“A Woman for One Day” by Matuljicious in Lipa: an event that opened space for conversation, experience, and mutual understanding
The second edition of the event “A Woman for One Day” by Matuljicious, held from March 18 to 20, 2026, at the “Lipa Remembers” Memorial Centre, showed that even a small community can open up major social topics if it shapes them thoughtfully, inclusively, and with a clear message. The three-day programme, organised by the Matulji Municipality Tourist Board and the “Lipa Remembers” Memorial Centre, was not merely occasional content connected to International Women’s Day, but a carefully designed whole that brought together art, personal testimonies, education, and shared experience. It is precisely in that combination that lies the reason why the event attracted different generations of visitors and opened questions that are still far too often pushed to the margins in public discourse. Instead of a one-dimensional approach, the programme offered several angles on the position of women in society: from the intimacy of the body and ageing, through social expectations and invisible pressures, all the way to health, intergenerational solidarity, and the role of men in understanding women’s experience. At a time when public discourse on equality is often reduced to slogans or short-lived campaigns, Lipa offered content these days that was both symbolic and concrete.
A place of remembrance as a space for contemporary dialogue
The choice of the “Lipa Remembers” Memorial Centre for such a programme is not accidental, nor is it merely a logistically suitable venue. According to the official description of the centre, it is an institution opened in April 2015 on the site of the former memorial museum, with the mission of preserving the memory of Lipa’s wartime suffering and permanently warning of the consequences of violence, deprivation of rights, and social destruction. The centre preserves the memory of the tragedy of April 30, 1944, when the village lost 269 residents, mostly women, children, and elderly people, but at the same time it also functions as a place that connects contemporary social issues with fundamental questions of dignity, human rights, and community. That is precisely why a programme dedicated to women gains additional weight in such a space. It does not remain at the level of symbolism, but reminds us that every discussion of equality, discrimination, or social invisibility has very real consequences in everyday life. When women’s rights are discussed in a space born out of a culture of remembrance, the message becomes clearer: a community that wants to be more just must know and remember, but also have the courage to open topics that were silenced for a long time.
In that sense, “A Woman for One Day” naturally fit into the broader identity of the people of Matulji, that is, Matuljicious, the platform through which the Matulji Municipality Tourist Board in recent years has presented the local offer not only through gastronomy and the experience of the place, but also through content that carries cultural and social value. The official pages of the Tourist Board show that Matuljicious in 2026 is also conceived as a broader framework for various events, workshops, and local stories. Within that framework, an event about women does not appear as a passing exception, but as part of a recognisable content policy that connects the local community, heritage, education, and contemporary themes.
A programme that did not remain at a declarative level
According to the available information from the organisers, the second edition of the event was conceived so as not to speak about women in the abstract, but through topics that directly touch everyday life. The programme opened with the artistic project “Afterparty” by author Milijana Babić, with an exhibition and the presentation of a book, and the focus of interest was menopause, ageing, and female identity. These are topics that in the public sphere are still often treated with discomfort, simplification, or superficial humour, although they shape the lives of a vast number of women. In the domestic public space there is still much more content about idealised youth than about the experience of physical and emotional changes that come with age, so such an opening to the programme had both an artistic and a social function. Instead of reducing menopause to a stereotype or a private inconvenience, the project positioned it as a legitimate topic of conversation, experience, and public reflection. In this way, space was opened for more honest speech about the female body, about changes that society often expects women to carry quietly and without visibility, but also about the way identity changes through the years.
The continuation of the programme brought a workshop intended for older women, which is a particularly important step forward at a time when older women in public programmes are often reduced to a statistical category, while they are rarely truly included as active bearers of experience. A safe space for the exchange of impressions, memories, and personal insights is in such formats just as important as any formal panel. It makes it possible for experience to cease being a private matter of an individual and become part of a shared social story. In Lipa, that is exactly what happened: instead of older age being treated as a period of withdrawal from public life, it was presented as a stage of life in which knowledge, endurance, and life perspective have special value.
Men did not remain on the sidelines
One of the most striking segments of the event was the interactive challenge for men entitled “The Moment I Realised”. The very idea of that segment shows how much the programme wanted to move away from the usual models in which questions of equality are presented as an exclusively “women’s issue”. Already in earlier announcements of the first edition of the event, the organisers stressed that achieving gender equality is a shared responsibility of women and men and that, for a real understanding of women’s position, it is necessary for men to recognise experiences that are often invisible to them. This year’s edition continued precisely along that line. Through personal testimonies and publicly spoken moments in which certain men became aware of the pressures, expectations, or injustices women encounter, the challenge opened space for a different type of public conversation.
