Gender equality must not be declarative, but essential!

CIVIL congratulates all citizens of Republic of Macedonia and the world on International Women’s Day -March 8. At the same time, we alert the public that the fall of Gruevski’s discriminatory regime must not mean a standstill in the fight for maximum gender equality and respect for human rights and freedoms. There are countless more challenges in this field, and at the very start, the Government has not shown enough sensibility for gender equality.

Only four of 22 ministerial positions in the Government, only six of 81 mayoral positions and 43 of 120 parliamentary seats are occupied by women. This is unacceptable! The Government, the institutions at the local and national level, the Parliament and society, all have an obligation for equitable gender representation. This also refers to equitable gender representation of responsible positions from which decisions about policies and practices at the state and local level are made.

CIVIL would like to recommend to the Government, ahead of the government reconstruction, to take more account of gender equality during that process, and also not to stop there.

And overall, CIVIL is demanding from all political parties to recognize gender equality as one of the most important, if not the most important task – to create policies according to which women will receive the place they deserve in all spheres in society and in the country.

Following the long decade in which the woman was humiliated and reduced to mere object and apparatus for reproduction, it is high time to restore the dignity of the woman and for all of us, in solidarity, to make efforts to maximally respect the rights of women in Macedonia.

CIVIL considers the calls for 30 percent women’s participation and representation in politics, that is, in state institutions, to be defeatist and underestimating. We demand at least 50 percent women’s representation in politics and in state institutions, in accordance to their representation in the general population.

Consistent and systematic institutional and social protection of women’s rights, their genuine protection against mobbing, discrimination and domestic violence, decisive measures for sanctioning the violation of gender rights are imperatives of a democratic society.

The role and representation of women must not be declarative, but rather essential!