Human rights and justice in Europe & CIS

Gender Equality Legislation

Lack of respect for women's rights in the workplace negatively affects women's economic security. In recent years, many countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have adopted Gender Equality Laws (GELs) in order to address discrimination against women within and outside the workplace. However, the evidence shows that these laws are often not being implemented or enforced. This is due to a variety of reasons, including lack of knowledge about the law, low priority being given to the law, weak capacity on the part of implementing bodies and limited resources allocated to implementation.

A joint UNDP/UNIFEM project, implemented in close cooperation with ILO, is addressing several of these important issues. The objective of the project is to contribute to more effective implementation of gender equality legislation in order to combat discrimination of women in the workplace in selected countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine. It is designed to strengthen the capacities of public institutions to implement national gender equality laws and relevant international conventions regarding women's rights. As a complementary component, the project is designed to strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations to help ensure that governments are accountable for implementing women's rights in the workplace.

Project Document: Advancing Implementation of Gender Equality Legislation on the workplace in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States