Municipal elections in Georgia – Cherchez la femme

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Georgian prime minister Irakly Garibashvili called the recent municipal elections in Georgia a “huge victory on the way to Europe”. The fact that in most cities with direct elections for mayor the “Georgian Dream” (GD) coalition could not win in the first round is a big minus for the coalition in the growing confrontation with the “United National Movement” (UNM) party of Mikheil Saakashvili, but it is a plus for the international image of the country. It proves, says Tbilisi, the maturity of Georgian democracy and that the government does not intend to use administrative resources to defeat the opposition.

Immediately after the elections, the ambassadors of the USA, the UK and the Netherlands made a joint statement in which they praised “the loyalty of the government to their responsibilities to Europe in the process of preparing for the signing of the association agreement with the EU.”

Yet NGOs draw attention to a very important indicator of the “incomplete compliance” of the country to European norms. What is meant here is the number of women nominated or elected to ruling positions. They stress that not only the parties tried to avoid nominating women, but also the electorate was unwilling to ensure some relative gender balance in the municipal structures. According the the NGO Transparency International – Georgia, “in local structures women almost never have positions on which important decisions depend.”

For the Europeans, this is an important indicator of the “maturity” of a given society. According to the European traditions that emerged during the decades of integration process on the continent, Brussels pays attention not only to the decisions taken by a government but also to the free expression of opinion by a society which aspires to be “European”.

To give an example, the Parliament of Georgia, at the recommendation of the EU and in line with European practices, adopted a law on financial support for p parties that are ready to nominate women to the top positions in the elections. Naturally, many weak parties used this opportunity, but if the voters persistently “ignore” even the most deserving and qualified female candidates, the European bureaucrats perceive it as a sign of the immaturity of that society, and not only of its political elite. As a result, the speed of integration of such societies in European structures is slowing down.

But nobody knows how this problem can be resolved: if quotas, positive discrimination and nominating women does not bring results, one cannot forbid nominating men in some districts so that the voters could only choose between women?

Statistics show that the situation in this regard becomes only worse, despite Georgian's attempts to become closer to Europe. This is confirmed by the dynamics of the proportion of women who won in the last five local elections: 14% in 1998, 11% in 2002, 10.8% in 2006, 10% in 2010 and 9.6% at the last elections on June 15.

These statistics pertain to positions in the executive municipal structures. In the representative bodes the situations is not considerably better – 12%. Among 60 heads of commissions, only 6 are women. The mayors of the 12 biggest cities are all men. And this despite the fact that the Georgian government, at the requirement of the EU, developed an entire program for 2014-2016 “to achieve gender equality, an increase in the proportion of women in central and local governmental bodies and the discovery of female leaders”

In the center, the situation with gender equality is not much better – among 150 MPs, only 17 are women, although, according to the last census, women compose more than half of the Georgian population.

It is remarkable that the problem is not even discussed in society, at least not on the TV, radio or in the press. If this topic appears, it often ends up with some jokes – not always respectful.

At the same time, the current situation does not at all correspond to the real contribution of women to the development of Georgia, at least in the social groups where professionalism, responsibility and hard work are decisive factors.

For example, in business – where there can be no political correctness, where everything is based on your personal interest – according to the information of Grant Thornton, women compose 35% of the top-managers in private Georgian companies. This indicator is among the highest in the world. To compare, the USA has 22%, the UK 20%, Denmark 14%, Switzerland 13%. The Netherlands, whose embassy is very active to notice any discrimination against minorities in Georgia, have only 10% - which is less than in the UAE. Russia has more than 43%.

The numbers are a good illustration. It seems that Georgians are less eager to vote for nominated women than to give them such a responsible task as business. And this social paradox requires separate research.