I congratulate all Georgia on the 8 of March, the International Women's Day. This is a day when we recall and talk about women's achievements and successes. This is a day, which allows us to think and analyze what we have changed and what we want to change in the future.

We should particularly emphasize the positive changes carried out for women's empowerment and improvement of their situation, but at the same time, it is necessary to speak about the problems that are still unresolved and severely affect the women of various ethnic origins, gender identity and social status.

Many strategic documents, actions plans and standards have been developed to achieve gender equality, but a lot of substantial issues remain problematic, including women's political participation, equal payment for equal work, domestic violence and violence against women, early marriage, sexual harassment, availability of reproductive and sexual health care, etc.

It is unfortunate that a woman's voice is still not properly heard in the legislative body. Many visible and invisible barriers hinder women to be represented on the decision-making positions and to be promoted in their career. In addition, women's work is still underestimated in the workplace, as well as in the family, where women do huge labor and which is believed to be women’s responsibility. Despite the fact that women are actively involved in the country's economic development, they have less income than men.

This year, a number of events and marching are planned to celebrate the International Women's Day. The PublicDefenderexpresses solidarity with these events and believes that the initiatives aimed at improving the human rights situation of women should be based on the demands voiced by various groups and the social activism of women.

Once again, I congratulate all women on the International Women's Day, and I urge the public to understand and realize the political, economic and social importance of women's equal participation in all aspects of public life.