According to the latest monthly report from the Employment Agency, of the almost 30.000 unemployed people, 60 percent - 17.465 of them - are women, said the chief advisor to the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms (Ombudsman) during the conference "Equal Opportunities - Integration and Empowerment of Women in the Labor Market". Dina Knezevic.
According to her, this number is worrying because last year, in April, "58 percent of women were unemployed."
"For a year, this is an increase of 1,6 percent in female unemployment compared to 2024. This is truly worrying data," said Knežević during a conference organized by the LGBT Forum Progress in cooperation with the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights.
She reminded that the Ombudsman is recognized as one of the most important institutions fighting against discrimination.
"When women are mentioned, they are a category that is in the majority, not in the minority. However, it is a vulnerable category that has been neglected for centuries and has not been in the same game as men. Women are not a homogeneous group..."
Knežević also emphasized that educated women have problems in employment, but also in work.
"They have a problem with filling leadership positions. Women are still discriminated against in politics. The message is being sent that they are not welcome in politics and leadership positions," said Knežević, adding that women are "initially in a worse position than men."
The problem, she said, is that women in leadership positions are not addressing gender inequality sufficiently.
"It is true that women are given the right to pregnancy and maternity leave, but they also face problems with social protection, not being assigned to the positions they belong to. A certain number of women filed complaints because they were assigned to lower positions upon returning from pregnancy or maternity leave."
Gordana Bošković from the Employers' Union, she pointed out that the public sector lives off the economy "and not the other way around."
"We have to produce something to pay salaries. One maternity leave costs the employer and the state, if we're talking about money... In 2024, we had a higher number of male children born. So we will definitely have that male energy in society whether we like it or not," she assessed.
Subsidies for employers must be higher, and the Employers' Union, claims Bošković, supports responsible business and encourages female entrepreneurship.
She believes that it is important to have a larger number of lines for women's entrepreneurship.
Professor at the University of Montenegro (UCG) Vesna Simović, Switzerland She said that the problems with gender inequality in Montenegro are bad, "but they are not worse than those in the region."
Special protection for women when it comes to employment, she claims, is "no longer based on women's physical characteristics."
"Those times are over... I don't accept that someone considers me weaker than the male gender just because I'm a woman," she said.
Simović Zvicer said that the right to paternity leave after the birth of a child should be harmonized.
"The problem is in the implementation. Under normal circumstances, it is not just the mother who can exercise this right... What has positively surprised me is the practice of the courts."
She also pointed out that very few men used their right to paternity leave.
"In all of Montenegro, 300 dads used this leave. This is very worrying data," said Simović Zvicer.
Bonus video:
