Partikularna i univerzalna ženska iskustva – rodne uloge u bošnjačkoj i Islamskoj zajednici iz Siska
Particular and Universal Women’s Experiences – Gender Roles in the Bosniac and the Islamic Community in Sisak

Summary/Abstract: Starting with the fact that women are, socially speaking, a heterogeneous category, this paper re-affirms multi-vocality as the approach to women’s experiences. The paper presents and analyses the results of a research project focusing on the Bosniac national minority associations (The Council of the Bosniac Minority and the Association of Bosniac Women) as well as on the Islamic Community in Sisak. The research draws from qualitative methodology, specifically, from focus groups. The starting hypothesis on the continuation of the traditional perception of gender concepts, gender roles and the way they are practiced has been confirmed. The interviewees legitimise their roles as women based on gender, culture and religion. The traditional gender roles are reflected in both the private (division of household labour, parenting) and the public sphere (minority community, labour market). Although the boundaries of the gender roles are perceived as solid and unchangeable, the tendency towards a more flexible and more egalitarian division of roles and responsibilities in the family is visible among the younger interviewees. In spite of the existence of specific experiences, it has been possible to identify more universal experiences that Bosniac/Muslim women share with the rest of the women in Croatia (unemployment, gender income gaps, mobbing...), thus not only emphasising the dialectic relationship between universal and particular women’s experiences but also paving the way for further examination of gender-ethnicity-religion relationships.

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