ZAGREB, July 3, 2019 – Presenting in the parliament a report on her work in 2018 on Wednesday, Gender Equality Ombudswoman Višnja Ljubičić said that the largest number of complaints lodged with her office last year referred to work, employment and social security, and that most complaints were filed by women.
Ljubičić said that this was not surprising since most of the unemployed were women, most women worked in underpaid sectors, and most of the victims of sexual harassment in the workplace were women.
She stressed that women were underrepresented in senior business decision-making positions and encountered the so-called glass ceiling.
As for demographic trends, Ljubičić said that in 2017 the number of newborns was the lowest in the last 100 years and that depopulation had been affecting many Croatian regions.
As for reproductive rights, Ljubičić recommended consistent application of comprehensive sexual education, giving women access to family planning and all services related to sexual and reproductive health, including modern methods of contraception, as well as a safe and legal pregnancy termination.
Ljubičić believes that the underrepresentation of women on slates in the political sphere should not be fined but that rather slates with an insufficient number of female candidates should be turned down was the case in a growing number of western countries.
Ljubičić warned that women continued to be the most frequent victims of domestic abuse.
In 2018, misdemeanour charges were pressed against more than 10,000 people for domestic violence – 78% of them were men and 22% women. Of the total number of perpetrators of domestic violence, 91% are men and 9% are women. As for the victims, 75% are women and 25% are men.
As regards all types of violence, prevention plays a very important role, Ljubičić said, adding that victims of intimate partner violence still lacked appropriate legal protection.
More news about ombudswoman’s activities can be found in the Politics section.
