The economic empowerment and independence of women is one of the key factors in the progress of society and an issue that every country should address seriously and as a priority, said the director of the Montenegrin Women's Lobby (CŽL), Aida Petrović, the PR Center reported.
At the press conference on the occasion of the presentation of the results of the project "Educational and economic empowerment of women to start their own business", she said that economic empowerment helps women to reach security, find a job or provide themselves with financial resources by working at home.
"Economic empowerment of women is carried out through various programs, workshops, trainings, which ensure, first of all, women from the so-called risk groups to improve their position on the labor market or start their own small business," Petrović said.
She pointed out that there are numerous barriers that women in Montenegro face on the way to economic independence.
"Women who are economically independent are faced with inequality in decision-making processes on the labor market, and this is a daily occurrence, and a lot of work needs to be done on it. Gender discrimination on the labor market is still manifested to a large extent through the stereotypical role of women in the family and society, through a lower female employment rate and high economic dependence," said Petrović.
She added that in society there are differences in employment as well as in the amount of earnings, as well as numerous violations of women's labor rights.
"This is something that is difficult to prove and remains in the sphere of so-called "unpleasant" and even taboo topics that are reluctantly or rarely talked about due to fear of consequences - job loss, salary reduction or non-payment of wages," said Petrović.
She also said that discrimination based on gender is not reported, because it is mostly not recognized by the women themselves or by their superiors.
"That is why it is necessary to work on deconstructing gender roles, so that there are no situations in which women who are looking for a job will be seen as someone who will take sick leave to take care of children," Petrović said.
She also believes that it is necessary to work on empowering and encouraging rural women to join the labor market and additionally educate and inform about starting their own micro, small or medium-sized businesses.
"Women are the potential for sustainable economic development of all advanced economies and thus an indispensable factor in the improvement of women's human rights as an indivisible unit of universal human rights," concluded Petrović.
The representative of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Biljana Pejović, announced that the economic empowerment of women and girls is an important prerequisite for gender equality, and that the activities implemented through this project contributed to greater respect for women's human rights and to raising the general public's awareness of the importance of gender equality.
"One of the goals of this project is to promote the idea of improving knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship, i.e. developing special skills, to empower women, connect them with employers and provide them with a form of support for actively looking for a job on the labor market," said Pejović.
She added that through the financing of such projects, the Government has shown that it recognizes the importance of the joint action of the governmental and non-governmental sectors in the realization of the goals set out in the strategic documents when it comes to gender equality.
"Through this project, women have undergone training and acquired certain skills, and we already have the results, which is that many of the beneficiaries of this project have already received a chance for employment," said Pejović.
Vasilisa Danilović, a social and professional worker at CŽL and an assistant on the project, said that the economic empowerment of women creates a prerequisite for a life without violence.
"It is one of the key factors of prevention and protection against violence against women. Economic empowerment helps women to establish a sense of security, find a job and provide themselves with financial resources to help them get out of the vicious cycle of violence," said Danilović.
She also said that an economically independent woman is a free woman, a woman who has choices.
"As such, she can always go, work, support herself and her children. A woman who is financially independent can make decisions about her life and create it in a way that suits her," concluded Danilović.
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