The guests of the meeting were:

• Sandra Bedenikovic - Adviser of the Government Office for Gender Equality
• Josip Grgic - Adviser of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality
• Zeljko Zaninovic - Head of City Office for Relations with National Minorities and Religious Communities in Zagreb
• Ana Dalipovski, Jasna Poljak and Klaudija Jasarevski - members of the CRNM in Zagreb

47 members of Roma national minority attended this event. Moderators were Mr. Nedjatin Kamberovski, president of the CRNM in Zagreb and its member Mrs. Talita Jasarevski. 

Mrs. Jasna Poljak emphasized in her presentation the role of women and changes of her role throughout the history. At the beginning, the woman played role only as a mother and a housewife and many years were needed until the women exercised their rights so at present we have women who are not just mothers and housewives, they are employed women who earn money for their families. She accentuated how eight women of the CRNM in Zagreb, which currently counts 25 members, are very active and thanks to them gradually raise awareness on the role of women in Roma community.

Mrs. Ana Dalipovski talked about International Women's Day celebrated on March 8 and its importance, since when it has been celebrated and with what aim.

She mentioned the role and the position of Roma women in the society and stressed positive changes during last several years.  She emphasized positive examples of two Roma women Nura Ismailovski (Master of Pharmacy) and Ramiza Mehmedi (President of Association of Roma Women "Better Future") who made some improvements in their community. Furthermore, she stated how, difficult work in Roma communities can be when it comes to raising awareness among persons with basic or no education on importance of women inclusion into all segments of society.

Mrs. Sandra Bedenikovic presented the work of the Government Office for Gender Equality and projects in progress. She emphasized that education and employment are two most important segments of society that reflect inequality. Only one third of Roma women finish primary school and only each 10th finish secondary school. Although slight improvements have been made last few years relating to education of Roma national minority, still youth has to be motivated to complete education in order to be competitive at the labour market. She invited all present to address their office in case if they have experienced or have findings on discrimination issue in the area of gender equality so they will forward all complaints to the Ombudsman and to other pertinent institutions.

Mr. Josip Grgic assured that Roma women are victims of multiple discrimination (by gender, nationality, education, etc.) and how life in Roma settlements contributes to the risk of the social exclusion. Due to lack of education majority of Roma community members are not competitive at the labour market and they live from the social welfare. According to estimates about 60% of Roma women step into extramarital cohabitation when they are 13 years old and in the 15^th year most of them become mothers.

In addition, he stressed the role of men and importance of their support provided to their wives and children to continue education so that they can live better in the future.

Mr. Zeljko Zaninovic informed participants on substantial improvement in Roma community as each year additional members are involved in education and make an effort to achieve their rights.  The number of community meeting participants proves that things are moving forward in Roma community because ten years ago, the response of the community to such gatherings would not have been the same. He invited all present to continue cooperation which will further progress of Roma community.

Since citizens did not have questions, community meeting ended with the conclusion that such events should be organised more in order to foster additional changes.

At the end of the community meeting that lasted hour and half, CRNM members in Zagreb observed International Women’s Day by giving roses to all female participants.