Montenegro

Gender Programme

UNDP Montenegro is actively engaged in a campaign of gender mainstreamig which aims to bring about a significant paradigm shift in a country that is widely accepted as the most patriachal in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia.

UNDP is working with the government and various NGOs that are involved in the struggle for gender equality. Gender based discrimination seems to be most visible in the political sphere of society. Only Albania lags behind Montenegro in this part of the world when it comes to female participation in politics and female presence in government and government institutions.

Although the Government of Montenegro is attempting to consolidate legislation regarding gender with EU standards, its Office for Gender Equality (OGE) still hasn’t gained sufficient political support from the public or government. The government’s strategic plan for the OGE could not be employed to its full potential because the OGE has yet to be severed from the General Secretariat of the Government.  

A separate parliamentary board for gender equality has also remained ineffectual. The board struggled to define and understand its own raison d'être in the first two years of its existence. As a result, there were calls for its elimination. The board was saved and UNDP is engaged in an active intervention to give its members a basic understanding of why it was created and what is expected of it. The primarily expectation of the board is that it will ensure that legislation and policies adopted by Parliament are gender sensitive. UNDP is also keeping the board informed about what other parliamentary boards of national governments in the region are doing. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s parliamentary board on gender equality has proven to be the most active, progressive and effective in the region and its efforts are followed closely.

On the positive side, almost 40 percent of senior government advisors are women. Unfortunately, many of the strong women who are daring to pursue such careers are stopping short of seeking elected office and using the powers that are confered upon elected represetatives of the citizenry to aid in the struggle of women’s emancipation. Those few women who have sought and attained elected offices are proving to be inspirational to the younger generations of females who are becoming less accepting of the stereotypical roles they are expected to fill, according to age old patriarchal dogma.

The majority, 60 percent, of graduates from post secondary schools are female. But that number drops to 40 percent at the Masters level. And the females almost disappear from the post secondary education system, as only five percent of Montenegrins garnering PhDs from local schools are female. Not surprisingly, given those statistics, only five percent of post secondary professors are female.

The programme works with the government and NGOs to promote initiatives to stop violence against women. Domestic violence is a global problem which exceeds the limits of different cultures, economic groups, religions and gender. It takes various shapes and it does not bypass any society. Statistical data in the UN Secretary General’s Report for 2006 show that between 40% and 70% of murders of women were committed by their (ex) partners, while every third woman faces domestic violence. It is estimated that 1 in 2 women in Montenegro are abused in some way and 1 in 3 are physically abused.

Several years ago it was a minor offense in Montnegro for a man to strike or batter a woman but that changed when the new Criminal Code introduced violence against women as criminal offence. That was a substantial victory in the struggle but there is still a no long way to go. Women have reported that members of a police unit, that was specially formed to deal with issues of domestic violence, have told victims of abuse to go home and not argue with their husbands. A prominent police figure was recently reported to have opined that some women are abused because they simply pick the wrong time to ask the wrong questions of their husbands - such as where they have been, when they return home after imbibing in spirits. Women are now being recruited and trained for police service but there is still a stigma that is attached to those who dare to break from the norm and that fact discourages other women from doing likewise.

There is only one shelter for battered women in Montenegro. It has approximately 10 beds. The shelter is run by an NGO that gets 100 percent of its funding from international donors but there are fears that that funding will dispappear as there is a trend in international donors to move their dollars and euros into gender mainstreaming programmes and projects. 

Abused women who are mothers can be reluctant to turn to the shelter, especially if they do not live in the capital, where the shelter is located, because they have to pull their children out of school and place them in another one. Lobbying continues to increase the budgets of social workers who deal with abused women and it is hoped that they will soon have the ability to provide shelter and sustenance to more Montenegrin women and children who are abused.

There is also an effort underway to draft legislation that would force the perpetrator of domestic violence to leave the domicile, instead of the victim. The effort also seeks to give the courts power to issue restraining orders. That, however, is a tricky piece of legislation to draft, pass and enforce because it is traditionally men in Montenegro who are the legal owners of property. In almost all cases, property is bequeathed to male offspring when parents pass away.

UNDP works with partners, governmental and civil society to bring the international campaign known as “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” to Montenegro. Every year since 1991, “16 days” has started on November 25 - the International Day Against Violence Against Women, as proclaimed by the United Nations - and has carried on until December 10, International Human Rights Day.

In its efforts to increase capacity in various organizations, UNDP Montenegro has:

• identified capacity gaps in gender equality mechanisms and initiated an action plan for capacity building interventions
• strengthened strategic partnerships and alliances within relevant government ministries, NGOs and UNDP itself to ensure a comprehensive approach in drafting, adopting and implementing gender equality law
• partnered with the government and NGOs in the drafting of the National Action Plan on gender equality
• worked with government institutions and NGOs to file reports to bodies that govern adherence to international treaties, conventions, declarations etc.
• supported the expansion of the mandates of institutions whose missions include gender equality
• advised the government that the original list of goals and practices of the OGE was unclear, excessively ambitious and absolutely untenable

 

This programme aims to establish a common methodology for all relevant government ministries to report to the international treaties (UN CEDAW committee) about implementation of an innovative and structured gender mainstreaming approach in legislation and policies, especially upon introduction of gender equality law.

UNDP Montenegro gave guidance to the government in its efforts to draft, adopt and implement gender equality legislation that is in line with EU standards and existing treaties, conventions, declarations etc. That law, now passed, must be considered the most important achievment of the programme to date.

Despite the fact that gender equality legislation has been passed, it seems apparent that Montenegrin authorities remain mostly rooted in the age old paradigm that keeps significant numbers of women out of prominent positions, particularly in politics. Whether or not EU recommendations and criteria regarding gender equality will be persuasive enough to bring about a paradigm shift remains to be seen. UNDP will aid the effort by continuing to educate government officials, (elected and appointed), representatives of political parties and leaders of NGOs on issues of gender equality.

In addition to trying to bring about gender equality in government, parliament and society in general, this programme aims to assure that all work done by UNDP is gender sensitive.