The business world, the economic sphere and the promotion of the protection of rights and equality in the field of labour relations are of great importance for the institution of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, but also for society as a whole, because the socio-economic rights that are exercised in this area are among the fundamental human rights, said Commissioner Brankica Janković at the opening of the Conference Game Changers – Platform for Dialogue on Economic and Social Justice.

In the previous period, progress was made in establishing equality in the work environment, said the Commissioner, recalling that in 2017 the Commissioner drafted the “Code of Equality – guidelines for drafting a code of anti-discrimination policy of employers”, after which the institution established cooperation with many employers, helping them to draft anti-discrimination policy documents, and signed the Charter on Equality with companies.

However, the health crisis has once made the position of vulnerable categories worse, and the pendulum of equality has moved especially to the detriment of women, given that women represent the majority of employees in the health and education systems, the Commissioner warned. The research “Gender Equality and Balance between Business and Private Life”, which we conducted last year, confirms this thesis, and also shows, among other things, that women still spend much more time caring for children and doing household chores than men, the Commissioner said.

The modern age places great demands both on individuals and social and business entities, and the greatest danger to the position of the human in the work process is artificial intelligence, which is why we must ensure that solutions must not be to the detriment of the achieved level of equality, Janković concluded.