Tbilisi. According to information released by the Women's Movement, on June 21, while reviewing the bill on amendments to the “Election Code of Georgia” of the Organic Law of Georgia through the second reading, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Georgia substantially changed the rule of compiling party (proportional) lists for local self-government elections. As a result of the amendment a political party will be required to compile a party list for all local self-government elections, to be held until 2028, so that at least one out of three candidates is a representative of a different sex. According to the organization, this initiative substantially deteriorates the existing norm of the Electoral Code, which obliges a political party to have every second candidate of a different sex on its list submitted for general elections of local self-government bodies, to be held until 2028. Part of civil society organizations calls on the Parliament not to support the initiated amendment at the plenary session since it is going to weaken representation of women at the local level, hinder achievement of essential equality and fulfillment of international commitments. Read more… Source: The website of the Women’s Movement on a social network

Tbilisi. The present document is a special report of the Public Defender of Georgia developed under the Femicide Monitoring Mechanism and the crimes analyzed in the report are committed in 2019. „Problems related to the complex fight on violence against women and domestic violence and lack of coordination between state agencies is an obstacle for prevention of marginal manifestation of gender violence, femicide. We should underline separately that specific measures in relation to social work in fight on violence against women and domestic violence have not took place and social service is still formally involved in proceeding of cases related to violence against women and domestic violence. Taking mandatory courses focused on violent attitudes and behavior change by abuser is still problematic“. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Samegrelo. UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia, Ms. Sabine Makhli has visited the Crisis Center for the victims of domestic violence and the survivors of violence in the village of Tsaishi, Samegrelo. “The Crisis Center in Tsaishi was launched in 2019 as a result of cooperation between the non-governmental organization "Sakhli" and the local municipality within the framework of the UN Joint Program on Gender Equality, supported by the Swedish Government. The Crisis Center offers psychological, social and economic assistance, as well as provides rehabilitation, medical, legal and referral services to the victims of domestic violence and the survivors of the violence”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Samegrelo. Ms. Sabine Machl, the UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia, met with the local women entrepreneurs and farmers in Zugdidi. “Participants provided information about the current economic situation in the region, the impact of the pandemic on small and medium-size businesses, challenges and needs. The second part of the meeting will be focused on the discussion about the challenges of women entrepreneurs. The women attendees of the meeting lead small and medium size businesses. They developed their business with the support UN Women project "Joint Action for Women's Economic Empowerment in Georgia" funded by the Norwegian Government”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Samegrelo. UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia, Dr. Sabine Machl met with the representatives of local NGOs, IDP and conflict affected women in Anaklia. “The participants discussed the relevance of the localization of the 2018-2020 National Action Plan of Georgia for Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security and participation of IDP and conflict affected women in the decision-making, peace and security processes. The women shared with the UN Resident Coordinator their concerns and challenges as well as their ideas on how to address these”. Read more… Source: The organizations page on the social network

Tbilisi. On May 13, there was conducted a working meeting, organized by the Women's Information Center and aimed to present a working draft of an alternative report on implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as well as to reflect recommendations. “The report is prepared with the involvement of 18 non-governmental organizations and 3 networks, working in the field of gender equality and empowerment of women, and aims to provide the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women with alternative information about rights of women, as stipulated by the Convention, measures taken by the state and progress in Georgia”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. According to information released by the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, it was the 10th anniversary of the Istanbul Convention on May 11. Whom does the Istanbul Convention protect? “The Convention protects life; It brings hope and a sense of security to millions of women and girls. It makes violence against women public. It supports victims to talk, provides professionals with the opportunity to assist and gives girls and women confidence. It protects people from domestic violence, regardless of how the country legally defines family and marriage. It strengthens respect for women and facilitates equality of girls and women”. Read more... Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. According to the Gender Informational Portal, the Permanent Parliamentary Gender Equality Council has taken into account agreements and comments, made at the sitting, and approved the 2021 Action Plan, which outlines six areas of activities of the Council. In particular, Establish main directions of the gender policy of the state; Create and improve legal framework in the field of gender equality; Refine state mechanisms for gender equality; Strengthen the Parliamentary Gender Equality Council institutionally; Raise awareness on gender equality; Monitor implementation of the gender policy of the state. Read more... Source: ginsc.net

