The „Big Job/ Big Deal” initiative, supported by the Bulgarian Fund for Women, was launched a few months ago. “Big Deal/ Big Job” connects artists and representatives of socially important work sectors. It focuses on labor issues within feminized labor sectors, which are often underpaid and stigmatized as of secondary importance.
Some of the working professions with which the project is engaged are: cleaning staff, nurses, seamstresses, social workers, babysitters, housewives. Most of the above are classified as “staff employed in services for the population” and according to the National Statistical Institute are among the lowest paid classes of work, with an average wage of BGN 2.89 per hour. These are also professions that are disproportionately occupied by women. The vast majority of these services also fall under the definition of “first-line profession”. In the last year, we have also seen a sharp outflow of women from the labor market and their transfer to the domestic sphere, where they perform care work without pay.
On the occasion of May 1 – The International Labor Day, the initiators of the campaign organized a workshop, during which they made a meeting between five artists and five workers. During the meeting, the participants exchanged their experiences. The workers told a lot about their professions, specific challenges and features. They also talked about all the things that motivate and satisfy them, about the things that make their job a “big deal”.
Inspired by their stories, the artists Veronika Belcheva, Zhana Mitkova, Marieta Kabadjova, Milena Filipova and Iva Tokmakchieva created illustrations that are to be downloaded or freely used for your own campaign, gift, protest poster, home decoration or other. In the link below you can see all the creative visions, as well as a presentation of their authors.
You can download the illustrations HERE
From 13 to 26 May in the gallery Plus Tova it was organized an exhibition of works created within the project.
The “Big Deal/ Big Job” project is implemented by Rossena Ivanova, a participant in the Feminist Boot Camp 2020 of the BFW, in partnership with Dobromira Terpesheva. The initiative is financially supported by the Bulgarian Fund for Women.
