The study discusses the gender policy of local authorities, with a special emphasis on women's economic empowerment. The Office of the Public Defender studied the situation of gender equality and the needs of women in the regions. The research also identified achievements and challenges at the local level. Also, as a result of this research, recommendations were developed to strengthen gender policies in local governments, to improve their targeting and to empower women economically.

Study results show, that in spite of a number of activities carried out in recent years by the local self-government bodies to improve gender equality, reflection of different needs pertaining to the regions in the country’s gender policy as well as development of action plans and programs that are systematized and based on needs assessment are still challenging. Furthermore, pursuing activities toward gender equality are less prioritized by local self-government.

Assessment was implemented by the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia in the framework of the project "Joint Action for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia”, with the support of UN Women.