Tbilisi. UN Women has analyzed gender and disability related data, existing in Georgia, and developed recommendations for their improvement. “The document contains a recommended minimum set of gender and disability indicators, which can be used, on the one hand, for monitoring of implementation of international and national commitments in the field of gender equality and inclusion of people with disabilities, and, on the other hand, for policy and program planning, monitoring and evaluation by governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations. Besides indicators, the document outlines actions to improve access to quality data on policy planning taking into account gender and disability related needs in Georgia”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Samegrelo. UN Women and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have started promoting the economic empowerment of women farmers in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. „As part of the project “Promoting the Economic Empowerment of Women Farmers through the Support of Farmer Field School (FFS) Approaches”, the representatives of the two UN agencies met with the current and potential partners in the target region and discussed future prospects for cooperation. In particular, the content and goals of the project were introduced to the organizations working on the issues of women’s empowerment in Zugdidi Municipality; a consultation meeting was held with the head of the Social Protection Department, Gogi Revia. As a result, future plans for the cooperation between UN Women and the municipality in raising awareness on one of the components of the project - women’s rights and domestic violence - have been outlined.” Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Tbilisi. Women’s Movement and organizations, working on human rights, respond to information spread on a social network in regard to unbearable working conditions of Georgian models and express their solidarity with all people employed in this field. “Unfortunately, systemic violation and neglect of labor rights still remain the biggest challenge in the country, and the fashion industry is no exception. Although modeling is a standard labor activity, which implies full appliance of labor legislation to this category of employees, it is a fact that models in Georgia do not enjoy even basic labor rights: most of them do not have an employment contract and work with an irregular work schedule in exchange for an inadequate remuneration, while in some cases - without any compensation. ...We consider that it requires a systemic approach by the state to ensure protection of labor rights of those employed in the fashion industry. It is necessary to study this issue in depth and ensure strict supervision of implementation of labor legislation in the field”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source: The website of Women’s Movement on a social network

Tbilisi. On 25th of May Business and Technology University (BTU) will host a virtual employment forum – FEMTECH. “Forum aims to provide employment opportunities to women and girls, who have graduated BTU Coding School. In this way the University tries to support the graduates with employment opportunities in ICT sector. BTU is one of the signatories of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and has already launched a number of interesting initiatives to empower women and girls”. Read more… To register for the forum, please visit the following link… Source: UN Women Georgia’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center presents an article by Mariam Devidze – “Visible or invisible: Climate change and work of rural women”. “Climate change is a global problem that confronts all countries around the world with a lot of challenges. According to a statement made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the consequences of climate change hamper the implementation of agricultural activities and water supply, which has an impact on such issues as food safety, availability, and retention of prices. It should be noted that the main contributors to climate change are rich countries and populations, while its detrimental consequences affect mostly poor countries (including Georgia) and marginalized as well as vulnerable groups of the population, and there are also women among them. As a result, social and global inequality is furthermore exacerbated”, - is stated in the article. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. With the support of UN Women, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia organized an information sharing meeting with the CSOs on „Geneva International Discussions and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda“. “At the meeting, the representatives of the women’s CSOs raised issues related to IDP and conflict-affected women and offered specific views and initiatives to Georgian participants of Geneva International Discussions on ways to promote inclusive peace process in the country”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Samegrelo. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) protected a juvenile who was sexually harassed in a public place. “Zugdidi District Court confirmed the fact of sexual harassment committed against a juvenile and fined the responsible person GEL 600. The person, subject to the administrative liability, applied to the Kutaisi Court of Appeals contesting the court decision, however, the Court of Appeals also shared the factual and legal reasoning, provided in the first-instance court decision, and left the decision unchanged. GYLA carried out this case with the support of USAID/PROLoG”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. “I am an heiress too”, a new campaign of both Sapari and “Naambobi” web platform, calls on people to overcome gender prejudices during distribution of inheritance. “I am an heiress too”, a Facebook campaign, is basically based on life stories of respondents in regard to distribution of inheritance and exposes many of unjust traditions that are rooted in our customary law or culture. Read more… Source: sapari.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center presents an article by Tamta Melashvili: “Beyond emancipation and exploitation: Women at collective farms in Soviet Georgia”. “This article serves as my attempt to develop a rough idea of how women worked and, in rare cases, succeeded to be promoted in collective farms in Georgia in practice, how they maneuvered when promoted within male-dominated authority fields, and what their agency was like. I will try to adjust experience of Izolda beyond dichotomous representation of a woman emancipated in the communist regime or a woman exploited by the same regime (Fidelis, 2010). Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Women’s Movement expresses unconditional solidarity with Ninutsa Makashvili. We hope that the state of Georgia and society will be united in fight against violence, while each attempt of its justification will be strongly condemned. “A few days ago, on the air of Rustavi 2, Ninutsa Makashvili, an actress, spoke about her painful personal experience, according to which years ago she became a victim of systematic domestic violence committed by Beso Zanguri, an actor, her then-husband. In our country, where domestic violence is unfortunately a frequent occurrence, while society is still insufficiently intolerant of this type of crime, victims need to mobilize great strength and courage in order to talk about their experiences openly and publicly. In this reality, even more appreciated and exemplary is the decision of Ninutsa Makashvili to speak loudly about the violence committed by Beso Zanguri, her ex-husband, an actor of Rustaveli National Theater. We believe that her courage will be contagious and become a motivation for many women. It is unacceptable for us that Beso Zanguri, a person exposed in a dangerous crime of domestic violence, who has neither been held responsible for nor expressed any regrets, stands on the stage of Rustaveli National Theater and continues his career as if nothing has happened. Therefore, we demand to have Beso Zanguri quit his professional activities in the theater until the investigation in the case is completed...” Read more... Source: The website of the Movement on a social network

