Here it is, in front of you, the idea for peace of the Union of Women's Organizations of Macedonia, with which we tried to shortly introduce a part of the activities of UWOM's members.
There are numerous and various members; we have lot and different activities that cannot be represented on ten pages. A single brochure cannot encompass all activities targeted towards peace and stability in our country, or all those tribunes and conversations we had among one another and with other activists in our communities, with purpose to restore the ruined trust as a result of the war conflict that happened in Macedonia last year. There is no space in it for all the activities for women's rights protection, education and emancipation, for the fight against violence, activities aimed towards our children's health and welfare, towards women's employment, standard improving, poverty extinguishing and social-economic development, political strengthening and creating women leadership…
Restoration of trust was one of our most important tasks in the previous period, as well as the activities related to the most important political event this year - the 2002 parliamentary elections. The UWOM members were activated to help these elections be peaceful and democratic. We conveyed many activities in big cities and in small settlements, to motivate and stimulate the voters, especially women, to participate the voting process; to inform and educate them on their voters' rights; and finally, we monitored the elections in order to ensure their correctness. At the same time, the monitoring had a purpose to estimate women's participation in the electoral process.
We have been working really hard, and the results of our voluntary work are visible in all areas. In Macedonia, the women's movement develops strong and massive, becoming influential, becoming equal partner of authorities, gaining the respect of domestic public and the international organizations, becoming well-known in the region and beyond. All of that is merit of many women, Macedonians, Albanians, Serbians, Turks, Roma, Vlachs, Russians, women of various age, social status, religion, political vocation… What links us is our sex, and the differences do not divide us, but make us richer and more crucial. Such, and even better, we shall be in future, too…