Opening the sitting, Committee Chairperson Gordana Paunovic-Milosavljevic said that a lot has been done on the normative and institutional level to achieve gender equality in our society, but that it is necessary to raise the decision-makers’ and public awareness of the importance of the topic, as well as allocate the funds needed to achieve the principle of equal opportunities for women and men.

OSCE Mission to Serbia consultants Biljana Maletin and Aleksandra Vladisavljevic presented the results of the survey on Citizens of Serbia on Gender Equality implemented by the Institute of Social Sciences for the needs of the Gender Equality Directorate of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. The survey shows that the citizens recognise the topic of gender equality and have some basic knowledge of it, but that there are still stereotypes and prejudice as regards male and female roles in society. The Committee members were also briefed on the statistic data relating to unemployment among women, difference in income, education perspectives and career advancement.

The sitting also touched upon the inclusion of gender equality perspective in all the phases of policy development, from their creation to implementation. The OSCE Mission to Serbia consultants stressed that it is of key importance to implement the gender equality principle into budget creation as the budget must comply with the needs of both the male and female population in society.

In the continuation, the participants discussed the experience and examples of good practice from European and world parliaments in achieving gender equality, as well as the work and experience of the National Assembly’s Gender Equality Committee.

This was one of three seminars planned within the sittings of the Gender Equality Committee and with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia which should result in the drafting of a gender equality handbook for the MPs.