The value of such a format is not only in the fact that it “includes men”, but in the fact that it encourages them toward self-reflection instead of declarative support. That is an important difference. In public, it is not difficult to utter a general sentence about equality, but it is much more demanding to admit that one’s own understanding of women’s experience was built slowly, through someone’s concrete experience, discomfort, injustice, or realisation. It is precisely such moments that often change the social atmosphere more than big slogans. When the audience hears a personal testimony, the topic leaves the abstract domain and moves into the space of everyday life, into what happens in the family, at work, on public transport, in language, and in habits. In this way, equality ceases to be perceived as someone else’s agenda and begins to be understood as a matter of relationships between people.
From health to the symbolism of shared growth
The final day of the event was marked by the symbolic planting of a young linden tree, a gesture that connected the memorial dimension of the place with a view toward the future. In a place like Lipa, which carries a strong historical experience and a culture of remembrance, such an act cannot be read merely as a decorative ending to the programme. In this case, planting a tree was a message of continuity, resilience, and shared growth, and at the same time a sign that social conversations do not end with the last item of the programme. They continue in the community, in the space, in the relationships between people. Here, Lipa became both a symbol of duration and a sign that social sensitivity, if genuinely nurtured, can take root.
Equally important was the educational segment dedicated to health. The workshop “Healthy and Strong after 40: Practical Steps for Vitality”, by author Zorana Jagodić, further emphasised that care for women must not remain only at the level of principled support. Health, vitality, and quality of life after the age of forty are topics that in the media and public campaigns often remain between two extremes: on the one hand the superficial industry of “eternal youth”, and on the other serious health issues that are spoken about only when the problem becomes major. That is precisely why workshops that offer practical steps and informed encouragement are important for the local community. They remind us that women’s health concerns not only medicine, but also the availability of information, time for oneself, social support, and the right to a good quality of life in all life stages.
The warmth of togetherness as part of the message
The event did not end formally, but in an atmosphere that was in line with the recognisable Matuljicious identity: with socialising, a tasting of local wines from the Kapić winery, and desserts from the Zvončarnica pastry shop. That ending was not a passing addition to the programme, but its important extension. After topics that can be difficult, intimate, and emotionally demanding, it is precisely the informal encounter that often becomes the space where impressions are arranged, experiences are shared without restraint, and the programme’s messages continue to live outside the official schedule. In such moments, it becomes clear how much local events can have a broader social effect than the event itself. They do not produce only content, but also a sense of belonging, trust, and readiness to continue the conversation.
That is why it is important to note that “A Woman for One Day” did not build a tone of conflict, but a tone of encounter. This does not mean avoiding problems, on the contrary. The programme opened topics that are still sensitive: menopause, ageing, social expectations, emotional burden, health, invisible pressures, and the need for men to listen actively. But it opened them in a format that does not close the door to the audience, but invites it to participate, learn, and reflect. In this lies the broader value of the event as well. Instead of dividing the audience into those who “already understand” and those who “still need to understand”, a space was created in which it was possible to come, hear, admit, compare experiences, and leave with at least one new thought.
What programmes like this mean for the local community
For Matulji and Lipa, an event like this has several levels of meaning. The first is cultural: it shows that programmes arising from local initiative can be relevant in content and socially engaged without losing accessibility. The second is educational: topics that are often perceived as “personal” or “private” enter the public space and become a legitimate subject of conversation. The third is communal, perhaps the most important: different generations, experiences, and perspectives meet in the same place without the need to smooth over or conceal differences. It is precisely in such encounters that what is lacking in many larger communities is created – the feeling that important issues can be discussed directly, without cynicism and without distance.
From an organisational point of view, the event also confirms that cooperation between cultural institutions and tourist boards does not have to end with the promotion of a destination in the narrow sense. When such cooperation is well designed, it can produce a programme that strengthens the identity of a place, but also its social relevance. With this edition, Matulji sent a message that a local community can simultaneously nurture heritage, develop its experiential offer, and open serious public topics. That is no small thing, especially at a time when cultural programmes are often assessed exclusively by numbers, rapid reach, or promotional usability.
“A Woman for One Day” by Matuljicious is therefore more than a successful event. It is an example of how culture, education, and shared experience can be turned into a tool of social understanding. During those three days, Lipa once again showed that a space of remembrance can also be a space of contemporary dialogue, that a local community can speak about big issues without grand poses, and that empathy, when it is given form and place, is not imposed but naturally grows among people.
Sources:- - Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka – official page of the “Lipa Remembers” Memorial Centre with the announcement of the event “A Woman for One Day” and basic information about the centre (link)
- - Municipality of Matulji – official description of the “Lipa Remembers” Memorial Centre, its mission, history, and the context of Lipa’s suffering (link)
- - Matulji Municipality Tourist Board – official page of the Matuljicious 2026 project as a framework for events and local happenings (link)
- - ArtKvart – announcement of an earlier edition of the event with an explanation of the concept, the goal of involving men, and the challenge “The Moment I Realised” (link)
- - Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka – separate post “A Woman for One Day” in the news archive of the Memorial Centre (link)
Find accommodation nearby
Creation time: 2 hours ago