Although she received the mandate of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality at the end of October, Višnja Ljubičić’s hands are already full. In the Parliament’s newest convocation there is a record low number of women, while, at the same time, the future ministers, especially those prone to sexist remarks, will be kept under scrutiny. Regarding the number of women in the newly elected Parliament, the Ombudswoman pointed out the bad statistics: there are now only 19.8% of women in Parliament, which is the lowest percentage since 2000. She also stressed that the number of 30 women in Parliament will grow slightly after some of the male party colleagues go into the executive branch and send their female colleagues to Parliament. Source: T-portal
News
Slavenka Drakulić on Women’s Democratic Party
Slavenka Drakulić’s commentary on Tportal entitled “Women’s Party That Hates Women” refers to the electoral program of Women’s Democratic Party, concluding that it does not differ in any way from other parties’ programs, seeing as it does not take into account the specific needs of women.
“Women in Croatia have certain specific needs and problems. That does not mean they need a party of their own, but it does mean that every party should seriously consider these issues. Especially the one that emphasizes women in their name. There is no doubt that such a party – even with the lack of consciousness on the specific needs of women in society – would contribute to raising awareness on these issues. And even if it did not achieve great success, it might at least shake up the prevailing belief that women have no special privileges. However, they should have them.”
Roundtable on the subject of balanced representation in politics
The roundtable entitled “Parliamentary Elections 2011 – How to reach a balanced representation of women and men in the Croatian Parliament?” was held on October 17, 2011, at Hotel Dubrovnik in Zagreb, organized by the Office for Gender Equality. As part of the event, the Center for Women’s Studies’ representative Zorica Siročić presented the campaign Ad-acta Stop Gender Discrimination on Gender Lists, which is being implemented in partnership with the CEE Network for Gender Issues and in collaboration with the Serbian National Council, and with financial support from the European Union. Along with NGO representatives, the roundtable was attended by Helena Štimac Radin, Head of the Office for Gender Equality, Davor Orlović, member of the State Election Commission of the Republic of Croatia, Renato Kunić, assistant acting editor-in-chief of the Croatian Television, and representatives of the political parties represented in the Croatian Parliament.
For more about the event, see ured-ravnopravnost.hr.
Roundtable announcement – October 25, 2011
The Center for Women’s Studies invites you to the roundtable Gender policies in the context of the forthcoming elections and EU membership which will take place on Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 11AM at Novinarski dom in Zagreb. The roundtable will be held as part of the project AD ACTE – Anti-Discrimination ACtions Towards Equality of women and men which is being implemented in partnership with the CEE Network for Gender Issues and in collaboration with the Serbian National Council, with financial support from the European Union.
The Center invites all interested citizens, and especially reporters, representatives of academia, institutions, civil society and other important social actors to participate and contribute to this roundtable.
Roundtable participants:
Astrid Thors – MP for Swedish People’s Party of Finland
Sonja Lokar – CEE Network for Gender Issues, Slovenia
Josip Šipić – Economic Institute, Zagreb
Ana Lovrin – MP for HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union)
Gordana Sobol – president of the Gender Equality Committee of the Croatian Parliament
Tajana Broz – CESI – Center for Education, Counseling and Research, Zagreb
Moderator: Marjeta Šinko – Center for Women’s Studies / Faculty of Political Science
The event is open to all, and if you are interested in coming, please confirm your attendance at ad-acte@zenstud.hr or by telephone 01/234 5678.