The Problem Is They See Us As A Whole : Explaining Gender and Ethnicity-based Inequalities Among the Roma in Serbia
The objective of this report is to analyze the gender norms of Roma and non-Roma men and women in marginalized neighborhoods of Serbia, and assess the impact of these norms on schooling, work, and household decision-making.This report aims to gener...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/867831552914300138/The-Problem-Is-They-See-Us-As-A-Whole-Explaining-Gender-and-Ethnicity-based-Inequalities-Among-the-Roma-in-Serbia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31525 |
| Summary: | The objective of this report is to
analyze the gender norms of Roma and non-Roma men and women
in marginalized neighborhoods of Serbia, and assess the
impact of these norms on schooling, work, and household
decision-making.This report aims to generate and promote the
use of evidence on living conditions and human development
outcomes among marginalized Roma communities of the Western
Balkans and their neighboring non-Roma counterparts and
provide evidence-based recommendations for policy and
programming. The primary universe for the Regional Roma
Survey is: (i) all households in Roma settlements or areas
of compact Roma population; and (ii) non-Roma communities
living in close proximity to marginalized Roma. The results
of the RRS 2017 show that marginalized Roma in Serbia, much
like the rest of the Western Balkans, do not have the
endowments and assets they need nor the ability to use the
assets they have efficiently and intensively to generate
economic gains and climb up the socioeconomic ladder. This
qualitative report makes three main contributions. First,
the gaps between Roma and non-Roma in schools, work places,
and household decision making revealed by the RRS 2017 are
placed within a structural marginalization or social
exclusion framework.Second and most critically, we find a
broad range of diversity within the Roma population in
Serbia. Unfortunately, Roma are often homogenized in both
academic and policy literature.The findings of this report
move beyond flattening histories and attributing norms and
beliefs to a static and singular “identity” and allegedly
common “culture.”Third, the authors find that social norms
fluctuate and shift as the wider context shifts – that
within Serbia, there is significant variation among the Roma
living in three different contexts (urban, post-industrial
and agricultural). Using this perspective, they illuminate
the mechanisms of change with respect to gender and
ethnicity that remain invisible in the RRS 2017 but result
in the diverging impacts captured by it.The paper is
structured as follows. Section two reviews the literature
and current knowledge on marginalized Roma and social
exclusion in Serbia, and notes the gaps in the literature.
Section three gives a description of the methodology of the
study and the sample used for analysis. Section four
presents key findings from the study on gender norms in
work, schooling, and household decision making. Section
five, six, and seven present the three case studies and a
detailed overview of the location- and context-specific
barriers for Roma versus non-Roma households demonstrating
how these three locations – one urban, one post-industrial
and one agricultural – offer important insights into the
variation in constraints and forms of exclusion of the Roma.
Section eight draws on the findings to provide concrete
recommendations for policy interventions and concludes. |
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