Gender aspects of Romany woman identity in social exclusion of segregated Romany settlement Letanovce

Gender aspects of Romany woman identity in social exclusion of segregated Romany settlement Letanovce In the segregated Romany settlement, less than three kilometers from the municipality of Letanovce in the part of the Slovak Paradise called Letanovský mlyn, over eight hundred Roma live. Families live in log cabins without electricity, running water, or sewerage. In a single cabin, often consisting of just one room and a kitchen with a stove, as many as three to four generations frequently live together, with each generation represented by a woman (widows outnumber widowers).

One of the findings of the report "Poverty of the Roma and Social Care for Them in the Slovak Republic" (2002)(1) is that the social status of Roma living in segregated settlements is substantially lower than that of Roma who are integrated into the majority population. Similarly, the situation of Roma from segregated settlements in marginalized regions is substantially worse than that of those living in segregated settlements in more developed regions with better economic conditions. The segregated settlement of Letanovce is located in a district that, according to the report, is a poor district, and Roma living in a poor district are doubly marginalized. They are worse off in terms of both economic and social indicators. The unemployment rate is close to one hundred percent, the health status is worse than in other areas, and the educational level of the population is lower. Most inhabitants have only a basic education.

Theoretical definition of identity from a gender perspective

Identity and the related gender aspects are created depending on the socio-cultural environment of the individual, because it is precisely through this environment that the personality experiences the value of its self-definition. According to Šramová (Poláková et al., 2005), it is particularly important to observe identity formation during the adolescent developmental stage, when the individual becomes aware of and evaluates their experiences, values, goals, and seeks their place in society.

The basic starting point of the gender conception of the identity of the Romany woman from a poor and socially excluded environment is the assumption of social inequality between the sexes, based on the idea of segregation of roles associated with the identity of both sexes: the man as the breadwinner and determiner of the family's status, and the woman as the creator of the home. According to Parsons (1964), such a division is a functional necessity for marital and family stability. The mechanisms that ensure such a division are embedded in specific cultural patterns of a given socio-cultural collective. These cultural patterns can differ diametrically across different socio-cultural collectives, and intercultural encounters can give rise to specific problems stemming from an insufficient effort to learn about and understand the basic aspects of cultural and social diversity in society.

The issue of the exclusion of women from social space has been addressed by research based on the history of feminist social theory. It challenged the ideals of classical social theory, represented primarily in the works of Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel. Weber (1968) defended the traditional model of the family and its characteristic division of gender roles according to the principles of patriarchy. Durkheim (1997) was a proponent of the theory of strict specialization and differentiation of gender stereotypes in connection with female identity. Simmel (2009) states in his studies that women are unable to acquire the skills necessary for participation in social life.

The role of the woman in the Romany family is closely related to the characteristic features of the family and its internal hierarchy. There are significant differences between families living in settlements and those living dispersed among the majority population, because the Romany family today, depending on its affiliation with a particular group, is more internally differentiated than it was in the past, when the Romany woman in a traditional family held a very subordinate position. Her role was to love, give birth to and raise children, and take care of food and the household. In order to gain at least some respect, at least as a mother, she gave birth and got married as early as possible. Absolute fidelity was demanded of her, while the husband did not have to be faithful and was not. Even though marital disputes were resolved by shouting and fighting, divorces almost never occurred. The cultural level of women was lower than that of men, because women had less education, were not employed, were thus dependent on the man, and stayed mainly at home (Poláková et al., 2005).

The historical formation of the high value placed on the large Romany family, and thus on the woman with many children, is largely related to the necessity of survival given the poor material, social, health, and hygienic conditions (causing high infant mortality) that persist at a high level in segregated Romany settlements to this day. This is also related to the low age of first-time mothers, motivated by the effort to extend the woman's fertility and thus give greater chances for the preservation of the lineage and the socio-cultural collective. Yet even so, the woman in the Romany community is a second-class person (after her man). Her speech is not taken into consideration among the Roma, because she is only a woman and therefore her words carry little weight. She can assert her views only among Romany women. Even if she presented a better opinion than her husband, she could only tell him, because he is the representative of his family. These values are still alive in the consciousness of the Roma, even among integrated Roma (Poláková et al., 2005).

