SARAJEVO, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) sent a message on Friday that violence against women should be in focus every day, not only on the International Women's Day.
During an event on the Children's Square in Sarajevo, which was entitled "Not Only Today", visitors could see ten photographs on the topic of violence prevention and talk with authors.
Amer Dzekman, coordinator of youth organization "Association XY" which was the organizer of this event, told Xinhua that women in the Balkan region were also frequent victims of violence.
Even worse, there is a social stance in BiH that violence is an intimate thing and that there is no need to react to certain forms of violence.
"There are stereotypes that women think they do not have a place to go, and that she financially depends on her husband or partner. Generally, the position of women in BiH is not on the level that is in other European countries," Dzekman explained, adding that violence against women should be in focus every day, not only on March 8.
A research by Association XY shows that girls and women are exposed to various forms of violence, most often psychological but also physical. And domestic violence finds support in social inequalities, gender stereotypes that lead to unequal distribution of power of decision, which approves men's violence against women.
According to a research in 2013 in BiH by the United Nations Population Fund, in the sample of 3,300 women, 47.2 percent of women said that they have experienced some forms of violence from the age of 15.
