Bulgaria - Gender Equality

Six years after the signature of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW the 40th National Assembly finally ratified it and the act of ratification was published in State Gazette No. 62/ of 1 August 2006.

by Genoveva Tisheva- Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation

The summer of 2006 turned to be a hot season for trends and decisions concerning gender equality in Bulgaria. Women’ s non-governmental organizations obviously left behind long holidays for implementing their agendas, the Parliament and governmental institutions did the same in pursuing the goal of full EU accession from January 2007. The cross-point of the two agendas is marked by several trends and achievements.

                        Six years after the signature of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW the 40^th National Assembly finally ratified it and the act of ratification was published in State Gazette No. 62/ of  1 August 2006. It means in practice that communications from individuals and groups of individuals can be submitted to the CEDAW Committee for violations of the Convention. The issue of violence against women being explicitly recognized as discrimination against  women by CEDAW and the General recommendations of the Committee, Bulgarian individuals and groups of individuals will be able to refer cases of  violence against women to the Committee of CEDAW  under the conditions of admissibility of the Optional Protocol. Despite that, in order for CEDAW and its Optional Protocol to become integral part of the Bulgarian legislation, according to the Constitution they have to be promulgated in the State Gazette. We hope that after an official translation of both documents  /the existing one of CEDAW need a serious review/, both the Convention and the Protocol will be promulgated soon.

                        Another tool for gender equality and protection of women against violence will be the adoption of the Draft law on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men. The draft, elaborated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, was adopted by the Council of Ministers. It is now pending in the National Assembly, waiting for its approval for first reading by the leading Committee on Human Rights and Religious Denominations. Although the draft needs to be improved, women’ s NGOs support it in principle and are in a process of elaboration of  a joint position which will be sent for consideration to the leading parliamentary committee by August 21. The members of the women’ s movement are aware that this unique moment of political will and pressure from the EU should not be missed. The main claims for improvement are related to the definition and further development of affirmative action, to the more precise definitions in general and, most important, to the establishment of a mechanism on gender equality as a separate body. The Draft law pending in the parliament provides for such a mechanism to be part of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. The negotiations between the NGOs and the parliament around the issue of a separate mechanism will obviously continue this fall. Building-up a specialized body for day-to-day policy-making on gender equality will ensure also the implementation of the international and national legislation on violence against women.

                        The trends in decision-making on gender equality are not always positive during this summer. It is understandable, given the fact that awareness of the state institutions about gender equality is a slow and contradictory process. Such a controversial act are the recent amendments of  the Law on Protection against discrimination. These amendments, among others, were meant to bring us in line with the EU standards on affirmative action in the hiring process. Instead of that, the amendments go against these EU standards and, in addition, introduce new risks of discrimination. A recent decision of the