Affirmation of Gender Equality Through the First Montenegrin Colouring Book for Brave Girls
The team of women who have been running the Montenegrin Coloring Book since May 2021 have worked diligently to create a new authentic Montenegrin product that never ceases to surprise both young and old, those who want to learn and have fun in a different way.
After eleven commercial editions dedicated to the beautiful places of Montenegro, its cultural and historical heritage, the new, twelfth edition comes as a combination of Montenegrin nature and a social topic never too early to be talked about with the youngest.
"The latest edition of “I am whatever I want to be" is dedicated to every brave girl and woman, but also those shy still learning how to make their voices heard and their attitude respected. Breaking the stereotype that every girl must be a gentle princess, and every woman humble and quiet in the time we live in has become imperative and something we have to deal with intensively," said Adrijana Husić, Editor of the Montenegrin Colouring Book. Husić emphasizes that life is not a theatre where we passively wait for someone to assign us roles.
“We are the directors our own lives, actively choosing what we want – from profession to how loudly we want to speak. I believe we are at a critical point when girls need to be encouraged and told that their voice matters, that they matter, they have unlimited possibilities both in present and future, and they can change the world that isn’t very favourable for them,” said Husić.
Husić pointed out that this colouring book as an important literature for all girls and boys, as well as all women and men.
"Because of everything happening to the women around us, and because of all the girls someone is at this very moment telling what they cannot or must not, we must create a different narrative and get out of the vicious circle of patriarchy in which we are as a society," said Husić.
"I am Whatever I Want to Be" Colouring Book additionally raises the issue of gender-sensitive language, which traditionalists refuse to use with an excuse that it is violence against language.
"We are victims of the norm that male gender is valid for both women and men, and I hope that our heroines from the Colouring Book will help girls become aware of the importance of using social feminitives. That is why the representatives of recognizable animal species that live on the territory of Montenegro will once again remind us that it is okay to be princesses - only if we want to. But also, that it is our right to be whatever we want to be and that it is the obligation of society to provide us with all the conditions to be both taxi drivers and pilots. And that it does not make us less princesses or queens", concluded Husić.
