ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the issue of gender equality in Serbia. It focuses on Serbia as a special case, some critical observations should be made about the most comprehensive international instrument for gender equality policy. Gender equality policy in Serbia has always been partly guided by formalism and ambivalence. The chapter also looks at the long-duration processes and changing patterns of gender policy making and gender equality achievements in four areas: education, employment, health, and politics. Education was a very important component of post-WWII Marxist humanism. The new policy of democratization of education was beneficial to women, because the majority of women were illiterate. In the general population, education has remained the strongest legacy of socialism, even during difficult times of social transition. Employment was promoted as the key instrument of women's emancipation during socialism, and it has remained valued in recent decades after the end of socialism.
