President Zurabishvili: Women Always Played a Crucial Role in Georgian History
Salome Zurabishvili, the first female President of Georgia, this week highlighted the important role women have played in the history of the country.
In her interview with French media outlet Le Figaro, Zurabishvili noted that the claims of some analysts that Georgian society was very conservative for a long time, and that women stayed at home while men worked, are incorrect.
“This is a stereotype. Women have always played a very important role in the history of Georgia. First of all, Georgia was converted to Christianity by a woman. Then, during the Georgian Renaissance and the Golden Age, the country was ruled by a woman titled "King." All of this has had a huge impact on the relationship between men and women,” she said.
The President noted that even in the Soviet times, everyone worked equally and after the collapse of the SSSR, the role of Georgian women was strengthened.
“Women took over the country's destiny and adapted to the reality of the industrial breakdown. Georgia was lost, without a strong economy, standing before a world which was opening its door. Men had the mission to protect the country in olden times, and afterwards had to try to rediscover their places,” she added.
Asked if this is an incentive for domestic violence in the country, Zurabishvili said it is mainly connected to the fact that men do not want to lose their “rank,” adding one of the main examples of this is seen in emigration, where the majority of leavers are women who send their salaries back to their men, who stay in Georgia.
Regarding the lack of women in Georgian politics, the President said that the number of women in Parliament is not impressive and amounts to only 15% of MPs.
“However, I’m against gender quotas, which my female colleagues have perceived very badly. In my opinion, the lack of women in Parliament is further explained by the fact that politics is not yet an attractive field for women. For a Georgian woman, medicine, work in an international organization and law are more attractive fields than fighting for politics. Nevertheless, the Georgian government does boast five female ministers,” she noted.
The President also underlined that being a woman has never been an obstacle for her to become successful and competitive in politics.
“When I went to the French Foreign Ministry, I was pregnant and unmarried. It did not cause any problems,” she said.
Zurabishvili became the first female President of Georgia in November 2018. She was born on 18 March 1952 in Paris into a family of Georgian immigrants. In 1974-2004, she worked in the diplomatic service for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France in several embassies and with French representations to international organizations (UN, NATO, the Western European Union, OSCE).
In 2003, she was appointed as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of France to Georgia and in 2004-2005 she served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. After leaving the post, she founded the political party ‘Georgia’s Way.’
In 2006-2015, she was an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, France, and from 2010 to 2015 she led the United Nations Security Council monitoring group on sanctions against Iran. In 2016, she became an independent Deputy in the Parliament of Georgia.
During the 2018 Georgian presidential election, Zurabishvili ran as an independent candidate supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party. She prevailed in a run-off vote against candidate of the united opposition, Grigol Vashadze, and assumed the President’s Office in December 2018.
By Thea Morrison