On May 16, 2024, the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation hosted an online consultative meeting on the Zoom platform as part of the Expert Working Group “Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls.” The meeting focused on developing recommendations for introducing a gender perspective into the work of socio-economic councils and improving social dialogue.

The meeting brought together representatives from employers’ associations, key social partners at the national, provincial, and local levels. Participants discussed the importance of gender equality in the work of socio-economic councils, in line with the new Law on Gender Equality and the Gender Equality Strategy for the period 2021-2030. It was emphasized that socio-economic councils play a key role in ensuring equal opportunities for men and women during collective bargaining. Additionally, key steps for advancing gender equality that need to be advocated were highlighted during the meeting:

• Developing cooperation instruments with institutional mechanisms for gender equality (Government Coordination Body, ministries, provincial secretariats, and local mechanisms).
• Strengthening the capacity of socio-economic councils at the local level, while ensuring resources to increase the scope of activities.
• Enhancing forums and platforms that bring together women in trade union organizations and employers’ associations to encourage their participation in the work of socio-economic councils
• Incorporating knowledge and practices from civil society organizations (CSOs) and the academic community to improve women’s economic status and strengthen female entrepreneurship.
• Adopting annual gender equality plans within socio-economic councils.

Believing that the values of gender equality are key to development and progress, the dialogue will continue through future activities, with the goal of improving social dialogue and the work of socio-economic councils.