On the occasion of International Women's Day on Tuesday, the chair of the Croatian Parliament's Gender Equality Committee, Marija Selak-Raspudic (Most party), announced a bill to improve the status of women on the labour market, while advocating prevention of domestic violence.

“We need to work on equality in state and public institutions and review the job classification system and pay grades in this sector,” Selak-Raspudic told a press conference, adding that a plan for the real sector could follow after that.

She warmed that women entrepreneurs are in a more difficult position than men on the labour market, particularly when it comes to balancing work and private life, and that statistics show that they are far less represented than men.

She believes the announced bill on contributions will be detrimental to entrepreneurs, particularly women, because it provides that company executives have to be employed full-time. She proposed that contributions be determined according to a company’s income.

Selak-Raspudic proposed flexible work conditions for women caring for their families, which should not lead to a cancellation of their work contracts. She also called for the right to disconnect, which means that after working hours are over an employee is no longer bound by their job duties.

That would ensure that women are not available to their employers round the clock, she said. She also proposed the principle of equal pay for work from home or remote work.

Domestic violence increased by 40% during pandemic

Selak-Raspudic presented some interim statistics from the Ministry of the Interior regarding violence against women, according to which the number of murders of women by close persons increased from six in 2020 to eight in 2021. The number of attempted murders rose from 18 in 2020 to 25 in 2021, while the number of cases of serious injury increased from 1,055 in 2020 to 1,142 in 2021.

“The negative trend of crimes committed by close persons has not been stopped but has in fact increased during the pandemic, by as much as 40%,” she warned.

Selak-Raspudic underscored the need for the prevention of domestic violence and stressed that violence in Croatia is committed by a deviant minority of 0.3% of the population. She said that she would fight to protect all victims of violence, stressing that the fight for gender equality is not a war of the sexes but the struggle against all anomalies that prevent the realisation of a fairer society overall.