Policy Recommendations.

In the following part, recommendations which would concern both men and women are excluded (such as tax reform, creating positive environment for businesses, anti-corruption laws, reinforcement mechanisms, etc.), even though many of such recommendations form the basis for reform. What presented is the proposals that favor exclusively women, directed to remedy flaws that inhibit women active economic participation. Another assumption of the recommendation part is that the main responsibility for women's employment should be placed on the private sector, as well as non-governmental, community local efforts. Also, it would expect more initiative and energy from the women themselves, rather than passive reliance on the governmental ability to provide employment and social security opportunities. Finally, such an approach is self-sustained, in a sense that, since started, it gives women the ability, knowledge and skills to continue themselves, without seeking support from the government or waiting for better times. Therefore, proposals for the private sector are more detailed and better developed. In general, there is a great diversity among different groups of women in terms of the types, goals of economic activity, their motivations and outcomes sought. Therefore, intervention programs for women need a differentiated package approach, which is reflected in the recommendations below. At the same time, general recommendations are given to specific organizations involved in the economic policy-making that affect women.

• creating country plan of action, identifying priority areas for the implementation of national and regional programs aimed at assisting women, identifying specific goals and strategies on the country level
• institutionalizing gender approach in the design and implementation of the economic development projects, gender analysis (integrating approach)
• staff training for gov. organizations on a long-term basis, from sensitizing to gender coordinators' training within organizations, with the goal of creating their own gender specialists
• establishing special women's programs or desks within small-scale industry support agencies and organizations, which would be connected in a separate network
• collecting gender specific info on households, market, business involvement, management, rural/urban households, ownership, semi-legal self employed etc
• promoting grassroots participation in formulating econ. policies, publicity and openness, systematic client orientation/consultation, participatory evaluation and social screening as a standard approach, public project monitoring and evaluation
• building local community capacity, developing and support of mass organizations which look at general macro-level development issues (in addition to specific grassroots problems)

For women in the labor force, public sector (target groups: young women, elderly women, unemployed):

• market research on a systematic basis, to identify possible sectors of women employment, pro-active approach- finding new spheres of possible employment
• reforming current labor legislation: protective does not mean discriminative, labor regulations and policies should not provide exclusive privileges for women: equal access to all job categories, changing safety regulations, changing the system of social and family benefits
• non-discriminative attitude towards young women, women with young children and women of pre-retirement age in employment
• equal treatment in training, job search and job placement for women in the unemployment centers
• training in management and skills, which are in high demand on the market and commensurate with women's education, age and previous employment
• securing social infrastructure and legal/social protection for the employed women

For women in the private sector, entrepreneurs and self-employed (target groups: highly educated professional women, self-employed women, women entrepreneurs in the informal sector - pro-active market research, to identify specific opportunities and obstacles for women in small businesses)

• creating legal framework for the categories of women workers currently not protected by the law (casual workers, subcontractors, home based, self-employed, piece-rated workers in the private sector, etc.), via either a new law, or expansion of existing laws
• public and easy access to, dissemination of market information for small enterprises, creating inclusive environment for women entrepreneurs
• gov. program to assist women-entrepreneurs in moving from informal to the formal business sector
• access to capital funds for women, esp. the smallest women-entrepreneurs in the informal sector; provisions of credit by numerous forms: social funds, government programs, soft loans schemes (property and equipment as collateral), group loans, regional credit funds
• access to infrastructure, technical support and assistance: business incubators for women, business support projects, network of business centers
• training/retraining programs for women in business in business skills, confidence and self-image, marketing, distribution, advertising skills, etc.
• training for starters and employed in private sector in non-specialized, broad skills, non-traditional skills
• income generation programs for women from poor households, unemployed women
• program for developing technologies appropriate for women's small enterprises, in response to requests from support agencies and women themselves;
• securing social infrastructure and legal/social protection for women employed in private sector and self-employed
• community organizing for self-employed women, promoting the creation professional women business organizations, networking
• for rural women: assistance in marketing, distribution, processing, plus technical support (mechanized labor, women friendly technologies)
• pro-employment approach for the women pensioners

• public campaign against conservative nationalist and religious pro-natalist ideology, support of women-oriented pro-feminist initiatives
• facilitating basic health women/child/family care alternative services, affordable for all
• organizing of food/cloths distribution centers on the community level, promoting self-organizing efforts
• creating and support centers/hotlines against family violence, alcoholism, family counseling groups
• protecting public expenditures on social programs, plus social provisions reform: targeting, non-discriminative approach, reform of unemployment benefits
• creating alternative social protection/security networks for the disabled women, women-pensioners (via community capacities)
• training for women on the basics of reproductive /social rights, human rights training, awareness-raising seminars for young women, esp. from countryside, family planning/child care for the families