From Belgrade to London, Roma Girl Band Sings for Female Empowerment

"Nobody forced me to do so. It was my own choice, but I made a mistake. That's why we aim to encourage other young girls not to let their parents arrange a marriage they don't want. At the same time, we advocate that they get a new perspective on life."

Poverty and discrimination

Photo: GRUBB/Daniel Ibraimovic

Pretty Loud grew out of artistic workshops in 2014 for Roma children and young people in Serbia provided by the UK-based GRUBB Foundation, GRUBB meaning Gypsy Roma Urban Balkan Beats.

Founded in 2006, GRUBB works to promote education within a Roma community that lives on the very margins of Serbian society, mired in poverty and systematically discriminated against in education, healthcare and employment. Roma women have an even harder time.

According to United Nations research, an average of nine out of 10 young Roma women in the Western Balkans are not in education, employment or training. Two thirds do not control their own money.

In Serbia, every sixth school-age Roma child is outside of the education system, while according to a 2019 UNICEF study 16 per cent of Roma girls marry before reaching the age of 15. Just over half are married by the age of 18, compared to six per cent among the non-Roma female population of Serbia.

In the Western Balkans, Serbia ranks second when it comes to the rate of child marriage, behind only Albania.

Child marriage among Roma has roots in poverty and, according to a 2019 World Bank study, an insistence that the bride should be a virgin. It frequently puts a halt to the girl's schooling.

"Girls tend to leave schools when they get married which makes them financially dependent on their husbands and later they have fewer opportunities to...