FEMININE AND FEMALE PART OF MACEDONIA

June 27, 1995

The recommendation of the Presidency of the Bar Association not to accept homosexuals in the professional organization, raised certain issues which were skirted so far

Members of the Presidency of the Bar Association of Macedonia undoubtedly have not seen the film "Philadelphia" which Tom Hanks got the highest American Film Academy award for last year. Had they done it, they would have certainly not allowed themselves to commit, for the end of the twentieth century, such an unforgivable faux pas, due to which this distinguished institution will probably, without any further reconsiderations, be classified among the greatest professional failures. The wisest among those who, most frequently very well, live off protection of human rights, recommended Rules of Procedure for registration in the lawyers' register pursuant to which, to the general abhorrence of the public, homosexuals are banned access and, therefore, practising this honourable profession. Regardless of the motivation, and now in the search for an alibi for this unbelievable decision, alleged need to shut out the growing competition is most frequently mentioned, which is also a specific aspect of discrimination which does no credit to this profession, the recommendation of the Bar Association actually raised several issues which were taboos for various reasons in Macedonia.

The issue of homosexuals was, of course, never raised in a serious context so far, although according to certain polls carried out in videotheques, the number of consumers who prefer porno-films which evidently lack female characters is not negligible. If that is the correct way to put it. Nevertheless, homosexuals remain the subject of mockery or, depending on the occasion, of burlesque puns which in typically male environments mock someone's perversity which can be proved by the very fact that it differs from the customary views. After all, even in legal documents, the specific inclination towards partners of the same sex is indicated as "debauchery, contrary to nature" and it is sanctioned as a criminal act. In Macedonia, however, there were so far no cases of organized discrimination or harassment of the sexual "minority", so the recommendation of the leadership of the Bar Association to deprive homosexuals of licences to work is an unprecedented instance of an official institution propagating intolerance.

What also happened for the first time was that someone decided to protect the homosexuals, because Macedonia is also, according to interpretation of the influential weekly Puls, apart from Albania, the only country in Europe in which there is no registered "gay associations" which would be engaged in collective self-protection. Namely, the Helsinki Committee raised its voice against the lawyers' discrimination, although so far it was solely engaged in a limited number of topics which concern ethnic rights. Meto Jovanovski, a respectable writer who is at the head of the Committee since its foundation in autumn last year, threatened that he would even inform the headquarters in Vienna about this act of flagrant attack on human rights, especially since "one should expect them to defend this social minority, and not the other way round".

Approximately at the same time, another discriminated group became the subject of increased interest of the public here, which is also a sexual "minority", although according to its participation in the total population (about 49.6 %), the female part of Macedonia should not be considered to be a minority. Nevertheless, and the results of the latest investigation speak in favour of this fact, judging by the social influence, that is undoubtedly exactly what they are. It was the Chairman of the Parliament of the Council of Europe, Spanish doiplomat, Miguel Angel Martinez, who pointed out to this while he "was spying" in the capital of Macedonia about its aptitude for reception in the European family.

"I was told, Mr Martinez declared in mid June, that there were few Albanians in the institutions of the system. That is true, but I am more interested in participation of women in state institutions, that is, in vital places. This is important and I look upon these issues parallelly - participation of women and the Albanians in the authorities. There are not enough Albanians, but there are even less women". This warning which came from a person whose opinion is highly esteemed here and with good reason, seems to have initiated a true sexual inventory. The image offered by a comprehensive investigation of the mentioned weekly Puls, at first sight is not so "disastrous" as one could expect in view of the geo-political prejudices. It was noted that in the current cabinet of Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski there are three lady ministers, among them Secretary General of the Government, that a woman is the head of the Macedonian Radio-Television, the most powerful information centre, that a lady is the President of the Skopje University, that No.1 in the State Statistics Office is a member of the fair sex, that ... And that is about the end of the list. Absence of women at high posts in the economy is conspicous. There are only two manageresses in the census of the recently published edition about a hundred of the greatest firms in Macedonia. Apart from an unsuccessful attempt and a vice-president's post, there are no women in political parties either, and therefore, their absence from the parliament is also perceptible. Both in the last and the present composition of the parliament, legislative power was exercised by only four women-deputies.

For a future sociological investigation, it will certainly be very interesting to establish where the line of promotion interrupts, because, despite traditional barriers, especially where such a significant part of the Macedonian population is concerned, the number of employed women is comparatively large. Especially in the branches which are classified as non-economic activities, where members of the fair sex even prevail and which traditionally it is easier to be promoted from and as a rule, which personnel for high posts in state administration are recruited from. All the more so since noone can say that Macedonia is burdened with that which is called male chauvinism. Of course, under the condition that one believes in the sincerity of the pollees in the public opinion poll organized for the occasion. More than 70 per cent of the pollees would allegedly have nothing against having a woman at the "malest" post in the country - the head of the state. Most of the pollees also believe that women are in fact not deprived of their rights, although those who are suspicious about their equality are predominantly women themselves.

However it may be, disputes whether women are discriminated or not will continue for a long time, or perhaps it just seems so. That practically ideal half of Macedonia seems to be affected the most by the fact that the discussion, if a few newspaper articles can be called that, started only after the issue of discrimination of homosexuals was raised, as well as that of other "marginal groups", and, whether intentionally or not, but certainly quite inappropriately, women were therefore, classified among them in some of the newspaper articles.

Budo Vukobrat