In his introductory address, National Assembly Speaker Ivica Dacic expressed great interest in the results of the research, hoping that they would give us at least some answers to questions that are pushed in the background in our society, although they concern almost every family and workplace.

"The focus is the position of women in the work environment and especially the obstacles that still stand in their way to expressing their full potential, knowledge and creativity. The term "glass ceiling" perfectly describes the phenomenon that many of our women encounter in their working life - the seemingly open path to advancement and improvement is for some reason hindered or completely closed by a variety of barriers”, said Dacic.

He expressed hope that the research would help to identify the obstacles, so that they could be removed more easily.

"Speaking of state institutions, it took years and great persistence to ensure a certain representation of women by our laws and other regulations, so that today anyone who wants to enter parliament must make sure to put forward a minimum of 40% of women candidates. The situation in the Government is similar, so that today we have about 45% of women in the two highest state bodies. I have been persistently advocating for such solutions for years, not because we want to meet a quota, but because I know very well how important it is to have as many women as possible in the decision-making process, professionals ready to invest their creativity and life experience into public and social interest", stressed the National Assembly Speaker.

MP and President of the Serbian-American Friendship Congress Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic thanked the National Assembly Speaker on behalf of the Congress for supporting this initiative and all that is important for the country’s overall social development and for creating a better environment for further economic, political and democratic development.

"One of the key topics for that is the promotion of women's rights. I hope that today we will come to some conclusions on how to continue and work together on this important topic", said Marinkovic.

Marinkovic also thanked the representatives of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, MPs, representatives of the business community, non-governmental organisations and the media for their support in working on this topic that is of great importance for the entire society.

Deputy Prime Minister and President of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality Prof. Dr Zorana Mihajlovic spoke of one, as she pointed out, devastating fact revealed by the research, and that is that only 4% of women are in managerial positions.

"No one can tell me or convince me that there are not many more women in Serbia who can be managers and presidents and members of supervisory boards", said the Minister. She said that though Serbia has set up the legal framework for gender equality, that is not enough, adding that she hopes the new legislature, both of the National Assembly and the Government, would be more focused on including women in the labour market.

The results of the research were presented in the continuation of the conference, followed by a discussion.