Svenka Savić and Marija Aleksandrović Stanka Dimitrov Jelena Jovanović ROMANI WOMEN Oral Histories of Romani Women in Vojvodina Translation coordinator and editor Aleksandra Izgarjan Translators Aleksandra Izgarjan Diana Stankić-Prodanović Anka Vidačić Edita Jankov Tatjana Perić Novi Sad 2002 Serie: Oral Histories, 5 Publisher FUTURA PUBLIKACIJE Novi Sad, S. Musića 24 Cover design: Relja Dražić Photo detail on cover: Judith M. Horváth Publication was helped by FUND FOR AN OPEN SOCIETY and research and work on the book during 2002 was helped by OXFAM Oral Histories Of Romany Women In Vojvodina Oral history has for its subject the most brilliant topic – human being Vojvodina is a region (21.506 km²) on the north of Yugoslavia where vari- ous ethnic groups have lived for three centuries. Today it has 1.143.723 in- habitants who are members of different nationalities, apart from Serbs who constitute the largest national group, there are also Albanians, Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Romani people, Croats, Germans and ethnic minorities as Jews and Vlachs. Coexistence of various groups in this region dates from XVII century when this part of Yugoslav territory belonged to the former Austro – Hungarian em- pire. The area close to the border with Turkish Empire, south of the rivers Sava and Danube, was populated by various national groups, mostly Serbs, Slovaks and Ruthenians whom the dominant Hungarian and German population treat- ed as minorities. Romani people migrated from India and inhabited this re- gion in middle ages. Unlike other minorities who were granted some reliefs by Austro – Hungarian empire, they had very few rights and there was a set of rules which excluded them from the community (for example they had limited freedom of movement and their settlements had to be built outside towns.) There were other kinds of migrations due to various reasons (economy, job possibilities) which affected arrival of Romani people to Vojvodina between World War I and II and after. Today in Vojvodina live Romani people who inhabited this region coming from the east, then those who came after the disintegration of the former Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (1990), most of them came to Vojvodina after wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo during the previous de- cade (1990-2000). Unlike other national minorities in Yugoslavia who after the World War II had their minority rights in the fields of education, information, and legal proceedings, Romani people did not have these rights because they were considered an ethnic minority. In 2002, Yugoslavia passed the new law on minorities which treats Romani people as national minorities. Yugoslavia is the eighth country that granted this status to Romani people. Romani people in Vojvodina can be divided into groups according to the directions they followed when they migrated from India to the Balkans. They are all however united by Romani language which has distinct dialectal dif- ferences. Thus it can be concluded that from dialectal and religious point of view this community is not homogeneous in Vojvodina today. Vlach Romani people belong to one dialectal group, they adopted a large number of dialectal characteristics from Romanians whose territory they crossed when coming to the Balkans and more specifically to Vojvodina. Names for their dialects vary, we can just say that those Romani people who inhabited this region in ear- lier period speak the Gurbet dialect and those who came from Kosovo speak the Arlian dialect. The degree of mutual understanding varies. These groups also have different religious affiliations: those who have been in Vojvodina for a longer period of time profess Christian religion and those from Kosovo Islam. (One should not confuse Romani people with Askali who have their specific cultural and dialectical characteristics). What is common to all Romani dialec- tal groups is that there still does not exist a written standard. At this moment there are several suggestions how this orthographic and lexical standard should look like. (For more data about Romani people see the book Romi in Serbia (1998) published by Centar za antiratnu akciju and Institut za kriminološka i sociološka istraživanja, Beograd). During the previous decade (1990-2000) a large number of publications on the status of Romani population in Yugoslavia has been published. It is ob- vious that the majority (Serbian) population has a discriminatory attitude to- wards Romani population which can be concluded by a number of stereotypes (Bora Kuzmanović, 1991, p. 121). For example Romani people are described as having a good sense of humor, as being cheerful, temperamental, sloppy, noisy, dirty, resourceful, lazy, ready to steal, eloquent, irritable, etc. At the same time answers of the interviewed young people in Serbia show that Romani people are not perceived as: aggressive, chauvinist, thrifty, well organized, rough, stin- gy, inhospitable and uncommunicative. These researches do not show data ac- cording to sex, that is, they do not show in what measure