I Am Beautiful: A Celebration of Women in Their Own Words

econstructionpoliticsA NATION OFWIDOWSThe adult population of Bosnia is now 70 percent female,but women are being shortchanged in the reconstructionBY JAN GOODWINBOSNIA, NOVEMBER 1996: IN THE HARDSCRABBLE YARD,the small group of women and children are catchingthe last vestige of the day's weak sunshine. By afternoon'send, when the late autumn chill sets in, the temperaturein their homes will be the same as that outside. Whatlittle fuel they have is reserved for cooking, not heating.The pinched, gaunt look of the adults, is matched by that ofthe children, who have seen too much pain, felt too muchfear, far too soon. They are the kids Bosnia's former PrimeMinister, Haris Silajdzic, describes as having the "gray hairand eyes and hearts of old men."The children's faces bear the sores and eruptions of poornourishment. The average Bosnian lost 28 pounds duringthe war, according to the World Health Organization. Manyalso suffered from vitamin and mineral deficiencies.Youngsters like these continue to do so, despite Bosnia'sstores being full again, and the small street stalls againladen with imported fruit. "During the war, bananas werejust a dream," recalls 20-year-old Leila Begtasevic. But formany Bosnians, bananas continue to be beyond their reach;they do not have the money to buy them.It is exactly a year since the Dayton Accord brought uncertainpeace to this devastated land. It is 16 months sinceFikreta Sulejmanovic moved into this derelict school, nowdesignated a refugee collective center, with her 7-year-oldson, Hassan, and elderly mother-in-law after the fall of Srebrenica.They are only the only known survivors of herfamily in what was the largest single European massacresince World War II and the lowest point of ethnic cleansingin the former Yugoslavia.On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers rounded up theJAN GOODWIN is a human-rights activist, an award-winningjournalist, and the author of Price of Honor: Muslim WomenLift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World (Plume/Penguin).Muslim inhabitants of theUN "safe haven" of Srebrenicaand herded some25,000 women and childrenonto buses, while detainingapproximately 10,300 menand teenage boys at gunpoint."Go. They will besafe. You will see them atthe other end," the terrifiedwomen were told by GeneralRadko Mladic, theBosnian Serb military commander.The entire malepopulation of Srebrenicawas never seen again. Instead,in recent months,their mass graves havebegun to be uncovered."E ARE NOWjust a worldof women,"says Fikreta, through hertears. Aged 42, she lost her husband and 16-year-old son,her two brothers, and their two sons. Her mother-in-law,Aisa Fejzic, 76, lost her daughter and son and five grandchildren.The litany of loss is manifoldly echoed, over andover, when talking to her neighbors or other Srebrenicawidows in other refugee collective centers. Most tellingly,the adult population of Bosnia is now 70 percent female. Inthe aftermath of the brutal four-year war, it is the women ofBosnia who must rebuild their country.Despite this stark statistic, however, Bosnian women arenot viewed as a priority, either by their own government orO N T H E I S S U E S • S p r i n g 1 9 9 7