Conference “Gender Equality Promotion in the Process of Evidence-Based Policy Making Serbia“ : Inclusion

The Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit in cooperation with the European Institute for Gender Equality and the Statistical Institute of the Republic of Serbia organised a conference entitled: “Promotion of Gender Equality in the Evidence-Based Public Policy Making in Serbia“ on the 14 and 15 October 2014. The conference aimed to promote evidence-based public policy development in the area of gender equality and sharing of experiences between Serbia and the EU. A more specific objective was to initiate the process of adoption of the Gender Equality Index in Serbia. The special guests were Zorana Mihajlović, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, H.E. Michael Davenport, Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Therese Murphy, the Head of Operations and experts from the European Institute for Gender Equality.

On the second day of the meeting – 15 October – expert training was held for statisticians and experts in the area of gender statistics and data for adoption of the Gender Equality Index. The training was held by the experts Anna Manca and Irene Lioboo from the European Institute for Gender Equality.

In her opening speech, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlović stated that gender equality matters not only because it is guaranteed by the Constitution but as it is the key for sustainable development of our country. She said that the Government will, in the forthcoming period, focus on creating an environment where all the citizens would have equal employment opportunities, and that toghether with the local governments and civil sector it would work on equalising the rights of women and men. Gender equality represents one of the priorities of the Government, and all the ministries will pool around this effort.

Gender Equality Index is something that we need and the Government and the competent agencies will support its measurement in Serbia in the period ahead.

Less than a decade ago, there were few women in the Serbian Parliament and today they make up 30 % of the total number of MPs. However, this is still insufficient. There are only eight women in the Government of Serbia, but two of the three deputy prime ministers are women, showing that the things are slowly moving for the better. Yet another priority of the Government is to promote higher participation of women in the managing boards of public companies.

The European Union is preparing regulations that would set out that 40% of women must be in the management boards of big companies It would be preferrable also for Serbia to involve more women in the work of these boards. At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that women make eight out of ten illiterate citizens aged 65+, and that 43 women lost lives to family violence this year.

Gender equality should be ensured not only because of the EU accession of the country but because it is imperative for progress of a society and a community.

H.E. Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Michael Davenport said that EU supports the adoption of the Gender Equality Index in Serbia as it is one of the key instruments in public policy development from the aspect of gender equality in the course of EU accession. According to him, Gender Equality Index is important as it will ensure comprehensive measurement of gender equality, the results of which are easy to understand and share while at the same time providing an instrument of support to the decision makers when assessing how far is a certain Member State from achieving gender equality.

Gender equality is one of the key principles of the EU, but also an imperative of economic growth and social cohesion in all the modern societies. It is also one of the important elements of human rights and a part of a series of chapters that Serbia will negotiate with the EU.

The Ambassador stressed that only 4% of women headed big companies, and that 16 % of them were members of managerial boards of companies. Women continue to be discriminated against in employment with an average of 16.2% lower salaries for the same jobs and are more vulnerable to poverty than men.

H.E. Ambassador Michael Davenport reminded the participants that coordination of mechanisms for gender equality and resources are the obligations that Serbia assumed by ratifying international documents and said that he was certain that the Gender Equality Index would help Serbia in combating the burning problems women in Serbia face such as discrimination, gender based violence, poverty and social exclusion. He expressed his strong support to the Government of Serbia in the domain of gender equality and adoption of the Gender Equality Index in Serbia.

Therese Murphy, Head of Operations of the European Institute for Gender Equality stressed that, provided Serbia implements the Gender Equality Index, it would be the first country outside the EU and in the region that would be using it. She noted that efforts to establish gender equality constituted a change in organisation, for if gender equality failed to become an integral part of public policies, these would not respond to the needs of 50% of the population constituted by women. If there is no national level coordination of gender equality, it will neither be included in public policies nor will it be taken into account. The Head of Operations stressed that the European Institute for Gender Equality strongly supports Serbia in the process of adoption of the Gender Equality Index, emphasising that this is an important step in the country’s EU integration process.

Conclusions:

Gender equality represents an imperative of the society and the community and it contributes to economic growth and social cohesion;
Gender equality will be one of the priorities of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and all the ministries will invest efforts to achieve it;
Gender equality is one of the key principles of EU and an obligation of Serbia on its accession path;
Gender equality is a horisontal domain that should become an integral part of public policies impolemented, and it must be coordinated at the national level;
Specific programmes for promotion of gender equality and establishing equality of men and women must be put in place;
Gender Equality Index is one of the elementary instruments in the process of public policy creation from the gender equality perspective and in the couse of the EU integrations. It is very important for Serbia to adopt this Index in order to implement policies seeking to achieve greater evidence-based gender equality and for equalising the rights of men and women, in particular in the area of employment and decision-making;
By adopting the Gender Equality Index, Serbia will become the first country in the region and outside the EU that will be calculating and using it for the purpose of development of evidence-based public policies;
Cooperation of all institutions at national and local level, civil society organisations, international organisations, the European Union and the European Institute for Gender Equality needs to be pursued.

To download the agenda of the conference, click here.

To download presentations of speakers, click here: