Georgia encourages gender equality in business

Georgia’s most gender equal entities will be revealed at a special awards ceremony that honours the equal treatment of men and women in business.

Local and foreign companies that operate in Georgia, as well as governing bodies that promote gender equality in their workplace will be recognised at the fourth annual Gender Equality Awards 2015 in June.

Entries are now being accepted for the Gender Equality Awards 2015, in which awards will be presented in four categories:

• The Grand Award for Gender Equality
• The Award for Gender Balance at the Executive Level
• The Award for the Best and Innovative Gender Policy
• The Woman Entrepreneur Award

Applications for the Gender Equality Awards 2015 can be submitted until May 18, 2015 at the website www.ge.undp.org. Applicants can apply to more than one category. The winners will be announced at a Gala event on June 4, 2015.

The awards are open to local and foreign businesses that operate in the Georgian market, Government agencies and local governing bodies, but applicants must fit required criteria.

In this regard, it is free to enter the Gender Equality Awards for local and foreign companies that have operated in the Georgian market for more than two years, employ more than 30 people and have more than 100,000 GEL annual turnover. These limits do not apply to the Woman Entrepreneur Award.

Furthermore, nominations for the award Gender Balance at the Executive Level is also open to Government agencies and local governing bodies.

The awards were announced today by the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The competition is being held for the fourth time this year within the framework of the UN Joint Programme ‘Enhancing Gender Equality in Georgia’, which is financed by the Swedish government.

Last year more than 30 businesses, Government and local governing agencies and were recognised competed in the Gender Awards 2014 in Georgia.

The 2014 winners were:

• The Grand Award for Gender Equality: Alliance Group Microfinance Organisation.
• The Award for Gender Balance at the Executive Level: ProCredit Bank Georgia, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.
• The Award for the Best and Innovative Gender Policy: International Corporation ICR.
• The Woman Entrepreneur Award: Irma Daushvili, Ltd Dio.
• For Promoting Women to Technical Positions: BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Ltd. Georgia.
• For Promoting Paternity Leave: Bank Constanta.
• For Social and Community Activism: Ia Mamaladze, Guria News
• * Recognition Award for the achievements in promoting Gender Equality: Manana Kobakhidze, Chair of the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia and Rusudan Kervalishvili, former Chair of the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia.