By Akil Salim Roper '97
Two Cornell students discussed the status of women and minorities in the former Yugosla via and Mexico, their respective homelands, in a March 5 forum titled "From Bosnia to Chiapas: Women on the Political Forefront."
The event was held in the Robert Purcell Community Center in commemoration of Interna tional Women's Day and was sponsored by La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity and the Women's Resource Center.
In a talk titled "The situation of women in the former Yugoslavia: Historical and current trends and visions for the future," Jasmina Burdzovic, a Cornell undergraduate, gave an eyewitness account of crimes perpetrated against Bosnian women during the war.
Before the four-year civil war broke out in 1992, she said, women were regarded highly in Yugoslavian society. But, as a result of the conflict with Serbia, Bosnians were placed in concentra tion camps where up to 60,000 women were systematically raped by the Serbs as a "deliberate weapon of war," Burdzovic said.
"I don't know the prospects for the future," she said. "I can just hope that these women have the strength, after humiliation, to get over the obstacles."
In a second talk, titled "Women and Racism in Mexico: A topic not much discussed before Chiapas," Theresa Vasquez, a doctoral student in city and regional planning, discussed changing perceptions and behaviors in this southern Mexican state bordering Guatemala.
Before the Zapatista Liberation Army declared war on the Mexican Army in 1994 for perpetrat ing injustices against indigenous peoples, Vasquez said, Chiapas residents never spoke of racism or discrimination. But later that year Zapatista women established a law, which was enacted by the government, ensuring their right to jobs, equal pay and medical care and the right to choose their own partners.
"The Zapatistas brought a new perspective," Vasquez said. "They talked about themselves in the context of racism and discrimination, and brought these issues to the forefront; there is no turn ing back."
In the United States, International Women's Day, officially March 8, grew out of a 1957 demon stration in New York City by women factory and textile workers protesting unfair wages, cramped quarters and long working hours.