Skopje, 10 July 2023 (MIA) – Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jovanka Trenchevska told MRT in an interview Monday that work has been done on the draft-law on gender quality since 2019, a working group has been established and 18 public debates throughout the country have been held in order to hear all stakeholders in society and create a legislation with real provisions that can be implemented.

“Before we began work on the draft-law on gender equality, we carried out analyses over the implementation of provisions from the law and the functionality of the mechanisms that are a part of the existing law. The analyses showed that we have low implementation and that the mechanisms are non-functional,” said Trenchevska.

The Minister said that they’ve decided to amend the law mainly because of that, but also in order to harmonize the Macedonian legislation with the European Acquis. The amendments include directives from the acquis, such as the Equal Treatment Directive, Work-Life Balance Directive, access to goods and services.

“We are including a new concept and an integration of gender perspective in the policies. The mechanisms and the law are in vain if they don’t include the gender perspective. For the first time with this law we define gender mainstreaming and the steps for gender sensitive legislation,” said Trenchevska.

The Minister noted that the law will affirm family values and the protection of children. She also touched upon the campaign held by the Ministry in March, which focused on women and girls, the fight against violence on women and girls, the importance of mental health and economic independence for women.

“We have to include as many women as possible in the labor market. To reduce violence against women. Not a single woman, not a single human, should live in conditions of violence. We should work to strengthen the youth, women, to be economically independent. We should work with girls as early as the educational process. This is the only way to eliminate stereotypes and prejudices related to girls. By doing so, we will raise awareness that there should be no division between women and men, and male and female jobs. We can’t put 51 percent of society aside just because it is female. It is time to have equal opportunities, equal access to resources and most importantly, equal benefits from those resources,” said Trenchevska.

Photo: Ministry of Labor and Social Policy