption of institutionalised children (C.E.G.A., 2008: 7). Abandoned children are one of the target groups of the Association ‘Obnovlenie’ which was established in 1998 and works for the protection of the human rights of the Roma minority group, its social integration, education and access to social services (Ethnos BG, 2004b). In a project ‘Prevention of Abandonment of Children form High-Risk Communities’ (2002-2003) the organisation assisted poor Roma families in sending their children to nurseries and schools.

Gender and Sexual Violence

The Women’s Association ‘Liliak’ (Женско сдружение Лиляк) won another of the grants provided by the Bulgarian Fund for Women with a project on rising awareness and creating intolerance towards domestic violence in a local Roma community. According to the findings every second Roma woman was a victim of domestic violence and there was very little knowledge about the rights of victims. Roma women also had very little contribution to family decision-making. As a result of the project, two Roma women sought consultation regarding their rights and one of them initiated court procedures with the help of the Association ‘Naia’. A team of representatives from the local community was created to help further prevent domestic violence.

Violence against Roma children has been addressed by the organisation Indi-Roma 97 which developed a project ‘Volunteers Programme in Aid of Children Victims of Violence’ (2002- 2003) with the support of the American youth mentoring organization Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The project was aimed at offering help to children in care institutions.

Roma women have been integrated into the anti-violence programmes of The Gender Project for Bulgaria Foundation. During the one-year project ‘Campaign for Prevention of Violence against Women’ (2000), a documentary, Unspoken Silence, about domestic violence in the Roma, Turkish and Muslim communities, was made and shown on national television. During the next year, within the Domestic Violence in Bulgaria project, the NGO organised seminars with Roma women in the towns of Vratsa and Oryahovo focusing on domestic violence. The participants

saw the film, were presented with the results from sociological research on domestic violence, and discussed the specific issues of concern for ethnic groups. The draft law on Protection against Domestic Violence was also presented (The Gender Project for Bulgaria Foundation, 2004). Another organisation working on issues related to Roma women is The Gender Project for Bulgaria Foundation. This is a majority women’s organisation working on gender equality which also integrates ethnic minority issues within several of its programmes, for example on domestic violence (2001), and women’s poverty and unemployment (2003). The foundation implemented two programmes ‘Roma Women Can Do It’ (2003 and 2005), part of the regional project of the Stability Pact Gender Task Force, and ‘Roma Women in Bulgaria – Active and Successful’ (2006-2008) focused on the empowerment of Roma women and their better representation in decision-making at the national and local level. The focus on Roma women’s issues was prompted by the fact that Roma women were:

subject to multiple discrimination inside their own community and outside of in, in the larger society. They live in an environment that limits their chance for development and empowerment and is generally unsupportive, so it is crucially important to initiate a process for overcoming limitations (The Gender Project for Bulgaria Foundation, 2008: 6).

The Director of the organisation also suggested that the creation of Roma-only NGOs could be a factor contributing to the further marginalisation and isolation of this ethnic group, whilst working on Roma issues in joint multi-ethnic organisations and activities appears much more promising and a better way to achieve integration (Hajimitova, 2008: 3). Several Roma NGOs were partners in the project: Association ‘Slantse’ (Kiustendil), Foundation Ethnic Integration (Dupnitsa), Association Development and Support for Roma Women and Children (Lom), Association of Roma Women and Children (Plovdiv), and the Association for Social, Cultural and Educational Development of Minority Groups in Bulgaria (Shumen).

At the end of the project ‘Roma Women Can’, a declaration was sent demanding various government and non-government bodies take active part in the following activities:

• Increasing sensitivity towards gender equality in the Roma community;

• Better access to education of Roma women;

• Increasing the number of Roma women- experts in local and national authorities;

• Greater participation of Roma women in policy and decision making

The Centre of Women’s Studies and Policies is another majority women’s NGO that has worked on Roma women’s issues. The project ‘National Empowerment Initiative for Minority Women at Risk’ (2004) was aimed at providing Roma women at risk from several regions in Bulgaria with practical skills and knowledge for more effective self-representation and better access to the decision-making process at both local and national levels (CWSP, 2004).

The foundation Creating Effective Grassroots Alternatives (C.E.G.A) working for the equal integration of disadvantaged communities into social life has focused on the Roma minority group as one of its priorities. Its programme activities include training, technical assistance, support in fundraising, and monitoring of the implementation of plans for integration of the Roma communities at municipal, regional and national level. C.E.G.A. initiated an awareness rising campaign ‘Put Yourself in My Place’ with ten other organisations, most of them focused on Roma issues. The message of the campaign was ‘the right to development of everyone, regardless of his/her origin and state, the right to be different and equal as Gipsy, homosexual, vegetarian, just being oneself’ (C.E.G.A., 2007a: 4). Over thirty schools and nurseries in ten Bulgarian cities took part in the campaign with discussions, essays, drawing competitions, sports events, and so on. In an attempt to raise awareness about different forms of inequalities, C.E.G.A. started publishing a page in its periodical publication with the logo of the campaign and the following text: ‘I’m Gipsy. I’m a lesbian. I’m disabled. I’m a beggar. I’m Muslim. I’m old. I’m ill. I’m Jewish. I have a problem. I have nowhere to live. Before avoiding me, insulting me, or hating me… put yourself in my place’ (C.E.G.A., 2007a).