“Unfortunately, we see that the highest gender inequality remains in the areas related to money and power. Even though there are more female than male university graduates, women are still concentrated in lower-paid jobs, and there is a significant underrepresentation of women in politics. Women are also the primary family caretakers and are significantly more burdened with housework,” said Liselotte Isaksson – Deputy Head of Cooperation of the Delegation of European Union to Montenegro – at the conference organised by the Statistical Office of Montenegro (MONSTAT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, where the results of the Gender Equality Index in Montenegro were unveiled.
The Gender Equality Index measures the gender equality in the EU Member States across six domains: work, money, knowledge, time, power, and health. The index value is presented as a score from 1 to 100, where 1 represents complete inequality, while the value of 100 represents complete equality.
The Gender Equality Index in Montenegro for 2023 is 59.3, which shows an increase of 4.3 index value compared to the index from 2019.
Nonetheless, compared to the EU, Montenegro records a lower index value by 9.3 index points. The Index shows the highest gap in gender equality in the area of power, while the lowest gap in Montenegro compared to the average in the EU is in the area of health.
“It is important to calculate the Index regularly in order to assess and analyse gender gap, how it changes over time, and what should be our priorities in addressing it. The Index can also help us to have more reliable and comprehensive data on gender equality for developing better evidence-based policies,” Isaksson adds.
Carlien Scheele, Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), praised Montenegro’s efforts in reducing gender inequality, highlighting the progress made thus far.
“I am happy to see Montenegro’s progress, with a significant improvement of 4.3% in the Index,” she said, noting that the most significant advancement was in the area of power.
Scheele emphasised that it would be beneficial to consider introducing quotas for women’s representation in business. She added that more work must be done, especially in the domain of money, to reach a higher and more significant European standard of gender equality.
The Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Fatmir Đeka, stated that the freedom and emancipation of women and girls still represent challenges for Montenegro.
Miroslav Pejović, Director of the Statistical Office of Montenegro, provided a detailed overview of the Second Gender Equality Index across the domains.
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