On Wednesday, April 19, 2023, a session of the Council for Gender Equality of the University of Sarajevo (UNSA) was held at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.
Prof. Dr. Jasna Kovačević, the Council’s coordinator, informed the present members about the activities implemented in the past period, including the Winter School “Gender and Globalization”, held in February 2023 in Sarajevo. According to student evaluations, this School was very successful – they positively evaluated both, the content of the School and the teaching staff. Now, students have to prepare their final papers in order to receive credits (ECTAS).
Also, the upcoming activities within the UNIGEM project were presented at the meeting, and in regard to it, members of the Council were invited to suggest which activities they consider necessary (or want to implement) within their organizational units.
Regarding other past activities, “16 Days of Activism” Campaign, held last year (in 2022), was also mentioned at this meeting, since it had an extremely large number of participants, who carried out various activities, including conferences, workshops, panels, round tables, debates, exhibitions, performances, quizzes, video projections and panel discussions. More specifically, as part of UNIGEM Project, more than 80 events were held (in cooperation with 19 partner universities), both in BiH and in the region, related to issues of gender equality and the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
Coordinator Prof. Dr Kovačević reported that the Council was able to participate in the public debate held in regard to a new statute of the UNSA and, in that way, the Council managed to make its contributions to a better definition of certain points of this document.
In connection with the online education of the teaching staff, i.e. in connection with the Moodle platform, the Council’s members were informed the platform is ready and it will serve primarily for the education of the teaching staff of partner universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Four online courses are created and teachers from partner universities can sign in and take these courses when and how they want, i.e. at a time that suits them and at a pace that suits them.
Last, but not least, the workshop “Gender-based harassment/violence: preventive and repressive mechanisms at the University of Sarajevo” was discussed. The workshop was held by Prof. Dr Marija Lučić-Ćatić on Wednesday and Thursday, April 5 and 6, 2023, at the Faculty of Criminology, Criminology and Security Studies. It was intended primarily for the deans and directors of the organizational units of the University of Sarajevo, and the workshop’s content covered the following topics: what is gender-based harassment and gender-based violence, what preventive and investigative and repressive mechanisms exist at UNSA (how to report, relevant legal regulations and competent authorities). In the review of the workshop, it was concluded that it is necessary to continue planning educational activities of this type for the staff of UNSA.
