On November 15, International School of Economics at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (ISET), in partnership with the Forum for Research on Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies (FREE Network), hosted an international conference “Removing Obstacles to Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment.”
The purpose of the conference was to gather researchers, policy makers, representatives of international, government and non-governmental organizations, as well as the public interested in the issues of development and to discuss the ways and strategies of removing obstacles to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. The participants focused their attention on Eastern European region and emerging economies.
Rector of TSU, George Sharvashidze noted that “a very representative conference is being held at TSU with the participation of many countries, World Bank, UN Women. It is dedicated to women’s participation in economic development as well as to how to achieve sustainable economic development. The conference recommendations will be beneficial for the country’s economic development and will show perspectives of how to involve women actively in economic development and policy.”
“Representatives of various spheres from many countries of the world have gathered at the today’s conference to discuss how to eradicate gender inequality and achieve women’s economic empowerment,” Director of ISET and ISET Policy Institute, Tamar Sulukhia said.
The second part of the conference involved a panel discussion on a topic “Women’s Empowerment: South Caucasus Perspective.” The following persons participated in the panel discussion: Erika Kvapilova, UN Women Representative in Georgia; Marina Tabukashvili, Director General of Taso Foundation; and Sebastian Molineus, the World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus.
Dr. Shahra Razavi, Chief of Research and Data, UN Women (New York), hailed the conference as “timely and important.”
The conference was part of the FROGEE initiative - the Forum for Research on Gender Economics. It was supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and coordinated by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE).