Family gender stereotypes and their transformations in an environment of poverty and social exclusion

As we have already stated, in the traditional Romany family, the Romany woman – the wife – was (and still is) the guarantee of the survival of the lineage. With the number of healthy offspring, especially sons, her social status and her husband's recognition grow (Fabianová in Poláková et al., 2005). One of the participants in our research, a forty-six-year-old Romany from the segregated settlement of Letanovce, valued his wife as a partner who bore him six children (the youngest is two months old, the oldest thirteen years), he is satisfied with how she raises them, how she takes care of the household and obeys him, so he would not trade her for anything in the world.

The traditional gender stereotype of Romany families of past generations, according to which it was the man's duty to work and support the family, has now disappeared from the segregated settlement of Letanovce. Men, who in Romany families of past generations were the breadwinners, rely on being able to survive even without work, thanks to the material hardship benefits paid to all family members. Despite having a concrete idea of how they would earn money if they were without family, they are unable to do the minimum to bring such a scenario to life under their current status, thereby improving the living standard for themselves, their wife/partner, and their children. In the segregated settlement, the original division of the spheres of activity of the Romany woman and the Romany man, according to which the man earned money and supported the family while the woman stayed at home and took care of the household and children, has been unilaterally abolished (on the man's side). The originally deeper and broader radius of the man has significantly narrowed (the man does not go to work and in most cases not even to the pub), which has also significantly weakened his emancipation in the eyes of the woman, and his authority and position have weakened. The woman, originally dependent on the earning man and deprived of social interactions with the outside world of the majority, is in the segregated settlement characterized by deep poverty and social exclusion dependent on a man who is unable to support the family, causing her world of any certainties to visibly crumble, and this woman perceives the future of herself and her children through the prism of hopelessness and aimlessness. When we add to this the fact that the woman cannot break through the barriers of social exclusion, she remains hermetically closed within the narrow circle of her immediate family.

The fear of being alone, without one's immediate family, is natural and inherent to every individual, regardless of ethnicity. But among the Roma in Letanovce, the intensification of their fear of loneliness is underpinned by the fact that they would not be able to, or could not, rely on help or support from people outside the circle of their immediate family. They are extremely fixated on their husbands/wives, life partners, and children, or grandchildren, also because they have no close friends in the settlement, nor people in the extended family to whom they could fully trust and rely on. Their social capital is very low.(2) The most important institution is the immediate family, and trust in external institutions in a settlement marked by social exclusion and socio-cultural handicap is low or non-existent. The nuclear family functions as a closed circle of people whose members help each other.(3)

The Romany woman, who is isolated in traditional families without social relationships, is even more alone in the social exclusion of the poor segregated settlement.

Sexuality and sexual life

Fabianová (Poláková et al., 2005) states that sexuality and sexual life are a taboo area of life for the Romany woman and for the Romany community in general, so it is not spoken about (talking about it is shameful). It is then self-evident that preparation for sexual life, marriage, and parenthood is absent from upbringing, even though Roma encounter sexuality every day and especially the younger generation deliberately surrounds themselves with it. Very young people engage in sex.

Going out with a boy is a matter of female/girl's prestige and a manifestation of interest in a woman/girl. Such dating is accepted and the Romany community automatically assumes that the relationship will culminate in the conception of a child (in Letanovce, marriage is rare – to legitimize the relationship, the girl's pregnancy at the stage when it can no longer be hidden is quite sufficient – and the boy and girl begin to officially live together).

