On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the first working breakfast of the “Group of Friends of Gender Equality” was held at the French Embassy, ​​hosted by the Ambassador of the Republic of France, Pierre Cochard, and the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković. The idea for the creation of this informal group consisting of diplomats, representatives of embassies, and public figures from culture, sports, business, and politics, dedicated to the topic of gender equality, came from Commissioner Janković, to discuss the various challenges that women face in all our societies and at the global level, as well as to exchange experiences and ideas that can contribute to overcoming them.

I believe that we have enough allies to preserve the realized rights of women and not allow their collapse or reduction, said Commissioner Janković, and referred to the words of the famous French writer and feminist Simone de Beauvoir that we must never forget that a political, economic or religious crisis is sufficient for the rights of women to be questioned. She expressed her expectation that the regular meetings of the Group of Friends of Gender Equality will become a relevant platform for discussion that will reduce inequality between women and men.

Some of the topics discussed and proposed for future meetings of the Group are gender-based violence, the sexist and misogynistic portrayal of women in the media with disparagement of women’s professional competencies, underrepresentation of women in the highest positions in companies, demotivating environment for women in sports and discrimination on the labor market.

Members of the diplomatic corps of the embassies of Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Austria, and the European Union and UN Women attended the meeting. Besides them, representatives of civil society organizations KOMS and Žuko were also present, together with representatives of Dekatlon, Loreal Serbia, and the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, as well as women karate player Tanja Petrović, and actress Vjera Mujović.