Skopje, 8 March 2023 (MIA) – Gender equality is more than a moral imperative, it’s also an economic and social necessity. There is improvement, but we are far from full realization of equality. Women’s rights must be included in all policy creation, and the only way we can expect significant steps forward in the true realization of gender equality is an all-encompassing approach.

These were some of the messages of the women MPs at the Parliamentary session focusing exclusively on gender equality. At the same time, the 20 year anniversary since the creation of the Parliamentary Women's Club was celebrated.

A report on the progress in gender issues in the past 2 decades in North Macedonia was on the agenda of Wednesday's session.

According to DUI MP Rina Ajdari, solidarity with all women is necessary not just today, but every day, so they can fight for their rights worldwide. She said that a lot of progress has been made in terms of equality, seeing the increase of participation of women in politics, education and other spheres, but there is still inequality in terms of digitization, IT and other social spheres.

“In recent years, the status of women in our country, Europe and worldwide has improved, but we are far from true equality. We’ve improved a lot, especially when it comes to women’s participation in politics, education and other spheres, but there is still inequality,” she said.

VMRO-DPMNE MP Blagica Lasovska said that women’s rights are human rights.

“We must work on increasing the number of women in the executive branch and the number of female mayors. The Parliamentary Women's Club must be louder in order to improve the lives of women in rural environments, sensibilization of institutions, the treatment of single parents, workers rights protection in the case of pregnancy, employment discrimination and the breaching of their rights. The Club did ask on many occasions to condemn and sanction all forms of hate speech aimed at women present in the public, especially online, and this fight must continue if we want young generations of women to get involved in politics,” Lasovska said.

DOM MP Maja Morachanin said that it would take the world 286 years to achieve gender equality at the current pace.

“The measures and activities must change, because they are clearly not effective and efficient enough. Gender equality and women’s rights must be included in all policy making and policy implementation, and an all-encompassing approach is the only way we can expect significant steps forward in the realization of true gender equality,” Morachanin said, adding that there have been positive changes, but we are still facing a number of challenges.

LDP MP Monika Zajkova said the fight against the contemporary patriarchate is not yet over.

“Today we celebrate our courage, strength and resilience. Gender equality is more than a moral imperative, it is also a social and economic necessity. We must fight relentlessly to strengthen women’s status to ensure that we have equality, justice, freedom, safety, education, healthcare and the necessary resources to progress,” Zajkova said, calling women to take part in the march that will take place later on Wednesday.

The following draft conclusions from the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men were adopted with 63 votes “in favor” at the end of the session: Amendment to the Election Code towards achieving full gender equality for the lists of MPs and advisors, Amendment to the Law on Government to introduce at least 40% of the under-represented sex in the executive branch, Amendment to the Election Code and introducing a quota of 30% for the under-represented sex for mayoral elections, Adopting the Law on Gender Equality and forming a Secretariat by the end of 2023, bringing a gender-sensitive Parliament rulebook by the end of 2023, legal regulation of the internet to prevent hate speech, monitoring the implementation of legal solutions related to gender issues in accordance with the Plan for a Gender-sensitive Parliament 2022-2024, all of which will be introduced to the Government. dk/nn/

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