Baudrillard (1996, p. 23) in his work On Seduction states: "A frequently emphasized feature of the oppression of women is blackmail through pleasure, the robbery of women's capacity for pleasure. This is an obvious injustice, which everyone seizes upon to remedy, immediately, according to a scheme taken from endurance running races as in a sexual rally. Pleasure has taken on the form of a demand and a fundamental right. As the latest product of human rights, it has risen to the dignity of a categorical imperative. It is immoral to contradict this demand." Such a conception of pleasure and its description coincides with the grasping of sexuality in the everyday life of women and men in the segregated settlement of Letanovce. Poverty and social exclusion have robbed these people of all the joys of life associated with the absent variety and the possibility of choice and variation of opportunities to enliven the monotony and grayness of life. Therefore, they instinctively and blindly throw themselves into the only pleasure that is exclusive, available anytime and anywhere in the form of sexual pleasure, which all age categories indulge in without restraint, and girls lose their virginity at a very low age (thirteen, fourteen years old).

Transformations of typically female and typically male characteristics

Karsten (2006, p. 24) provides a list of characteristics that are stereotypically repeated when we want to characterize "typically female" and "typically male" ways of behaving:

During our three-month research in the segregated settlement of Letanovce, we recorded significant deviations from the above typification of gender stereotypes. These shifts occur as a result of the direct influences of the socio-cultural environment, where the basic formative factors are poverty and social exclusion. These factors significantly influence the daily behavior and direction of individuals and are reflected in the external manifestations of internal changes in their characteristics. The result is that the differences defined by Karsten in this way are blurred in poverty intensified by social exclusion, and men become helpless (a female characteristic) – their helplessness lies in the impossibility/inability to break the circle of social exclusion and poverty. With this helplessness, male activity and combativeness naturally disappear. Immersed in overall apathy from helplessness, men cease to be courageous and enterprising, their strength and energy also disappear, and by relying on "supporting" the family through material hardship benefits, they become extremely irresponsible. Their women thus lose the natural support of their male counterparts, which in itself (plus the life stereotypes marked by poverty and social exclusion) causes them, in certain situations we directly observed, to unconsciously adopt typically male ways of behaving: they become aggressive, authoritative, domineering – they adopt these typically male characteristics in situations where they need to assert their will in the family (purchase of a specific thing/goods) and in situations where their husbands want to directive order them to do something and they want to "sulkily" assert themselves against their partner. Men are no longer the combative and dominant adventurers they were in the past, and women thus gain space that they instinctively use for self-realization, which under other conditions and in a situation without the limits of poverty and social exclusion would be unimaginable or impossible.

The beaten and cheated-on Romany woman

The International Centre for Family Study in Bratislava, which annually conducts a survey on the topic of "Family," reports that the worse the economic situation in the family, the higher the incidence of physical violence. Increased incidence is also found among individuals with basic education, among the economically inactive (unemployed, pensioners), and in rural areas. Men who beat their wives evaluate this act as a defense of their traditional rights. These are primarily cases of marital infidelity or even minor flirtations that cause the man's jealousy (Lábadyová, 1998).

Among the most common reasons for a beating that a Romany woman from Letanovce receives from her man (life partner) are: jealousy, unfounded suspicion of infidelity, and the man's alcoholism (or the woman preventing the man from drinking). Arguments about household management, lack of money, and family disputes and problems in the extended family also often lead to beatings.

When a man beats his wife in the cabin, it is perceived by the other settlement inhabitants as a strictly internal matter of the private life of the particular couple. For this reason, as well as due to indifference and general apathy, no one tends to intervene from the outside in a fight, no matter how risky it may appear. The beaten woman is thus at the mercy of her husband, and it is up to him how the whole episode ends. A woman who defends herself during a beating does so instinctively, in the interest of preserving her own health and life – not because she wants to defy her man in that situation. Open defiance would only escalate the man's aggression, which could ultimately end even worse for the woman.

