South East European NGOs Urge EU Help in Improving Gender Equality in the Region
BRUSSELS—Women in South East Europe have yet to attain full gender equality and are at severe disadvantage compared to their counterparts in the EU, said a new report released today by the Open Society Institute.
The report, On the Road to the EU: Monitoring Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in South Eastern Europe, reveals widespread and overt gender discrimination throughout the region. It is being presented today to the European Parliament in Brussels by a coalition of local NGOs and experts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo).
On the Road to the EU, which comes as some of the countries in South East Europe are set to join the EU or begin accession negotiations, provides a much-needed assessment of how the region is complying with EU standards on gender equality.
“Women in the region are still struggling against resurgent patriarchy, poverty, and nationalism,” said Sonja Licht of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence. “They are far behind their counterparts in the EU, where mechanisms to protect women’s rights help ensure gender equality.”
Although many countries in South East Europe over the past three years have made progress in bringing national laws on gender equality into line with the EU, much remains to be done. Among other findings, the report shows that more than half the women in the region are without jobs, with the highest rate of unemployment—70 percent—in Kosovo. In Croatia, which is expected to join the EU in 2010, the number of employed women has fallen by about 6.5 percent since 2000.
The statistics on gender pay gaps are equally troubling. On average, women in South East Europe make 25 percent less than men, with the difference rising to 80 percent in Kosovo.
Other affronts to women’s rights in the workplace persist. In Macedonia, for example, the law does not prevent employers from discriminating against pregnant women and mothers. And throughout much of South East Europe, women who return from maternity leave have no guarantee in resuming their previous position.
Gender and age discrimination in advertisements remains widespread in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro. In Albania, for example, most advertisements for private-sector secretarial, assistant, or sales positions list a preference for women under 25, while those for managerial positions ask for men to apply.
Minority women are at even greater disadvantage. The report found that Romani women in some countries face rates of unemployment that are four times higher than those of non-Romani women. In most countries, Romani women can only find work in the unregulated informal sector, which provides no social security.
Zita Gurmai, a Hungarian member of the European Parliament and vice-chairperson of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, which hosted today’s event, said, “The EU must make sure that accession negotiations translate into real improvements for women throughout South Eastern Europe.”
Note to Editors
On the Road to the EU: Monitoring Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in South Eastern Europe was prepared as part of the Open Society Institute Network Women’s Program’s Bringing the EU Home Project.
Reports were prepared by national experts and by the following partner organizations: Gender Alliance for Development Center, Albania; Woman and Society Center, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Women’s Human Rights Group B.a.B.e.—Be active. Be emancipated—Croatia; Kosovar Gender Studies Center, Kosovo; Akcija Zdruzenska, Macedonia; Women’s Program of the Foundation Open Society Institute-Representative Office, Montenegro; and Reconstruction Women’s Fund, Serbia. The Roma women’s fact sheets were prepared by 12 young Roma women researchers with support from OSI’s Network Women’s Program and the Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University.