Ingrid Maconald, the resident coordinator of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warned today that BiH has one of the lowest employment rates of women among the workforce, that is, that only 36 percent of women participate in the labor market.
At the extended thematic session of the Commission for Gender Equality of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entitled “Socio-economic issues of empowering women to participate in decision-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, she pointed out that on average, women are paid 20 percent less than men, which is not good. for the economy and the future of the country.
She emphasized that it is an issue that needs to be addressed because it not only negatively affects women, but also the entire society and overall economic development.
“As far as the participation of women in politics is concerned, they have only 20 percent of mandates in Bosnia and Herzegovina. parliament and 30 percent of mandates in municipal assemblies. Local elections are coming this year, we currently have only five female mayors out of a total of 144 mayor positions in the country, so there is a lot of room for improvement to empower and improve women’s participation at the local level,” Macdonald said.
She added that it is necessary to use March 8 to put emphasis on this issue so that women increase their participation in politics and to provide them with as many opportunities as possible in the economic field and so that everyone benefits from it and so that women are equal and productive members of the community.
Sevlid Hurtić, Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, said that it is important to discuss the influence of women in the economy, politics, as well as femicide.
“I think that political parties must also put pressure on their voters, and also present women who are qualified to enter the parliaments and bring good and constructive things for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Hurtić said.
He recalled the cases of femicide in the previous period, stressing that it is necessary to develop society’s awareness of this problem.
“Gender equality is a fundamental value of the European Union, which means that it will be a very important and indispensable part of BiH’s accession to the European Union. Gender equality is not optional, it is imperative for all states that want to become EU members, but also imperative for all states that are already members,” said Swedish Ambassador Johanne Stromquist.
Brian Aggeler, head of the OSCE Mission in BiH, said that he will continue to provide support to the institutions of BiH, in an effort to improve the situation in the field of gender equality in the interest of creating a fairer and more prosperous society.
“In the field of gender equality, significant progress has been achieved thanks to women’s organizations, activists, institutions and organizations that tirelessly advocate for improvement. However, there is still resistance to their work and achieved results,” said Aggeier and added that progress should not be taken lightly and efforts to create a fairer and more equal world should not be abandoned.
On behalf of the host, the Committee for Gender Equality of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mia Karamehić – Abazović stated:
“For women in Bosnia and Herzegovina today, only two components of the system are a matter of life and death. One is security, that which will protect them from abusers, at whose hands they suffer every month, and almost every week. The second is health care, which will enable them to be treated in time, to detect in time those diseases that affect them and that create an economic problem for them and their families and for this country,” said Karamehić-Abazović.
She explained that she is talking about an economic problem because every woman is not only a mother, wife, worker, but also takes care of others, children, husband, sick family members, especially the elderly, without any compensation.
“It is work that is not paid or recognized. It is work that literally turns our women into house slaves, it is work that we as a society must qualify and recognize. At the moment when we have institutions that serve women, that protect women, encourage women and recognize their value, protecting not only their physical integrity but also their health and mental health, we will be able to say that we are truly on the right path,” stressed Karamehić – Abazović, AA writes.