Men's extramarital affairs are an open secret in the settlement. Men go to their lovers outside the settlement: to the village, most often to the town, where they have relative anonymity. Information about such infidelity reaches the settlement sporadically, during a visit by Roma from another settlement or from the town, or this information is brought by a specific settlement inhabitant. The unfaithful man is gossiped about in cabins and in groups outside in the settlement. Other women pity the cheated-on woman, men do not comment on it, and the unfaithful man acts neutral. The whole situation is always spontaneously led into a dead end, because where there is no evidence, the act of infidelity "does not exist" either. The cheated-on woman suffers in the silence of her cabin, is ashamed, and finds no way out of the situation.

Exceptionally, it happens that an extramarital affair is revealed directly in the settlement. Such infidelity (with another woman from the settlement) never remains a secret for longer than a few days. In the unfaithful man's household, a huge explosion of emotions follows, during which the deceived woman ventilates in an extremely affective manner not only the current grievance, but also all the injustices, wrongs, insults, and mistreatment inflicted upon her by the man/partner up to that point. Screaming, arguing, and dramatic fighting (not infrequently, knives and axes also fly through the air) take place directly before the eyes of all the settlement inhabitants. No one misses such a spectacle, including children. In the life scenario of a woman from the segregated settlement in Letanovce, this is the only moment when she can fully, openly, and with impunity (in the understanding of the other settlement inhabitants, also justifiably) give vent to her anger and rage directed against the man.

Gender aspects of the culture of the body and clothing

Clothing, as one of the basic cultural patterns, is also a medium that concentrates and presents the gender aspects of its wearer's identity. This is especially true for women in the segregated settlement of Letanovce, who fundamentally do not wear short skirts or short pants. The reason is that they are ashamed and cannot find the courage, because the men would be angry with them, would scold them, or would beat them. We understand this phenomenon as a reflection of social reality, self-reflection, and self-projection within their own socio-cultural group. Women would like to wear a short skirt or short pants outside the settlement, but since they always go outside the settlement strictly in the company of their husband/partner, or other women who would gossip about them, they never dare to, or never have the opportunity. The clothing of the Romany woman from a socially excluded environment thus takes on the character of a non-verbal expression of the gender aspect of her identity, becoming part of her "image" as an ideal, norm, social acceptability or unacceptability.

The Romany men of Letanovce do not allow their wife to dress nicely, they do not let her go out, she must not speak to another man. They cannot bear the thought of another man looking at their wife with a sexual undertone. Partners who think this way are found among both old and young men.

In connection with the culture of clothing, or the culture of the body, one cannot overlook the fact that testifies to strong conservatism and strict modesty in this area. When a woman changes clothes, no other man may see her except her own life partner. Not even a brother or father. If more adults live in a cabin – in one room – (which is common in this segregated settlement), women's changing (before sleeping and in the morning) is handled by having all the men present sent outside. In winter, the light is turned off or women change under a blanket/duvet. Similar modesty is applied when bathing in water reservoirs and when sunbathing: a woman is never more exposed in front of another man than she is when she goes out normally (she even enters the water in a dress). Women behave this way out of shyness and bashfulness in front of other men, and Romany men respect Romany women, and any discreet exposure of the female body in front of another man is unacceptable for this reason, therefore it is neither required nor expected. It is equally unacceptable for a woman to walk around the cabin only in her underwear or incompletely dressed. The exposure of a woman is taboo in this socio-cultural collective.

Conclusions:

As Fabianová (Poláková et al., 2005) states, male and female roles and their corresponding activities are clearly divided in the Romany community in Letanovce. Crossing boundaries is exceptionally manifested in the youngest generation of Romany men and women, in families where, due to the absence of a man, the woman-mother has taken on the role of head of the family, and in integrated families. In integrated families that manage to move out of the settlement, the occurrence of this exception is conditioned by a qualitatively and quantitatively richer social interaction between Roma and members of the majority society.

