The Essence of Being

This chapter discusses the ideas expressed to the author by a group of elderly women, in response to her questions about matters of sexuality, conception, childbirth and gender relations. The interviews took place in the region of Skopska Crna Gora in 1995 and the women were born between 1910 and 1925. Recently their proximity to the Serbian border has become a political issue among the population of Skopska Crna Gora who like to identify themselves as Serbian, even though they are Macedonian by nationality. Women and men in Skopska Crna Gora are fulfilling the plan of God; God for them is the essence of being. In this world it is the task of men and women equally to contribute to the passing of essence of being onto future generations. Procreation for these older women then was seen as historically differentiated.