Guria. Through the joint efforts of the Human Rights Secretariat of the Administration of the Government of Georgia, the UNFPA Georgia Country Office and the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, Women’s History Month was celebrated in the municipalities of Chokhatauri, Ozurgeti and Lanchkhuti, in cooperation with the Office of the Governor of Guria, with the support of the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia and the European Union. Within the framework of the events, there was a meeting held between Giorgi Sakhokia, Governor of Guria, and Lela Bakradze, Head of the UNFPA Georgia Country Office, to discuss future cooperation in the field of human rights, promotion of gender equality and youth empowerment. Read more… Source: georgia.unfpa.org

Tbilisi. On March 17, 19 and 26, 2021, the Public Defender’s Office, in cooperation with the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, held meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Prosecutor’s Office and Lawyers’ Association on issues relating to the administration of justice on sexual violence against women. “Recommendations and key findings of the Administration of Justice on Sexual Violence against Women in Georgia, a report drawn up by the Public Defender’s Office (with the assistance of the Council of Europe) were introduced to the prosecutors, investigators and lawyers. Participants talked about their practices and challenges relating to the investigation of cases of sexual abuse, criminal prosecution and consideration of such cases in the court”. Read more… Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. POWER - Promoting Opportunities for Women’s Economic Resilience is a project of the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), which aims to explore what needs women have in business today. Within the framework of the project, the organization offers activities that serve to share knowledge and experience.  The study “Women in business: Opportunities and challenges of the pandemic” contain a review of general situation of women entrepreneurs, starting business as well as opportunities and challenges of its operation, problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, recommendations that need to be considered in order to ensure common support of activities of female entrepreneurs and overcome negative economic consequences entailed by COVID-19 in Georgia.  The project is supported by the Good Governance Fund of the British Embassy.  Read more…  Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) presents a translation from the collection – “Social Reproduction, Women’s Work and Domestic Labor”. “At the turn of the 21st century, heavy burdens fall on women, alongside undeniably empowering changes. These burdens include, among others, the double day, absent husbands, isolation from kin, and single motherhood without adequate social support. In short, women's experience still points to the question of theorizing domestic labor and its role in capitalist social reproduction”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge