Diversity Speaks

By Viktoria Strejc What is beauty? Have you ever thought about how extremely specific beauty perceptions are to cultures? Today I’m going to take you on a “different” kind of beauty journey. Have you ever heard about the Mursi tribe? They live in Omo Valley, an isolated region in Ethiopia. They are one of the last tribes that still wear traditional clothing and accessories. Mursi women are famous for their wooden lip plates - a symbol of beauty and identity. A girl’s lower lip is cut (sometimes by her mother)...

Photo credit: FIFA.com By Elena Ruzic Women’s empowerment has become an essential and prominent topic in political, social, and economic spheres. Under the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, the world is keen on achieving progress towards gender equality. However, although improvements are happening every day, we’re still far from reaching success. As I’ve been following the news, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the worldwide coverage of the Women’s World Cup 2019. I was quite intrigued by the topic and asked myself: why is there so much debate and buzz around...

By Viktoria Strejc In April 2019 ICDO executed the next phase of the project ‘Bosnia and Herzegovina’. Here’s a look behind the scenes of the project. Thursday, April 4, 6:00 am - it was way too early to be awake, but the ICDO team members were boarding the bus to Zagreb. We were all so excited about our time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally getting to meet the participants. For most of us, it was our very first time there. The ICDO team on the way to Zagreb. When...

by Isidora Colic Have you ever asked yourself how often you hear “typical” being applied to a group, community, ethnicity, or country? If you ask me, I think we like to generalize things too often. If you look in the dictionary under “S”, you will find the definition of “stereotype”: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. When we discuss beauty, we often tend to stereotype it, too, according to the standards imposed by the media or the fashion...

Aboriginal mother. © nopathology.com A Vietnamese proverb runs, “Birth is the door of the tomb.” A mother and her baby are most vulnerable during childbirth. The magic of modern medicine has made childbirth a relatively safe procedure in most developed countries, but many continue to take it for granted. Childbirth is no picnic. It can be a painful, messy, and stressful procedure. Children and their mothers in many sub-Saharan African countries are still at a high risk of death from childbirth complications. Many Central and Southeast Asian countries, as well...

All things must come to an end, even good things. The 2019 Long Nights of Interculturality wound down - or rather, reached even greater heights - with the Closing Ceremony at the Wiener Börsensäle on September 6. In addition to speeches from our President Josipa Palac, opportunities for cultural networking, and delicious food brought by our partners, the highlight of the evening was ICDO’s “Costumes of the World” exhibition. It was an inspiring show of more than 160 national and traditional costumes, some handcrafted, from 60 different cultures. Ending the...

Speaking about “women’s issues” seems to be a crowd gatherer these days, and many think all has been said. But it is obvious that all hasn’t been said and done, because women still lack opportunities when compared to men, they don’t have enough representation and more often than not, are not included in the growth story. ICDO, headed by women, thought it was but natural that a weeklong celebration of interculturality couldn’t go by without discussing diversity and inclusion of women in the society. Held on 4th September 2019 in...