Slides from a public presentation at the OU Mosaic Social Justice Symposium.

1. THE ROLE OF GENDER EQUALITY IN
DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF
THE ROMA MINORITY IN EUROPE
Benjamin Ignac,
B.A. Geography,
University of Oklahoma

2. CONTENT
•Who are the Roma?
•The Ethnic and Gender gap
•Women and Development
•Roma – a new generation

3. WHO ARE THE ROMA?
The migration of the Roma according to John Haywood (author
of “The Great Migrations: From the Earliest Humans to the Age
of Globalization”)
The official flag of the Roma (approved
in 1971 at the first World Romani
Congress in London, UK)

4. WHO ARE THE ROMA?
•Biggest and fastest growing minority in
Europe (over 10 million members)
•Diverse linguistic and common cultural
backgrounds
•Small closed communities – large
families
•Established gender roles
•Facing segregation and discrimination
•Poor living conditions, significant gaps in
education, employment and wealth

5. WHO ARE THE ROMA?
Isolated Roma settlement in northern Croatia

6. Roma settlement in Kosice, Slovakia (photographs by Bjoern Steinz)
WHO ARE THE ROMA?

7. THE ETHNIC AND
GENDER GAP
•Roma culture is patriarchal with
clearly established gender roles
•Roma women – a disadvantaged
group within a disadvantaged
group
•Female Roma have lower
education and employment rates
compared to males

8. WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
“Gender equality is
more than a goal in
itself. It is a precondition
for meeting the
challenge of reducing
poverty, promoting
sustainable development
and building good
governance.”
– Kofi Annan

9. WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
Female Education in
Sub‐Saharan Africa:
The Key to
Development?
Browne and Barrett (1991)

10. Institutions working for Roma Integration:
ROMA – A NEW GENERATION
2005-2015 : Decade of Roma Inclusion
2011: EU Framework for National Roma
Integration Strategies
Focus: education, employment,
healthcare and housing

11. ROMA – A NEW GENERATION
•Increase Roma representation in all levels of education, government, and in
general employment
•Don’t assimilate! Integrate!
•Learn more about the Roma culture
•Gender inequality among the Roma is not just a woman issue or a Roma issue.
It is an everyone-issue.
•Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world
(Nelson Mandela)
•We need to start enabling access to education for young Roma women

12. RESOURCES
Roma Data:
http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/rbec/en/home/
ourwork/sustainable-development/development-
planning-and-inclusive-sustainable-growth/roma-in-
central-and-southeast-europe/roma-data.html
Roma History:
https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/gypsi
es-roma-travellers-animated-history
Roma Initiatives:
http://www.romadecade.org/decade-participiants-
international-partner-organizations
About the author:
Benjamin Ignac
University of Oklahoma
ignac@ou.edu