1. Enculturative failure in a socially excluded environment

Poverty combined with social exclusion is a significant factor that contributes to the creation of specific gender stereotypes and the identity of the Romany woman in the segregated settlement of Letanovce. At the same time, however, it causes deformations in typically female and typically male ways of behaving, which we consider a warning sign. In this way, a gradual disappearance of cultural patterns specific to the Romany ethnic group is occurring. We observe similar negative signals in the case of language as one of the most important cultural patterns necessary for the specification of a socio-cultural group and its collective identity on the principles of ethnicity. In the context of individual/gender and collective identity, it is an essential communication medium, a basic distinguishing and identifying factor. The Romany language is a very strong bond for the Roma from the segregated settlement of Letanovce, binding them to their ethnicity and to each other. This is predicated on an assumption that plays a very important role here, namely that they coexist in their micro-world and nothing and no one threatens its compactness and homogeneity. They consider the Romany language to be their mother tongue, which no one can take from them. At present, many Slovak words (for example, numerals) have penetrated into spoken Romany. Moreover, today's middle and younger generations do not know the meaning of many words of the Romany language spoken by older Roma. They infer their meaning from context. At first glance, it might seem that this is essentially no big deal. However, we consider it a sign of a serious threat to the established and structured system of cultural patterns that is characteristic of a particular socio-cultural group. Such a disappearance of specific cultural patterns may, over a longer time horizon, seriously threaten the cultural identity of the Romany ethnic group. This is a process of enculturative failure, at the end of which may be the disappearance of the awareness of collective identity with the discontinuity of the given socio-cultural group. In no case can we speak here of assimilation, because assimilation would be real in the case of a complete disappearance of the socio-cultural handicap that is characteristic of this group. It could happen that the process of extinction of the socio-cultural group based on the system of cultural patterns will be faster than the process of removing the socio-cultural handicap.

2. Helping professions as a "bridge" between the Romany minority marked by social exclusion and members of the majority society

In the field of helping professions, we consider it necessary to focus attention on the following aspects:

On the side of Roma living in social exclusion in the settlement of Letanovce: Strengthening the awareness of one's own identity and the related pride in belonging to one's own ethnic group – unconditionally, not only when it can be used as a weapon in opposition to the majority. Creating a sense of belonging to a unique human society, not only on the basis of the exclusivity of one's own socio-cultural collective based on animosity towards the majority.

On the side of Roma living in social exclusion in the settlement of Letanovce and at the same time on the side of members of the majority society: Developing general communication competencies, within which there will be not only perception but also adequate apperception (with the elimination of negative stereotypes and prejudices on both sides). Getting to know the characteristic features of life and patterns of thinking on both sides, respecting differences, and building mutual relationships based on what we have in common and not on what divides us.

3. Achieving justice in gender relations and gender competence

Based on the elaborated theories in the field of justice in gender relations (Stiegler – Michalitsch, 2009), we see several areas that need attention in the context of the gender aspects of the identity of the Romany woman marked and limited by social exclusion in a poor and socially excluded environment. This is primarily about promoting the principle of equality of Romany men and women; equal opportunities for Romany women; equal rights for Romany women; gender democracy; equal opportunities in shaping life; dignified partnership of Romany men and women; support for Romany women.

Equally important is an intensive effort to change the thinking of Romany women in the settlement. It is essential that they become aware of situations in which men abuse their concentrated power over them. That they do not accept this as a matter of course in their lives, but that they see what is at stake and are able to face and resist it. In parallel, work must be done with the men in the settlement so that they themselves understand and clearly, without emotions, see the problems of their behavior towards women, and at the same time understand that such behavior negatively affects not only the inner, emotional lives of women, but also limits the favorable psychosocial development of their own children and, ultimately, the overall atmosphere in the family.

We are aware that this is a very demanding and complex task, which must involve social workers, community workers, psychologists, sociologists, as well as local government officials. In this case, we can draw on the sensibility of Romany women and the creation and strengthening of women's networks in which these women could be involved.

