Women from Rural Communities Against Family Violence

20 June 2006

The women from rural Niksic areas performance against family violence

Activists of the �SOS Telefon Niksic� non-governmental organizations gave a performance on Friday, June 16, in front of the Municipal Building in Niksic, under the motto Did she stumble down the stairs? The performance was organized under the Programme for Improved Rights of Women in the Villages in Niksic Area, with financial support from the Balkan Community Initiatives Fund and the Dutch Central and Eastern Europe Foundation.

This is the first ever project that gathers and organizes the women from six villages in Niksic Municipality to get them involved in the process of finding solutions to the problems they face. The burning problem, in their view, is the family violence. Aiming to raise the awareness about that problem in their communities, they implemented an action for distribution of promotional materials, i.e. leaflets, to the rural centres in the municipality. The women involved in the project designed the leaflet and created the motto Did she stumble down the stairs?

�Having in mind that performances are not all that common for Niksic, we found the reactions of the people most interesting. Although the subject was family violence, a problem much present in Niksic, there were women who refused the leaflets, saying 'That's not for me, really', or 'My husband respects me�, and quickly got away. Other would just glance at the stage and the performers, only to return later and write their entries into the book of impressions. Naturally, there were women who openly expressed their support and even spoke to the members of the press that came to cover the performance�, said the organizers.