Transforming Society: State Responsibility to Eradicate Gender Stereotypes in Georgia

Abstract: No country has yet achieved full gender equality and one of the reasons is the stereotypical attitudes towards characteristics and roles of men and women. International community has acknowledged that gender stereotypes are an obstacle to full realisation of human rights of women and men and the obligation to tackle those has been included in the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). However, until today, not much has been said about what exactly this obligation entails or how it should be implemented. The analysis of the obligation to eradicate gender stereotypes shows that it requires the States to eliminate gender stereotypes from the laws of the country as well as from the society, most importantly from and through media and education. The paper uses Georgia as a case study and tries to exemplify practical implementation of this obligation. It focuses on three areas - parental leave, media regulation and school education. The thesis also underlines the importance of communicating the decisions and actions with all the stakeholders and actors in the process in a democratic way in order to make the changes sustainable. The thesis argues that tackling gender stereotypes in these key areas will be an important contribution on the way to transforming the society into the one that is diverse and equal.