Romnja and Violence

According to a recent survey in Serbia by the Roma Centre for Women and Children “Daje”, more than two-thirds of Roma women have been exposed to psychological or physical violence at least once.

The authors of this research state that, due to the specific culture of silence in the community, Roma women hesitate to talk about the violence they are experiencing. Being brought up in accordance with rigid patriarchal norms leads to them accepting violence as something normal and as an integral part of life. In addition, Roma women often do not recognize that they are exposed to violence.

We have a problem with these statements: Two third of the surveyed women may very well have been subjected to violence. But two third of all Roma women? How do they know? In addition, the patriarchal norms are not quite accurate.