Natalija Micunovic

The importance of male dominance in the scientific community is no strange to us all. Science, as a source of respected and influential information is a staunchly guarded male domain for millennia. What is specific for our time and place is the nervousness with which female presence is accepted. It is also the time of great changes in the axis of power, and the struggle for control is very aggressive. What is even more so in Serbia and Montenegro one of the pieces of ruins of the late SFRJ, is that the dysfunction of the war and sanctions brought about more inequality than before. And science is a field of professional achievement with slow and uncertain rewards, vast investment of time, effort and funds, for a career that is beneficial more to vanity than to the bank account. Women are seen as frivolous when they devote a huge amount of work and other resources to self-improvement and personal achievement and not to the comfort of the immediate family. Osnazivanje zena i njihovo ravnopravno ucesce u drustvenom, ekonomskom politickom i kulturnom zivotu kao i eliminacija svih oblika porodicne ekonomske, politicke, obrazovne i svake druge rodne diskriminacije i nasilja nad zenama spada u milenijumske ciljeve Ujedinjenih nacija prihvacene od Evropske unije i preporucene vladama svih zemalja u formiranju njihove nacionalne strategije.

Lack of responsibility in dealing with necessary reforms in education and other spheres of social life on the part of social and academic institutions encourage some segments of the population, especially among young people, towards neo-chauvinism and growing interethnic intolerance. Global trends of alienation of young population from the general socio-economic mainstream contribute to the development of group,, and not individual and social values. Immediate, wide-sweeping and profound institutional reform of education and socio-economic relations is necessary to ensure social cohesion for the future. The relationship between state and politics is such that it is difficult to achieve a stable improvement neither in gender equality nor elsewhere, because of a dysfunction in state tasks mediated through political struggle. In order for any change in Serbia to happen in the foreseeable future, it is necessary that decision makers adopt common goals, with sufficient amount of clarity, that they exercise inclusion and tolerance in creation of strategies and that they strive for balance.