Conference begins today, June 22

The fifth anniversary of the Coalition gives us a chance to evaluate not only the Coalition’s history, but the dynamics of the entire women’s movement of Georgia. To study the movement’s tendencies, to analyze its achievements and failures, the Conference participants list includes not only the members of the Coalition but also the representatives of state structures, leaders of non-governmental sector, social unions, political parties, representatives of international organizations, and guests from different countries.

Five years is not a long term; however, during this period, women’s movement managed to achieve quite a lot: two structures were formed and are presently working at the state level – the Consultation Council on Gender Equality and the State Commission on Gender equality are aimed at establishing equal opportunities for women. Both structures were formed under the initiative and active participation of Coalition members and their colleagues from non-governmental sector. Series of legislative norms were adopted in our country; they are designed to protect women from violence, to strengthen their status within society. Important steps were made in order to implement important international agreements on achieving gender equality. However, women yet do not have equal opportunities for self-realization, professional development, access to management. Moreover, presently we see threatening tendencies, such as: feminization of poverty, increase of women’s unemployment and rise of violence. This is reality, which gets more severe as the time goes by.