Category: Gender in the world 
2009-02-20
Round table in Tbilisi was the fourth one in the row of round tables that are part of regional project Regional Report on Women and Governance. This project addresses challenges of transition in the region and developing processes that have been occurring in the region without the full participation of women and at the same time weakening women's position in political and socio-economic life. The project aims to identify reasons for women's low participation and mobilize stakeholders and partners to support this effort.
The roundtable organized by UNDP Georgia brought together present and former parliamentarians, local council members from different regions, academics, gender experts, women from political parties, members of the Advisory Council on Gender Equality Issues, representatives from NGOs, media and social movements.
Welcome and keynote speeches were delivered by Ms. Rusudan Kervalishvili, Parliaments’ Vice-Speaker and the chair of the Advisory Council on Gender Equality Issues; Mr. Peter van Ruysseveldt, deputy head of UNDP in Georgia and the guest speaker from UNDP’s Bratislava regional center – Ms. Klelija Balta from, gender sub-Practice.
By the end of the twentieth century, Georgia having adapted itself to system of democratic values, made a vital choice for democracy through a number of social and political changes. Yet the attitudes towards women in Georgian society haven’t improved enough. Transition and development processes in the country, as well as in the whole region are occurring without the full participation of women in democratic processes, weakening women’s position in political and socio-economic life.
Despite the achievements, women are still barely involved in processes of making political and economic decisions. Five parliamentary elections and three elections of local self-governance have been held since 1992, yet the presence of only a small number of women in these institutions clearly indicates that the existing political and economic environment in the country is unfavorable to the active involvement of women in political and economic life.
The main goal of the round table was to identify and analyze the root causes for women’s low political participation and propose concrete actions to address them in order to increase gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment in the country on the local and country level.
Presentations were made by the independent local consultants, the leader of the “Women’s party”, the members of the local councils, the UNIFEM regional coordinator and the coordinator of UN Joint programme on Gender Equality.
Presenters were addressing wide scope of issue:
women’s low political participation,
women’s empowerment,
internally displaced people, including focus on women, and problems they are facing
consequences of the recently held war in South Ossetia
The presentations were followed by the very open and fruitfull discussion. Many important questions were raised that should be taken into consideration and need further development.
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