ZAGREB, July 8 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament is discussing a bill on gender equality which is aimed at eliminating underrepresentation of women at responsible positions and in public and political life as well as sexual
discrimination.
ZAGREB, July 8 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament is discussing a bill
on gender equality which is aimed at eliminating
underrepresentation of women at responsible positions and in
public and political life as well as sexual discrimination. #L#
Women account for 47% of all employees under the age of 50 in all
sectors, the ratio of male and female managers is 100:6, women are
underrepresented both in state and public institutions and account
for only 23% of all parliamentary deputies.
This was stated by Labour and Social Welfare Minister Davorko
Vidovic who introduced the bill on gender equality, which is
discussed under urgent procedure.
The bill envisages the establishment of a government office for
gender equality, an expert service in charge of activities
promoting gender equality.
Under the bill, all state bodies and legal persons with public
authorities will have to adopt action plans for the establishment
and promotion of gender equality.
Political parties will have to adopt, every four years, action
plans on equal representation of women and men in party bodies and
on party rosters for parliamentary and local elections.
The bill defines and bans sexual discrimination and gives persons
who are discriminated against the possibility to seek damages for
sexual discrimination before courts.
The bill was supported by all party benches, but the Croatian
Democratic Union and the Croatian Party of Right/Croatian
Christian Democratic Union benches opposed its adoption under
urgent procedure, proposing as many as three readings.
The benches supported the bill's basic idea about creating
conditions for equal representation of women and men in the
employment structure and in political and public life, as well as
the ban on sexual discrimination. MPs warned that women accounted
for 55% of all unemployed persons and received pensions which on
average were 16% lower than men's pensions, that their work was
evaluated and salaries paid according to different criteria, and
that a society was considered democratic only if it guaranteed
gender equality.
MPs also warned about denigrating comments about women that were
made by politicians, from parliamentary deputies to government
members.
(hina) rml sb