J. Joksimović: Serbia follows EU trends in gender equality

June 11 2020 | Belgrade

J. Joksimović: Serbia follows EU trends in gender equality

As a country in the EU accession process, Serbia will continue to follow and support all European trends regarding gender equality and women empowerment in all aspects, as stated today by Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović.

She has announced that another EUR 2 million will be allocated from IPA 2019 for improving gender equality and women empowerment projects in Serbia.

“We are giving women space in the public sphere, but they still have a lot of obligations and carry a lot of weight in their families. Women in Serbia often renounce their inheritance – land or property, and that is a capital with which a women can, through these projects, empower herself and gain independence,” said Joksimović who, together with Zorana Mihajlović – the Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality, has awarded agreements on the realisation of women empowerment projects to four non-governmental organisation worth RSD 16 million, which are supported from the 2016 IPA package for Serbia. 

Joksimović has expressed her satisfaction at the fact that, for three years, concrete projects financed from EU funds have been supporting women in Serbia, announcing that EUR 2 million will be allocated from IPA 2019 for improving the gender equality policy.

According to her, the women empowerment project has been implemented for several years in Serbia and the first component is institutional strengthening and the implementation of all gender equality policies. She has further emphasised that the Ministry of European Integration has been tasked to ensure that the gender equality policy is included in the planning of IPA funds and other EU funds.

She has recalled that the public call for the IPARD programme for the support to agricultural projects and sustainable tourism in rural areas has been published recently, inviting women who own land or certain property to apply for these funds that would help them launch small businesses in tourism or agriculture.

Joksimović has emphasised that Serbia will continue to follow and support European trends regarding gender equality, which are in accordance with the Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in 2019.

Source: Tanjug