Work with Dignity for Women
On March 8th a rally was held protesting women’s discriminatory labor conditions in the workplace, attended by numerous NGOs, including the Independent Group of Feminists, Georgian Young Greens, Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center, Women’s Fund in Georgia, Women’s Initiatives Support Group, Women’s Gaze, LGBT Georgia, Vegan Georgia, Anarchofeminists, Group of Radical Lesbians and Partnership for Human Rights. Irregular working hours, low remuneration and life threatening working conditions are just a few of the things Georgian women face today. Because they are women, they may experience sexual harassment at work, have fewer employment opportunities, fail to get paid pregnancy leave or are even dismissed from their jobs when they fall pregnant. 70-80 percent of women do unpaid cleaning work and their representation in politics is only 11 percent.
Marginalized groups like sex workers, LGBT women, women with limited abilities, single mothers and religious and ethnic minority females face more severe problems. Lesbian and bisexual women are subjected to sexual abuse, hate speech and psychological pressure. Religious minority women are unable to fully exercise their labor rights, sex workers have to work in a violent environment since law enforcement agencies and society are indifferent and aggressive toward them due to existing stereotypes. Women with disabilities suffer from limited educational possibilities and an unadapted infrastructure at the work place. Single mothers have troubles due to lack of places in state funded kindergartens and a decreasing number of day care and other service centers.
Eka Imerlishvili, Independent Group of Feminists, spoke to GEORGIA TODAY. “We gathered here today to state that March 8th is Women’s Labor Rights International Day, not only a day for giving flowers. We ask the State and employer bodies to take measures to eliminate discrimination, achievable by creating a system of effective labor inspection and obliging the employer to defend women’s rights.”
A manifesto was signed by all present NGOs during the meeting demanding the government to establish effective labor inspection with a mandate and duty to enforce the labor code and protect labor rights, including stimulating measures for women’s inclusion in male dominated professions. The manifesto also pushes for there to be a legal definition of Parental Leave for women and men, a legal definition and enforcement mechanism for sexual harassment, and petitions the government to change its malice policy of holding short-term business interests over long-term citizen interests and prosperity, asks for employers to be encouraged themselves to protect to human rights and for the government to enact an adequate and effective response when rights are violated. It further asks the government to introduce sexual and gender education in secondary and high schools in order to increase the awareness and sensitivity of the future generation to these issues.
Meri Taliashcili