UN Report Reveals 40% of Women in Georgia are Economically Inactive

(TBILISI) -- More than 40 percent of women in Georgia are economically inactive, while those that do work make more than 30 percent less than their male counterparts despite being better educated and qualified,according to study carried out by the United Nations Development Program.

Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP, Shombi Sharp said in his presentation that Georgia’slack of economic resources and male-dominated social normshinder women’s possibilities to contribute to the national workforce.

“Georgia loses about 11 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) because it does fully utilize women in the workforce,” said Sharp, adding that the government needs to develop a coherent policy for integrating women into the community of employed residents to help boost Georgia’s economic potential.

Georgia’s National Statistics Office (Geostat) recently published data about Georgia’s business sector activities in the third quarter (Q3) of the year showingthat Georgian businesses employed about 643,900 people; 40.1 percent of which were women and 59.9 percent were men.

The average monthly salary for a person employed in the business sector in Q3 of 2017 was 1,143.50 GEL ($437.07), up 131 GEL ($43.93) y/y.

The average monthly salary for women in the business sector was 837.20 GEL ($312.68); a 98.20 GEL ($38.68)increase from 2016.
(Agenda.ge)