Marking International Women’s Day, the Georgian Women’s Movement (GWM) took to the streets to call for greater gender equality in the political life of the country. Similar rallies were staged throughout Georgia, including minority towns and cities such as mainly ethnic Armenian populated Akhalkalaki and majority ethnic Azeri inhabited Marneuli.
Marching from Tbilisi’s Rose Revolution Square to the former parliament building on the central Rustaveli Avenue, about 150-200 people joined in the action. While women were in the majority there was also noticeably high proportion of men present. One male participant, Lasha Kavtaradze, told BBC Azerbaijan why he had joined the procession.
“The main message today is "more women in politics" and I fully agree with this demand,” he said. “The main goal is social equality for women, but this can not be achieved without political equality.”
Despite representing 53 percent of the population, only 11-12 percent of the Georgian parliament are women. Georgian press reports noted that this situation has remained unchanged for over 10 years. Baia Pataraia, one of the organisers of the Women’s Day March told BBC Azerbaijan that it’s time for mandatory gender quotas for elections to be introduced.
Although gender inequality remains prevalent in terms of societal attitudes in the South Caucasus, Kavtaradze agrees with Pataraia. “Unfortunately, in patriarchal cultures it is impossible to wait for this to happen ‘naturally’ on its own. We need gender quotas,” he says. “It’s time for men to give up their privileges.”
