Videoconference SK - Italy

Videoconference PROGRAMME

Topic: State of women in Slovakia and Italy

1. Introduction

2. State of women in  Slovakia

3. State of women in Italy

4. Discussion

5. Gender interractive games

6. Conclusion

In 1993, Czechoslovakia separated into Slovakia (or the Slovak Republic) and the Czech Republic. Slovakia is now a multi-party parliamentary democracy. The government of Slovakia has recognized violence against women as “the most extreme violation of women’s human rights.” However, the government has also acknowledged that Slovakia lacks a coordinated national approach to violence prevention or victim protection and assistance.[vii] While the government is taking preliminary steps to address these gaps through the adoption of a comprehensive plan for the elimination and prevention of violence against women (2014-2019), Slovakia has yet to ratify the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). The Istanbul Convention entered into force on August 1, 2014 - the one we students have asked for in our petition.

Gender Equality

Article 12 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic declares that "basic rights and liberties on the territory of the Slovak Republic are guaranteed to everyone regardless of sex.” Slovakia has also enacted several laws to promote gender equality and prevent discrimination on the basis of sex. In 2008, the Slovakian government passed the amended Act No. 365/2004 Coll. on Equal Treatment in Certain Areas and Protection against Discrimination (Anti-discrimination Act). The Anti-discrimination Act prohibits direct or indirect discrimination based on sex, harassment, sexual harassment, or victimization of a person based on sex in the provision of social security, healthcare, goods and services including housing, education, and employment. Victims of discrimination may seek civil judicial relief including injunctive relief, equitable remedies, and monetary damages.

The Anti-discrimination Act gives the Slovakian National Centre for Human Rights responsibility for monitoring compliance, collecting discrimination data, providing legal aid to victims, and developing educational programs. The Slovakian Labour Code contains a provision prohibiting employment discrimination, and refers directly to definitions of discrimination in the Anti-Discrimination Act. In 2012, the Slovakian parliament amended the definition of indirect discrimination in the Anti-discrimination Act to include “threats” of discrimination, in compliance with EU requirements. The Anti-Discrimination Act was last amended in 2013 to allow the Slovakian government to pursue gender-based affirmative actions.

Since 1999, the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family has included a division responsible for promoting equality. The division has been known as the Department of Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities since 2007.[xix] According to its website, the Department is tasked with “ensuring the development and implementation of state policy of gender equality and equal opportunities and coordination of a national system of gender equality and equal opportunities.”  This includes helping the Slovakian government comply with various international conventions on gender equality and the treatment of women, including EU and UN obligations. The Department administers grants for projects promoting gender equality and works to raise public awareness of women’s issues.

In 2011, the Slovakian government created the Government Council for Human Rights, National Minorities and Gender Equality.  The Government Council is responsible for advising on and coordinating human rights efforts through various committees, including the Committee on Gender Equality, which is overseen by the Department of Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities. The Committee on Gender Equality has working groups on the promotion of women’s interests in the economy and labor market, education, and healthcare, as well as a specific group on eliminating violence against women.

Slovakia developed a National Strategy for Gender Equality for the Years 2009 – 2013, in which it describes weaknesses in Slovakia’s implementation of anti-discrimination measures and proposes coordinated solutions. A new National Strategy for 2014 – 2019 has reportedly been developed.

Despite these various government initiatives and legal protections, gender discrimination remains a problem in Slovakia. Many women report being fired from their jobs upon getting pregnant, and the pay gap between men and women remains at 25 percent. Slovakian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have reported an increase in this wage gap over the past decade.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) expressed its concern regarding discrimination against, and marginalization of, Roma women living in Slovakia. The Committee also expressed concerns about the complexity and changeability of gender equality initiatives within the Slovakian government, as well as the lack of institutional capacity to address gender issues at all levels of government.

 

Italy is ranked amongst the countries in the EU with the lowest gender equality, according to the European Gender Equality Index. Its performance is above the EU average in one area only, namely health, thanks to Italian women’s long life-expectancy. In any other respect the situation is far from being satisfactory. Policies to re-address the gender unbalance have been cautious, while progress in the legal framework has been promoted mainly by Directives coming from the UE or by pressures of the civil society. Italy lacks of a proper gender infrastructure at central level to promote, coordinate and monitor gender-equality initiatives.

Employment and reconciliation of work and family life: Female employment rates remain low, especially in Southern Italy and in general for women with low education. Antidiscrimination laws have been adopted, but gender gaps are still large. Lack of services for children and above all for the elderly combined with rigid work arrangements make it hard to reconcile work and family life. Female unemployment rates are higher than male rates; career advancement is difficult; and women are over-represented in atypical and precarious jobs. Italy has never elaborated an effective strategy to favour the inclusion of women into the labour market, based on the integration of different policy areas (including education, taxation, etc.). Two kinds of measures to improve women’s employment have been mainly promoted: provision of childcare services and incentives (of various amount and length) for employers who hire women. There has been some improvement in childcare supply for children, although with large differences among regions and towns. However, the share of school-age children in full-time care is very low. Care for the elderly depends heavily on the family and the help of “badanti” i.e. migrant women, mainly from Eastern European countries. This conforms to what has been defined the “Mediterranean model of welfare state”, based on monetary transfers from the state to the households and the unpaid work of women, so that the family has traditionally been the main provider of social protection and care services for the Italians. The gender pay gap is one of the lowest in the EU due the prevalence of highly educated women in the female labour force and a strong system of collective bargaining. A huge gender gap exists in terms of income between retired men and women and no provision is envisaged for re-balancing it. The percentage of women in top decision-making position was dramatically low until recently, both in the public and in the private sector. Improvement is underway thanks to the introduction of mandatory quotas in the boards of companies listed in the Stock Exchange, established in 2011, and in companies owned by the public administration, established in 2013. There are no mandatory gender quotas in the Italian parliament, but there are quotas for local governments where both sexes must be represented. Sexual violence was acknowledged as a 'crime against the person' only in 1996. In 2009, a law introduced stalking as a type of punishable offence. In 2013, the Council of Europe convention on violence against women and domestic violence' (the so-called Istanbul Convention) became law by unanimous approval of the Parliament,but the network of anti­-violence centres lack of funds and resources. As a whole, the Italian system for the protection of victims of human trafficking is coherent with the internationally adopted guiding principles. In 2006, new laws introduced punishment of the sexual exploitation of children and paedopornography and prohibited Female Genital Mutilation. In Italy the overall prevailing approach to women's health is still within the framework of gynaecological specialisation and reproductive health. Abortion is regulated by the law since 1978. Conscientious objection of staff of gynaecological  surgeries is allowed; the share of objectors is high and increasing, severely hindering the implementation of the law. The law on ART of 2004 was very restrictive, but some of its aspects, considered harmful to women's health, have been modified by interventions of both inferior courts and the Constitutional Court. The overall picture which emerges from this note isthat in many fields Italy is still far from reaching satisfactory results in gender equality, in spite of relevant progress under the pressure of women’s movement, civil society and European legislation. The present severe financial crisis and austerity policies threaten some of women’s recent achievements in terms of income, employment for highly educated women and social infrastructure, but, at the same time, they offer the opportunity ofre-thinking the Italian welfare model which relies extensively on unaid work of women as providers of care services.

 

 

 

 

Our web page looks like this and here is its link: http://womensambassadors.wix.com/etwinning

 

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