ZAGREB, November 30, 2019 – President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Saturday that women had still not achieved full equality in relation to men either in Croatia or globally, and she underlined the importance of the fight against domestic violence and violence in general.
“We have excellent legislation but we must continue to fight prejudices and stereotypes,” she said at an event marking the 20th anniversary of the HDZ Women’s Association “Katarina Zrinski”.
Grabar-Kitarović warned that laws were still not respected with regard to equal pay for equal work, and that women, notably young ones, were discriminated against when looking for a job because they were asked if they had children and if they planned pregnancy.
She said that she had grown used to being insulted publicly but that current trends in schools, families and society in general were not good.
“If you can insult the President of the Republic, why wouldn’t you be able to insult or beat up your daughter or girlfriend. The fight against any violence – physical, verbal, psychological and other – is one of the main goals of this society. The fight against domestic violence as well as violence in society in general,” she said.
Stressing that women still encountered double criteria and prejudices, Grabar-Kitarović said that success was difficult to forgive, notably in the case of women who promote Christian Democratic and traditional values.
She also said that she was in favour of an expert debate on more flexible working hours, to make Sunday a family day, and that she would propose forming a team to analyse how much Sunday work was justified.
Underlining the importance of equality, Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenković said the equality had to reflect on political institutions, the business sector and all other areas of human activity.
“It is particularly important that women have a big, recognised, visible and leading role in political parties as well,” he said, expressing satisfaction that the first woman president in Croatia’s history was HDZ member Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.
Warning about the problem of violence against women, he recalled that Croatia had ratified the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul convention) and that several laws that increase penalties for those who commit violence would receive a second reading in the parliament.
More news about the status of women can be found in the Politics section.