majority population accepts or does not accept Romani women on the one hand, and on the other in what measure Romani people accept others, especially women from major- ity population (Serbian women). A young group of Romani women enrolled in Women Studies and Research “Mileva Marić Einstein” during the school year 1990/2000. At the same time they enrolled at various faculties at the University of Novi Sad (scholarships were provided by the Fund for an Open Society) They participated in two year long research, training and educational program (coordinated by Svenka Savić). The following year (January 26 – 27, 2001), Women nongovernmental groups organized in Belgrade international round table “Romani Women and Gender” (financed by the Fund for an Open Society) and they agreed upon a number of recommendations, the most important will be mentioned here. The state is expected to pass the laws which would make racial, national and gender discrimination a visible social problem, which would stipulate measures for elimination of this and which would make the participants in such discrimi- nation accountable. The state is also expected to abolish all existing laws and practices which constitute discrimination against women as is stipulated in the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW which Yugoslavia ratified in 1982. The state is asked to pass gender sensitive regulations which would protect rights of women and to adopt a law against discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion and sexual orientation. Romani organizations and women organizations are asked to integrate gender and Romani issues in their activities and consultations. A number of concrete measures regarding health, education, violence and right to work and social security have been offered. In the beginning of 2001 students (non-Romani) of Women Studies and Research “Mileva Marić Einstein” conducted a small poll (mostly among young people). They interviewed representatives of the dominant nation (Serbian women in Novi Sad). On the basis of random sample a total of 100 women answered the question: “What is your first association when I say Romani woman?” The answers were then classified in several semantic groups: personal characteristics, appearance, clothes (most often colors), national affiliation, -oc cupation (material status), religion, closeness or distance. The data confirm those from earlier researches, young women from dom- inant national group in multinational and multicultural town like Novi Sad (population around 500.000) have a biased perception of Romani women and have ethnic distance towards them although they meet them in town every day. First association in relation to Romani woman is difference between cleanliness and race, that is dirt and whiteness of skin. These are patriarchal criteria which divide the community into two groups: those who are good and desirable and those who should be isolated and rejected. Positive association in relation to Romani woman is her beauty. Having in mind all these data we decided to conduct a research (financed by OXFAM) in order to ascertain who Romani women are. The project was based on interviews which young Romani women (students of Women Studies and Research “Mileva Marić Einstein”) had with elderly Romani women from their immediate surroundings. The questions were created with the goal to in- cite Romani women to tell their own life stories: 1. Family to which the woman belongs: childhood, rearing, ties with mother, grandmother or daughter/granddaughter; 2. Education, profession/professions, equality in the working place and in different periods of life; 3. Partner, husband/husbands, love life, marriage, sexuality, contraception, divorce; 4. Children: labor, motherhood, maternity leave, kindergarten, school, differences in bringing up male and female children, example of father or mother in the family; 5. Financial state of affairs in the family during the years, real estates (house/apartment), issues of equality, household, everyday problems, workdays and state holidays; 6. Free time: does a woman have free time for herself, her friends, cultural events, how she spent holidays, weekends; 7. Public and political life: her participation in it, mostly in relation to war, World War II and wars in the region of ex-Yugoslavia. In Vojvodina period immediately after the World War II: confiscation of property, agrarian reform, conflict with USSR in 1949, new politics of self- management, Josip Broz Tito’s death, wars in ex-Yugoslavia, sanctions against Yugoslavia, crises in Kosovo, intervention of NATO pact in Yugoslavia and air strikes. 8. Religion, role of the church; 9. Important changes in the life of the woman after 1990 and economic crisis in 1993. 10. Key moment in the woman’s life, the happiest and saddest moments, possible crises, the woman’s ambitions and dreams when she was a girl and which came true, the way she sees herself now, her recommendations to daughters and granddaughters; Apart from these questions the interviewers also asked other questions depending on the story of the woman.