At the start of this week's sitting, Family Affairs Minister Jadranka Kosor outlined some of 146 measures incorporated in the document, such as the promotion of the protection of women's rights, steps necessary to stop family violence, the creation of equal conditions on the labour market and the struggle against stereotypes.
She presented some figures showing that women still face discrimination in Croatian society.
For instance, women account for 60 percent of unemployed Croatians. When they work, they receive smaller salaries by 20 percent than their male colleagues for the same job. In Croatia's top 100 companies, only six percent of senior managers are women.
Therefore, the national policy plans to help create equal conditions for the employment of both women and men. Some measures are financial support to employers who employ target groups of unemployed women, campaigns promoting advantages of flexible working hours and additional training and courses for women who have been on the dole for more than three years.
Speaking of women's representation in law-making bodies and decision-making processes, Kosor said that in the Sabor, women account for 21 percent of MPs and 31 percent of the current government's members are women. However, they are more poorly represented at local levels. For instance, only 11 percent of town and city mayors are women and women-councillors in local assemblies account for 13 percent.