ZAGREB MARKS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

ZAGREB, March 8 (Hina) - There can be no full democracy if women are not equally represented in all institutions of the authorities, it was said at a conference held on the occasion of International Women's Day, March 8. The conference was organised by female members of the Alliance of Anti-fascist Fighters and Anti-fascists of Croatia (SABH) and the non-governmental Centre for Gender Equality. SABH's president Ivan Fumic said attempts were made in 1990 and 1991 to discontinue celebrating Women's Day, but added that it was continued to be celebrated and marked as women's struggle for full equality. Vesna Terselic, winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize for Peace in 1998, said she received a note on occasion of International Women's Day from the US senator Hillary Clinton, and asked where Croatian female politicians were. The civic initiative wishes that female politicians were more active in advocating female and human rights, anti-fascism and tolerance, Terselic said. Also in attendance was a representative of the non-government organisation Women's Anti-fascist Front (ATZ), an association which describes itself as a "group of radical feminists, subversive, theoretical activists." The participants in the conference forwarded a request to the Zagreb city assembly to rename one Zagreb alley after the Bakovic sisters, killed by the Ustasha members during WWII. An initiative was forwarded to the parliament to pass legislation introducing free gynaecological check-ups. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Youth Forum handed out 1,000 red roses and flyers to women passers-by in downtown Zagreb. They were joined by Zagreb mayor Vlasta Pavic and former mayor Milan Bandic. (hina) np sb