Georgia
Population size and demographic: 3.85 million. 52.9% of the population is female and 47.1% is male
Women at Work
There is a significant difference between men and women’s labour participation rates in Georgia. While men had a rate of around 62% to 67% over the past decade, women’s labour participation rate over the last 10 years stood at around 40% to 46% (1). However, in 2021 the female labor force participation has reached 50.99%, ranking 98 amongst 181 countries (2). Women have a significantly larger presence than men in industries such as Education, Human health and social work, as well as Financial and Insurance activities (1). On a monthly average, Georgian women earn 45% less than Georgian men (3).
When it comes to unemployment, the highest percentage for women is found in the 15-24 age group, with a 35.3% unemployment rate, followed by the 25-34 group, with 16.6%. The total unemployment rate for women in 2018 was 11.2%, a lower percentage than that of men, with 13.9%. (4)
In 2010, 0.5% of the population consisted of female employers and in 2013, around 32% of managers were women. (5) According to a 2013 survey, 88% of people felt that the main breadwinner of a family were women and 46% felt that women had difficulties owning businesses due to domestic responsibilities. (5)
Women’s Participation in Parliament
Women hold 19.05% of seats in national parliament, corresponding to 28 women in a total of 147 members. The secretary general of parliament is Ketevan Kvinikadze, a woman, appointed in 2021. According to the Organic Law on the Political Union of Citizens, a political party whose female members correspond to 30% or above of the total, can receive a 30% bonus over State Budget finances. (6) Women’s right to vote was granted to Georgian women in 1918, as well as the right to stand for election. However, the first woman in parliament only entered in 1990 and in 2001 the first woman speaker was appointed. (6)
According to research and monitoring of 491 candidates’ Facebook pages, Georgian women who ran for office were disproportionately the target of online violence, receiving 40% of all hateful comments even though only 22% of the profiles examined belonged to women. (7)
Violence Against Women
When it comes to domestic violence or violence against women in general, around 6% of Georgian women have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence during their lifetime, with about 1% declaring they’ve experienced it in the last 12 months. The percentage rises significantly when it comes to non-partner sexual violence, of which 27% of women have suffered at least once in their lifetime (8). Child marriage is a huge problem for Georgian girls, with around 14% of girls being married before they’re 18, even though the legal age of marriage is 18. These marriages are not registered officially as to avoid the law and are often considered cultural or religious marriages until the girl is old enough to be married. (9)
Current law and policy:
Georgia commits to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, improve access to justice and services. The Government of Georgia joins UN Women’s COMMIT To End Violence against Women Initiative and commits to further improve women’s access to justice by signing and ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating
Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) at the earliest possible opportunity. Georgia intends to maintain and strengthen its efforts to prevent and combat domestic violence by carrying out national awareness–raising campaigns to stop domestic violence, promptly responding to
reports on violence coming through specially established hotlines, providing victims with shelter facilities, and ensuring the safety of whistle-blowers, among other measures.
Georgia will actively continue implementing the National Action Plan regarding the 1325 and other relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council on “Women, Peace and Security”, which inter alia, envisages increase of women participation in the security sector decision-making and their further empowerment in this regard.
Public spending - $514,000 - $253,350 shortfall in budget. (10) The Council of Europe is promoting an integrated approach to ending violence against women and achieving gender equality. Тhe project’s total budget is 800 000 Euros and it runs from 1 January 2020 till 31 December 2022. (11)
Frontline Services:
· International Women's Association Georgia - http://iwa.ge/about-us/our-history-mission/ -iwageorgia@gmail.com
· Women's Fund Georgia - http://www.womenfundgeorgia.org/ka/Main - info@womenfundgeorgia.org
· Her Equality Rights and Autonomy (HERA) - https://hera.international/ - info@hera.international
· Human Rights House Tbilisi - https://humanrightshouse.org/human-rights-houses/tbilisi/ - tbilisi@humanrightshouse.org
· The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation - https://kvinnatillkvinna.org/about-us/who-we-are/ - info@kvinnatillkvinna.se
Resources:
(1)https://www.geostat.ge/media/41855/WOMEN-AND-MEN-IN-GEORGIAN_-2021.pdf
(2)https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Female_labor_force_participation/
(3)https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2019/03/07/gender-wage-gap-in-georgia
(5)Female Labour Force Participation Remains Stagnant in Georgia » FINCHANNEL
(6)https://data.ipu.org/node/64/data-on-women?chamber_id=13401
(7)https://www.ndi.org/our-stories/combatting-violence-against-women-georgian-politics