Promoting IDPs' and Women's Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia

exile seemed to represent a revanchist group that could pose a political threat to Abkhazia. 41 In manyways, the IDP community’s marginalization in Georgia results in the challenge of contributing morevaried and nuanced perspectives to both the formal peace process and more informal peace buildingefforts within Georgia, including in Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.Women and Gender LegislationA continued stream of legislation has been passed since 2006 to address women’s issues in Georgia,reflecting the perspective that Georgia seems to aspire towards gender equality. Reports have citeddifferences in approaches to these issues across the South Caucasus, with Armenia and Azerbaijan moreoriented towards traditional gender roles than Georgia. 42 However, several important issues remainconcerning women’s empowerment. Georgia ranks 86 th out of 135 countries on the World EconomicForum’s Global Gender Gap index. Interestingly, Armenia and Azerbaijan have comparable rankings at84 th and 91 st place, respectively. Georgia’s ranking has remained stagnant since 2006, with politicalempowerment and economic participation remaining virtually unchanged:Evolution of Key Gender Gap Sub Indexes 43Of particular significance to this report is Georgia’s low score on the political empowerment indicator:only three of the 19 ministers in Georgia’s government are female, and nine of the 140 members ofparliament, while women hold under 11% of seats on local assemblies. These numbers amount to thelowest level of female participation in Georgian politics since the country’s independence in 1991. 44Women’s low political participation can be partially explained by cultural gender stereotypes that placewomen and men in certain societal roles. More specifically, an Open Society Georgia study of publicvalues conducted in 2006 showed that Georgian men and women do not view women as politicians. 45 In41 Ibid., 16.42 Caucasus Research Resource Center, “How Does the South Caucasus Compare?,” 5 October 2011. Web. 21 May 2012, 2.43 From the 2011 Global Gender Gap Report - Georgia Country Profile44 Shorana Latatia. Women Losing Out in Georgian Politics. Institute for War and Peace Reporting. 18 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Nov.2011.45 Ibid.14