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On the Situation of Romani Women in the Republic of Macedonia

First page of PDF with filename: nwp_20060303.pdf
  • Date
  • October-November 2005

In advance of a January 2006 review of Macedonia's compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Roma Centre of Skopje (RCS), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), and OSI's Roma Women's Initiative (RWI), with technical and financial assistance from UNIFEM's Bratislava office, submitted jointly a parallel report to CEDAW highlighting major human rights issues facing Romani women in Macedonia.

The report provides results of comprehensive research undertaken during 2005, involving eleven Romani women researchers trained and supervised by the partners, who documented human rights issues facing Romani women in Macedonia. The research results indicate high levels of rights deprivation and intersectional discrimination against Romani women in Macedonia. Key points include:

  • Education: The illiteracy and school abandonment rate in Macedonia is extremely high among Romani women and girls. Of 237 Romani women interviewed in the course of research, 144 had no or incomplete elementary education; 63 had only elementary education; only 19 had finished vocational or high school; and 11 had varying levels of education beyond elementary school. Main reasons cited for the low level of education included systemic discrimination, poverty, language, and the lack of positive role models. State institutions have not proposed or implemented any specific programs to improve the educational level of Romani women and girls, particularly at the pre-, primary, and high school levels.
  • Employment: Of 202 Romani women age 18-54 surveyed, 98 were unemployed, 16 worked in state firms (the majority as cleaners), 69 worked on the black market, and the remainder were self-employed or worked in private firms. Only 3 of 7 women age 55-65 did not have any form of pension.
  • Health and health care: Racial discrimination and other failures of the medical system to provide basic health care with dignity were documented extensively during research. Despite the existence of a comprehensive state-provided health system in Macedonia, numerous Romani women had no form of health insurance and lived on a constant basis in various states of exclusion from health care. The substandard living conditions prevailing in a number of substandard Romani slums in Macedonia have very significant detrimental impacts on the health of Romani women.
  • Violence: Very high levels of violence against women were reported. Approximately 70 percent of women interviewed reported being victims of domestic violence. Of 34 cases reported to police, 20 women stated that police subjected them to various forms of degrading treatment and humiliating, racist comments. In only 5 of 34 reported cases did the police intervene.

The report also notes the general absence of reliable data disaggregated by gender and ethnicity in Macedonia, as well as a lack of effective policies to address the exclusion of Romani women from Macedonian society. The full text of the report is available for download.

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