Bulgarian Ombudsman: Gender Equality Law to Guarantee Women's Representation

Politics » DOMESTIC | January 20, 2016, Wednesday // 16:06
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Ombudsman: Gender Equality Law to Guarantee Women's Representation Bulgarian Ombudsman Maya Manolova. Photo: BGNES

Bulgaria ranks 50th in the world and is among the least developed European countries as regards the participation of women in decision-making processes.

Bulgarian Ombudsman Maya Manolova stated this at a round-table discussion with the labour ministry on the gender equality bill held on Tuesday.

The Bulgarian parliament is expected to discuss the proposal for new legislation on gender equality after the ministry submitted the draft to the parliamentary Labour and Social Committee on 20 November last year.

According to Manolova, the lack of social legislation in Bulgaria which guarantees gender equality, leads to lower payment for women and weaker female representation in the government of the country.

“We are worried that the new draft which was submitted does not include specific texts which to transform the law into a working mechanism,” Manolova said.

In her opinion, the new law should include texts banning gender differentiation in job advertisements and elimination of questions regarding marital status, present or future pregnancy, childcare and care for elderly people.

“The problem comes from the fact that women agree to receive lower wages because they are stuck between their professional and family responsibilities,” Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister Ivaylo Kalfin said, cited by Focus news agency.

The new legislation for gender equality, according to the chairperson of the parliamentary Labor and Social Committee, Hasan Ademov, is problematic because “it is not clear who is supposed to manage the politics regarding equal rights for men and women.”

Bulgarian parliament has been discussing the creation and implementation of a legislation on gender equality since the beginning of 2001.

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Tags: Bulgaria, Ombudsman, gender equality, Maya Manolova, Ivaylo Kalfin, Hasan Ademov

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