Do women have equal opportunities for financial independence? What challenges do they face?
Together with the Association for Equal Opportunities – Stella Network, on October 10, 2024. we organized a panel discussion on the topic “Bridging the gap in the economic empowerment of women and girls in North Macedonia: Available opportunities, measures, challenges and recommendations”.
The discussion focused on current and future employment measures available under the Operational Plan for active measures and programs for employment and labor market services for 2024, results, challenges and recommendations for further improvement.
The panel was started by Natasha Dimova from the Stella Network, who presented the document on public policies, and presented the challenges faced by women and girls in N. Macedonia during employment and when using active measures for employment and/or starting their own business.
Susana Arsovska-Kostadinova, a representative from the Ministry of Economy and Labor, spoke about the measures to support small enterprises and shared how much they are used by the various target groups, while Pavlina Kostovska Grujovska, a representative from the ESA, explained the effectiveness of active employment measures. Marija Trifunovska from UNDP highlighted important information that everyone should know, with special emphasis on the fact that victims of violence must not become economic victims and continue the thread of dependence.
Katerina Zlatanovska Popovska, career consultant and soft skills trainer, described the process on the ground and explained how they help women victims of violence to build self-confidence and be ready to start their own business.
The speakers talked about the economic challenges faced by women and girls in our society, (single mothers, women farmers, women survivors of violence and other women with reduced access to opportunities), but also the importance of mentoring and career counseling as support for starting and running your own business.
It was emphasized on several occasions that an individual approach is needed when creating the measures, taking into account the specific needs of each person (which is actually one of the recommendations from the document).
All present agreed that a functional mentoring system that will last for a longer period of time is needed for real changes.
The moderator of the discussion was Elena Dimushevska from the National Network against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
This activity was carried out within the project “Advocacy for the economic empowerment of women: Equal access to opportunities for financial independence” as part of the bilateral program for sub-granting women’s civil society organizations implemented by our network with financial support from Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation.
