In the scope of the project Changing the Traditional Mindset through Collective Agreements in the Western Balkans – the Role of Social Partners in Enabling Work-Family Reconciliation and Gender Equality, the Montenegrin Employers Federation (MEF) in cooperation with their national partner – the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro (UFTUM) organized a workshop named Policies that encourage work-family reconciliation and gender equality and their implementation in practice. The project is run by Slovenian Association of Employers (ZDS) and beside MEF and UFTUM partners include employers and workers associations from the region (Albania, Serbia, Macedonia and Croatia).
The workshop was intended for employers, employees, professional services of trade unions and employers organizations and other interested parties with an aim of improving their knowledge about EU and Slovenian legislation regulating the area of work-family reconciliation, gender equality and social dialogue and collective bargaining in Slovenia and EU as well as of informing the workshop participants about gender equality policies in Montenegro.
The workshop was organized in two panels. The first one hosted Maja David, a Legal Adviser at ZDS who introduced EU and Slovenian legislation that regulates paternal leave, maternity protection and non-transferable right of a father to paternity leave as well as rights of both women and men to equal treatment and equal opportunities. Biljana Pejovic from the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro presented policies and legislative framework for ensuring gender equality in Montenegro especially emphasizing a Law on Gender Equality, Activity Plan for Achieving Gender Equality, CEDAW Convention and CEDAW Committee and institutional mechanisms for ensuring gender equality in Montenegro.
In the second panel, presentations were given by Dr. Sonja Robnik from the Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Affairs of Slovenia and Zvezdana Oluic, an Adviser for Women Entrepreneurship at MEF. The first gave a sociological perspective on gender (in)equality in households, family and child care, sharing information on gender pay gaps as well as a set of recommendations to be undertaken at family, corporate and infrastructure level in order to ensure equal opportunities for women and men. Lastly, Zvezdana focused on support to women at managerial positions and MEF activities implemented within the project “Women in Management in Montenegro: Support to Women Leadership and Career Development in Montenegro realized with the support of the ILO and aimed at empowering women in business and management.
