It is necessary to work every day on eliminating discrimination, because data indicate that women are still more exposed to various types of discrimination, mostly on the labor market and in the hiring process, said Brankica Jankovic, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality at the meeting „Gender equality in Serbia and prevention of discrimination against women“, held at Novi Sad City Council.

The Commissioner said that this year’s strategic plan of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality foresees dealing with this issue at the local level and that great number of municipalities and cities in Serbia will be visited. She also said that one of the goals of these on-site visits to local self-government units is to train and inform all local government employees about implementation of anti-discriminatory legislation, as hands-on experience reveals that in most cases acts of discrimination were committed by government authorities.

„During the procedure it transpired that authorities had no intention of discriminating anyone wishing to exercise their rights. In most cases the reason discrimination occurred was insufficient knowledge about anti-discriminatory legislation, because the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination was enacted in 2009“, explained the Commissioner.

She invited all women in Serbia to use mechanisms for the protection against discrimination more often, because Serbia has a good legal framework to reach full equality, but it is necessary to exert additional efforts in order to achieve equal participation of women in political and other areas of life.