Almost half (49%) of the managers of companies in Bulgaria in 2018 are women. According to this indicator, our country shares the second place in the European Union with Estonia, according to data from the European statistical office Eurostat, published on the occasion of International Women's Day.
In Bulgaria we have a saying - if you want to discuss ideas, invite men; if you want to do work, invite women. This was said by Kristalina Georgieva, Acting President of the World Bank, at the presentation of the report "Women, Business and Legislation 2019: A Decade of Reforms", prepared by the World Bank. Thus, she illustrates her thesis that the economy is losing out on the restriction of women's rights. According to the bank's estimates, the world's gross domestic product is lower by 160 trillion dollars because women and men do not have equal rights. She described this as one of the most expensive solvable problems in the world.
For Bulgaria, out of 100 possible points, the index* shows 93.75. This ranks it among the 30 countries in the world best positioned.
Kristalina Georgieva gave an example with the continuing difference in the salaries of men and women, even in countries such as Sweden, which is considered to have full equality. It is there about 5%. In the 30 most developed countries in this respect, the difference is 15-20%. In Bulgaria it is about 14%, which puts it in a good position from the EU average.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva, who also took part in the discussion, gave her own examples to illustrate that the issue of equality between men and women in Bulgaria is much better than in other countries. She pointed out that in our country it is quite normal for a woman to be a minister and deputy prime minister. She said that when she took her office, there were only two of them, women, in the world, while now this is the case in 28 out of 193 countries.
Business representatives who participated in the discussion spoke about the initiatives in their companies to improve the working conditions for women - flexible working hours, the opportunity to work from home, departmental kindergartens.
The whole article can be found here - https://www.dnevnik.bg/…/3398257_bulgariia_e_sred_stranite…/
* Bulgaria is among the countries in the European Union with the best performing economies in terms of women's legal rights in the labor market and in choosing a profession. This is shown by the World Bank data from the study. It examines the stages in a woman's working life until her retirement and legal protection at each stage. The data cover a ten-year period in which 187 countries were evaluated on eight indicators - freedom of movement, starting work, pay, marriage, employment after birth, the opportunity to start their own business, property management, receiving a pension. Based on them, an index is calculated.