4. Socialization of children in Romany families

In parallel with changing the thinking and attitudes of men and women in the segregated settlement of Letanovce, we must work with children through their adequate socialization, without neglecting the basic specifics of the Romany family. When choosing adequate socialization strategies for these children, we must start from the following facts (see Matulay et Poláková in Poláková, 2002): education in Romany families is not individualistic but collectivist. It is not aimed at raising an individual but a member of the wider society. Everything is solved collectively, individual decisions are not recommended. The first law in raising a child is his or her freedom. The family protects the child, is his or her refuge but also a boundary that must not be crossed. The family passes on its Romany values, customs, culture, philosophy of thinking and living to the child, part of which is also the rejection of the philosophy of living and thinking of the majority society.

A child in the environment of the segregated settlement of Letanovce does not have enough favorable stimuli or positive role models from the majority society. Poverty and social exclusion confine him or her within the negative stereotypes of his or her own family and other members of the narrow socio-cultural collective. It is then more than natural that, in the spirit of the imitation theory of the development of sex differences (Karsten, 2006), both boys and girls acquire behavior typical of their sex by observing same-sex models and imitating and adopting their sex-typical behavior. The results of experimental research have shown that this applies particularly to aggressive behavior. Children imitate it especially when it is demonstrated by models who hold a high position in their world (parents or older children of the same sex). If the modeled behavior is successful, or at least remains unpunished, such imitative behavior becomes significantly fixed. In Romany families of the Letanovce settlement, the authority of both father and mother has dangerously declined (children refuse obedience, do what they want, do not respect the commands of parents and elders), which does not mean, however, that both, that is, father and mother, are not still a strong imitative model in the adoption of negative stereotypes. At the same time, children are under the pressure and influence of the external environment of the settlement, where other children and adults move about.

The Romany women of the middle and older generations of Letanovce were, at the age of fourteen,(4) emotionally primarily attached to their mother. At the same time, they had great respect for their mother, and dating boys was an exception at this age. Today's fourteen-year-old girls despise their mother, talk back to her, and spend more time outside with boys than at home with their mother.

5. The necessity of changing mindsets

Given that gender identity is a social and cultural construct, a set of ideas, beliefs about how to behave, present oneself, what roles to assume (Čerešník, 2011), it can be favorably influenced by positively working towards changing the mindsets of the persons concerned. Although gender stereotypes, as learned and culturally accepted ways of behaving, change historically (in parallel with changes in society), this is not the case in a poor and socially excluded socio-cultural environment, because it is isolated from natural societal changes. Therefore, it is necessary to bring these changes from the majority environment into the interior of the closed community of the segregated Romany settlement – slowly, gradually, but above all patiently.

It is essential to convince the women of Letanovce and their men of the necessity of two incomes to meet the needs of the family, and at the same time to focus on raising the educational level of girls and women, because otherwise they will never become aware of the need for their own self-realization. Until this happens, the fixed negative stereotypes will not change.

Changing mindsets is the most difficult change to achieve, requiring time. We are convinced that the basic starting point for effectively influencing the elimination of negative gender aspects of the identity of the Romany woman in the segregated Letanovce settlement is the need to get to know them as well as possible. Only with a correct understanding and identification of the sources of their problems is it possible not only to seek and apply appropriate strategies of help, but also to create and properly guide gradual change in thinking, attitudes, and way of life. Understanding the environment in which they live, knowing the conditions from which they come, will help to choose adequate approaches with relevant results.

