jorgovanka tabakovic : the importance of women and gender equality speech by dr jorgovanka tabakovic, governor of the national bank of serbia, at the conference organized by the official monetary and financial institutions forum, on the occasion of the launch of the global public investor gender balance index, london, 7 march 2018. * * * ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues, 1. know thyself, 2. nothing in excess, 3. make a pledge and mischief is nigh. the inscription on the entrance of apollo ’ s temple in delphi with these three rules is the key to a successful life, if success is measured by satisfaction with oneself, and others ’ satisfaction with us. however, these three commandments are highly illustrative of the woman and her role in society today. what do we want as individuals, what is our accomplishment, what are we ready to sacrifice in achieving the selected objective, and is every sacrifice for the fulfilment of that objective necessary and justified? and do we know how to remain masters of our peace, our happiness, without promising too much because we are offered the chance to participate in the game? as the end of february is near and 8 march draws closer, the titles of high - brow world weeklies and magazines usually resemble one another. as a rule, the gist of these articles is centred around the difficulty of striking a balance between motherhood and career. why is the choice always or, black or white, career or motherhood, as i wish or not at all? balance is the key to success. a career or motherhood? motherhood is not inevitably a family. but family is both an obligation and support. how have we sacrificed family in favour of services? instead of solidarity within our homes, family and generations, we ’ ve got paid services – of childcare, care for our parents, care for the elderly. we now have lonely beings who, in a race for individuality and acknowledgment, have lost a measure and, thus, a clear objective for achievement. not all relationships are based on purchase and sale transactions. not everything can be bought. it is therefore necessary to preserve humanity, self - respect and the respect of others. being a woman is wonderful. being a mother is even more wonderful. i testify this with my experience with three grown - up children – two daughters and a son. they are good and educated people that i am proud of

, including monetary policy operations, financial market instruments, and interbank and customer payments. last year, target2 processed a daily average of about 342, 000 payments, representing a daily average value of €1. 7 trillion. it therefore plays a key role in ensuring the smooth conduct of monetary policy, the correct functioning of financial markets and banking, and financial stability. by supporting financial integration and the implementation of our monetary policy, target2 represents a cornerstone of our monetary union. in the target2 system each eurosystem national central bank ( ncb ) has a debtor or creditor position ( a balance ) vis - a - vis the ecb, which keeps track of the money entering and leaving each participant country for accounting purposes. the target balances of individual ncbs therefore merely reflect the settlement of cross - border payments executed via target2. payments undertaken as part of the asset purchase programme are also settled via target2. app implementation is distinct from that of refinancing operations because it can entail immediate cross - border payments. indeed, around 80 % of total ncbs ’ purchases have been by financial market parties that are not resident in the same country as the purchasing central banks, thereby impacting target balances. moreover, the sellers of the assets purchased under the app can reinvest the proceeds, inducing a cross - border rebalancing of their portfolio. this phenomenon, referred to as international portfolio rebalancing, can prompt further changes in target balances, following the same logic i have just outlined. all this notwithstanding, we have seen target2 has been instrumental in the smooth passthrough of our monetary policy measures to the financing conditions of households and businesses. conclusions let me conclude. the eu treaties gave the ecb the primary objective of maintaining price stability in the euro area as a whole. this is the best contribution we can make to the welfare of our fellow citizens. ensuring price stability is a precondition for the euro area economy to achieve a balanced growth path that can be sustained in the long run. but this is not the only condition. achieving a balanced growth path also requires to strengthen the euro area ability to deal with 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches risks, whenever they will materialise. the current economic outlook provides a unique opportunity to reduce the likelihood of severe shocks by strengthening the economic structures of member states, with policy actions both on the fiscal and structural side. at the same time, boosting the resili