Jellen (not her real name) earns 730 euros as a manager in a Montenegrin company located in the capital. Her colleague Stefan (not his real name) holds the same position in the branch of the company located in Budva and earns 900 euros.
They have the same duties, responsibilities, scope of work and working hours. Jelena, however, has two years more seniority than Stefan.
She accidentally found out that her colleague has, in the current conditions, a significantly higher salary than hers. According to the claims of Jelena's employer, whose business policy is a "closed envelope system" in which no one has the right to know the salary of another employee, Jelena and Stefan have the same salary.
The two are just one example of the different financial treatment of women and men in the same positions in the Montenegrin private sector.
It is not rare in Montenegro that women have a better performance in the same workplaces compared to their male colleagues, but they talk about it almost shyly.
And Jelena accepted the employer's explanation that what she saw with her own eyes was not true, but that Stefan and she earned the same amount.
The Government also knows that the Constitution is being violated, but in vain
The Constitution of Montenegro and laws on gender equality and work guarantee equal rights for men and women in all spheres of life, including on the labor market, which is not the case in practice.
Even the Government cannot escape from that, because it is stated in the official documentation.
According to the latest official calculation stated in the Government's Plan of Activities for the Achievement of Gender Equality (2017-2021), the difference in earnings by gender in Montenegro was 13,9 percent. This means that women earned only 86,1 percent of the average salary of men in Montenegro. This Plan did not alarm the authorities, and the new one does not even have an official percentage difference, but only states that the difference exists.
The deputy general secretary of the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro (USSCG) believes that the implementation of the law has failed and that the gap in earnings between men and women has not decreased since the last calculation. Ivana Mihajlovic.
She told "Vijesti" that the legal solutions are of high quality and to the greatest extent harmonized with the standards of the European Union (EU).
"However, what remains as a big problem is their application, and this is best evidenced by the position of women on the labor market, where we see that everything written in the laws has not been applied. The inequality of earnings between women and men, which is one of the key characteristics of this market in Montenegro. Although we have an explicit norm in the Labor Law that guarantees equal pay for equal work, according to official data, which is now outdated, that difference amounted to 13,9 percent in favor of men," says Mihajlović.
He adds that the lack of official statistics is a big problem and that it is something that the Union has been insisting on for years.
Statistics are mandatory, but there are none
Although the Law on Gender Equality obliges them to do so, the authorities are obliged to keep statistics by gender. In practice, it is conducted only in certain areas.
The Directorate for Statistics Monstat answered the questions of "Vijesti" that they do not have data on earnings expressed by gender.
"The Directorate for Statistics does not have the requested data, namely, in accordance with the Annual Plan of Statistical Research, a monthly survey on earnings is conducted. This research collects and publishes data on average earnings by sector of activity classification, as well as at the level of municipalities. With the existing research, it is not possible to obtain data on earnings according to other characteristics, such as gender and education", replied Monstat.
Mihajlović explains that official statistics are necessary so that certain problems can be solved in concrete policies.
"In this case, I hope that in the coming period we will be able to produce new data regarding the gap in earnings, considering that this one is outdated, so that we can build policies and institutional solutions that will contribute to recognizing the causes of the gap , and then to solve these issues with adequate policies".
Women are more educated, but in less paid positions
According to data from Monstat's publication "Women and Men in Montenegro" (2022), more women enroll in studies and improve their skills. In 2021, 56 percent of women enrolled in undergraduate studies, and 64,9 percent in postgraduate studies. A large number of women are also scholarship winners based on excellent results and average (65,8 percent).
In 2021, 14 people received the title of Doctor of Science, of which 64,3 percent are women.
Nevertheless, at the end of 2021, the unemployment rate of women is higher than that of men - 60,2 percent. Men are more represented in legislative, official and managerial positions (64,1).
"It is characteristic of Montenegro that women are more represented in lower-paid jobs that are mainly related to the provision of services or care, that is, they work in healthcare, education, there are also cosmetic services, trade... On the other hand, we have a significant number of women who due to the impossibility of reconciling family and professional obligations, they decide to work in the zone of the informal economy and according to some official data, they participate with some 16,9 percent compared to men with 11 percent, which is a very worrying figure," Mihajlović points out.
13,9 percent was the difference in earnings based on gender in Montenegro, according to the latest official calculation stated in the Government's Action Plan for achieving gender equality (2017-2021).
The number of female entrepreneurs is growing
Mihajlović assesses that changes in the law over the past ten years have greatly improved the position of women in business.
"Ten years ago, we were at the back in terms of the number of female entrepreneurs not only in the region, but also in Europe. Back then, the average was about 9,6 percent, and now we can boast that we have about 32 percent of female entrepreneurs. When we talk about ownership at the level of micro, small and medium enterprises, it is estimated that women own about 25 percent of businesses. That was unthinkable ten years ago," says Mihajlović.
He assesses that in the previous period the state has shown a responsible attitude when it comes to stimulating women to enter entrepreneurship, but he points out that the problem is still the financial support that women need to have in order to decide on such a step and risk.
"Despite the numerous funds that the state has that support women's entrepreneurship, it certainly seems to me that there is room for improvement of all these measures. Sometimes mentoring and financial support in starting up is not enough, but it should also be monitored during the development of the business, whether it encounters barriers, whether it can be developed further, and whether the entrepreneur could possibly hire new people at that moment". she explained.
Protect the family as well
Mihajlović points out how important it is to keep women on the labor market in those moments when they need to fulfill their basic role and become mothers.
"Insecure jobs are reserved for women, whether they are engaged under work contracts, contracts for temporary and occasional jobs or agency contracts, which does not give them any security either for meeting existential needs or planning for the future, because being engaged under such contracts implies that you don't have any rights from the employment relationship, and you can't even get into debt".
The imbalance in the distribution of housework and family responsibilities also makes it difficult for women to achieve complete economic independence.
It is characteristic of Montenegro that women are more represented in lower-paid jobs that are mainly related to the provision of services or care, that is, they work in healthcare, education, there are also cosmetic services, trade..., says Ivana Mihajlović
In Montenegro, there is no law that recognizes household work and care, which would lead to reconciling family and professional obligations.
"There is no legal basis on which to pay for care and household work, which is sometimes double work, the effort that women put in on a daily basis compared to men. In the USSCG, we hope that with the amendments to the Labor Law that are expected next year, we will achieve that by further harmonizing our labor legislation with European directives, we will be able to recognize and contribute to the valorization of unpaid work at home. It may not be in a monetary amount, but I hope that it will be able to contribute to the relief of women's reconciliation of professional and family obligations. When we know the attitude of our society towards women and the expectation that they do most of the housework, we believe that we will be able to find some balance and appreciate the contribution they make to society as a whole, not only in the workplace, but also in preserving the family as the basic cell of society." Mihajlovic said.
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