The monthly meeting was held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at the Sheraton Hotel International Women's Club, where a guest lecture was given by BaBa member Tihana Bertek, executive manager of the project Women in the labor market – assessing the impact of gender. The International Women's Club is a non-governmental organization that brings together women of various nationalities living in Croatia, and was founded in 1993 with the aim of raising funds to assist Croatian institutions and groups that work for the benefit of women and children.
Club President Heather McCrimmon and Vice President Barbara Lukač presented upcoming events and activities for members in March and April at the meeting, and BaBe were invited to give a lecture on gender equality on the occasion of March 8th. Tihana Bertek briefly presented the project Women in the labor market, the mission of the BaBe association and its most important activities - from free legal and psychological counseling and running a safe house, through the production of media content, to the implementation of projects related to gender equality.
She also referred to the fact that many young women in Croatia are showing interest in working in the field of women's human rights, which indicates that despite numerous successes and progress, the fight for equality is still ongoing. Bertek pointed out that, for example, just a hundred years ago, women could not keep their own surnames or have a bank account or library membership card. Given that March 8th was two days earlier, Bertek reminded those present that International Women's Day (originally International Workers' Day) was first celebrated in 1909 in New York, in honor of the strike of women workers in the textile industry that had occurred the year before.
There was also discussion about the areas where inequality is most evident, namely the labor market, domestic violence, and underrepresentation in politics. Most attention was paid to the first area, given that it is the topic of the project. Women in the labor market. Bertek warned that in certain sectors the traditional division into "female" and "male" occupations is still pronounced and that even in those sectors that are dominantly "female" (e.g. education or social care) men are in the highest positions. Then, in a series of examples, the representation of women in the media is presented as a reflection but also a form of perpetuation of social attitudes about gender roles and the perception of women as objects.
Finally, Bertek presented two publications of the association – the module Gender equality from 2013 with precisely developed teaching units for classes from 5th grade of elementary school to 4th grade of secondary school, which was created as part of the project Coming out of the darkness - prevention and support for victims of violence, and the calendar for 2015, Be whatever you want to be., conceived as an interactive and educational tool for raising awareness and encouraging creativity.
