“Gender should not play any role in the choice of occupation for either girls or boys, and I am convinced that skills and knowledge will soon be the most important in the labor market, which is why quality education is very important to overcome the limitations imposed by gender stereotypes”, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, said at the final conference of the project “Education, employment, elimination of gender stereotypes, raising awareness and partnership” organized by the Association of Business Women of Serbia and the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality.

Janković noted that research shows that men, when choosing a field of study or a profession, predominantly choose science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, while women are more inclined to choose social science areas. This segregation in education results not only in the manifestation of gender stereotypes in the labor market, and the employment and self-employment of women in “feminized” sectors, but also in more difficult career advancement, a lower probability of reaching a leadership position, and a gender gap in income, the Commissioner concluded.

During the one-year project “Education, employment, elimination of gender stereotypes, raising awareness and partnership”, more than 200 women who are less employable participated in the activities and trainings of the Association of Businesswomen of Serbia, both online and in the field, with the aim of reducing gender stereotypes in social and economic life and increasing the participation of vulnerable groups of women in the labor market. The special task of this project was raising the capacity of women for (self)employment by acquiring knowledge and skills in not typically female, and also deficient and well-paid occupations in the construction industry and information and communication technologies.

The project “Education, employment, eliminating gender stereotypes, raising awareness and partnership” is supported by the United Nations Agency for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women ) as part of the project “Key steps towards gender equality” funded by the European Union.