Within the UNIGEM project, a workshop on “Discrimination based on gender” was held at the “Džemal Bijedić” University in Mostar, which took place in the premises of the Faculty of Economics. 20 students took part in the workshop. The workshop was held by students: Amina Kotlo, Kenan Pirija, Adnan Potur and Amer Halilović.
At the very beginning, through the presentation, the goal was to present a given topic and through interaction with students to see the level of interest in a given topic. After the survey, students pointed out that they did not encounter forms of discrimination, but noted comments about women as bad drivers, that only women go shopping and that only women do housework. The answer that was found among the students was discrimination of parents towards children of different sexes.
Through the survey, students wanted to find out whether there is prejudice between subjects in education systems. Some of them thought that they did not exist at all, some thought that this type of prejudice was more prevalent in high schools than in colleges, while some claimed that it existed. They also believe that they mostly exist for men in leading positions.
Also, students point out that discrimination based on gender is not visible enough because people mostly hide it and in the case of reporting it is mostly considered that there is insufficient information or insufficient evidence to punish certain actions. They believe that this type of discrimination exists more than has been shown in public and that such cases are often pushed under the rug.
As an example, they state that women in BiH sometimes have lower salaries and progress more slowly in the business world. They also believe that women often suffer from low visibility of discrimination during their lifetime, and they believe that visibility should be worked on and problems solved.
Through the focus group, students examined more detailed respondents. Some of the students remembered their childhood and pointed out that they met with opinions that some games are only for boys, that a sister is always the one who has to go to the store, etc. In high school, they say they have witnessed a situation where the teacher gives more importance to boys than girls. They believe that this type of discrimination is not too common in education, but that the possibility that such a thing can sometimes happen is not ruled out.
When it comes to finding a job, women are often asked in interviews some of the private questions such as: how many children do you plan to have, do you plan to have children soon and are they married or not. This type of question is often used to select women who do not have similar private plans.
With this type of workshop, the student organizers exceeded their own expectations. After presenting some of the data as well as encouraging the participants to think critically, the students were happy to participate interactively.
