Empowering women is one of the most efficient measures for the improvement of every society and therefore it is necessary to make strong barrier to stereotypes and gender patterns so that women could achieve full equality, stressed Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic in Nis, at the conference dedicated to the work of democratic institutions in Serbia.

Speaking within the panel “Gender equality and democratic institutions”, Commissioner Jankovic said that women take some of the most important positions in Serbia, but that situation differs significantly at the lower governance levels, where the participation of women is insufficient. It is confirmed also by analysis of the situation in the local self-government units, which was conducted by the Commissioner, said Jankovic, presenting exact data obtained from the analysis.

Taking into consideration that democratic participation is one of the basic indicators of gender equality in institutions, and that the implementation of defined public policies have the strongest impact at the local levels of authority, Commissioner suggested some of the measures that may be undertaken to improve women position in the political life. They are: mentor training and education for women in politics or state institutions, introduction of zero tolerance principle against sexism in the political life and institutions, introduction of quotas for less represented sex in the executive bodies of authority, increasing of visibility of women from minority groups, providing of room for child care and adaptation of working hours.

Conference was attended by the representatives of local self-government, state bodies, civil society organizations and political organizations from Serbia and neighboring countries. Conference was organized by Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence and Wilfried Martens Centre for Political Studies, with support of the Council of Europe.