6. Solving key problems of the gender identity of the Romany woman in the segregated Letanovce settlement through social inclusion

The overall social situation of Romany families in a poor and socially excluded environment (which significantly influences the life of the Romany woman of Letanovce from a gender perspective) is characterized by a whole range of social problems, the solution of which is very complex, affects all areas of their lives, is not a matter of a short-term horizon, and is not achievable solely by the efforts of the affected individuals and socio-cultural groups. The decisive strategy for solving them in Slovakia has become the policy of social inclusion, which is based on fundamental documents of the European Union, introduced into the political life of member countries since 2000. In Slovakia, the policy of social inclusion began to be applied after Slovakia's entry into all structures of the European Union in 2004. Since 2001, within the framework of the open method of coordination, the member countries of the European Union have been obliged to prepare and submit National Social Inclusion Plans (Sirovátka, 2004). A significant role in contact with Romany women with low social capital and their families in the segregated settlement of Letanovce is played by field social workers, whose work has its marked specificities and is an important source of information for drawing up plans for the development of social services and the region. One form of social work in this poor, socially excluded settlement is community work, which can be considered the most important form of social work in this area and at the same time a developmental social activity.

It must be openly acknowledged that the complete assimilation of Roma has not yet succeeded anywhere in the world. Therefore, it is necessary to find a platform on which the majority and the Romany minority can meet without conflict while preserving human dignity and uniqueness on both sides. This platform can be built on several levels. First, the already mentioned initiation of changes in those aspects of their lives that cause fundamental problems in the life of the Romany woman in the segregated settlement. Second, it is necessary to continue programs aimed at eliminating poverty and the socio-cultural handicap in an environment marked by social exclusion. And last but not least, work with the majority is also important. Because the Romany issue cannot be solved exclusively by working with Roma. Simultaneously, it is necessary to address the problem of distorted perceptions about Romany women held by the majority. For the elimination of prejudices and stereotypes about the Romany woman in general, it is important, for example, to know that the Romany women of the Letanovce settlement do many negative things as a result of deepening social deprivation, and it is often a matter of their survival. Therefore, it is necessary to openly and objectively inform the majority about the catastrophic misery and poverty in which they live – alongside current efforts to eliminate it. To bring closer to the majority those aspects of their lives that remain hidden in the isolation of a segregated and separated settlement, for example, the fact that the mothers of Letanovce devote more time to their children than non-Romany women, not only because they are at home all day, but because they perceive it as a priority. It is equally natural for them that every morning, as soon as they get up, they tidy up and make coffee for their husband. When a visitor enters the cabin at any hour of the day, the beds are neatly made and the duvets are stacked in perfect "chimneys." Few from the majority know, for example, that the Romany women in the Letanovce settlement do laundry several times a week and that the laundry hung on the line already smells nice from afar. Or that when a Romany woman from the settlement enters a shop or an office and does not greet, she does not do so intentionally or out of rudeness or with the intention to provoke. She simply does not greet because in the settlement they do not greet each other – it is not among their basic social competencies. For the same reason, she does not say thank you – not because she does not know politeness.

An important note in conclusion

Every Romany community is different and has its own specificities arising from its internal characteristics and the social environment that surrounds it. Each is richly structured, or not structured at all, while individual socio-cultural collectives of the same ethnicity, only two or three kilometers apart, can be significantly different (Poláková, 2002). Our empirical findings, the results of our research on the topic Gender Aspects of the Romany Woman's Identity and Their Relationship to Social Exclusion in a Poor and Socially Excluded Environment cannot therefore be generalized in any way. They are relevant only for the socio-cultural collective of the segregated settlement of Letanovce, significantly marked by poverty and social exclusion.

Author: Mgr. Lenka Jalilah Hrušková References

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(1) This is a research project by a team of Slovak researchers and World Bank employees from 2002, see References (2) This was also confirmed by research by the World Bank, the S.P.A.C.E. Foundation, INEKO, and the Institute for an Open Society from 2002 – see References: Poverty of the Roma and Social Care for Them in the Slovak Republic (3) The functioning of patterns of help in families in segregated and separated Romany settlements in Spiš was also confirmed in 2012 by research conducted by a team of researchers led by Assoc. Prof. PaedDr. V. Klein within the project VEGA 1/0596/10 Choices of Life Strategies of Inhabitants of Poor and Socially Excluded Romany Settlements. (4) the age at which today's girls in the settlement give birth to their first child

Photographs from the author's private archive, taken in Letanovce between April and June 2012: