Press Releases

Thursday, June 30, Vilnius - In the conference ‘Women Enhancing Democracy: Best Practices' organized on the initiative of President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė and President of Finland Tarja Halonen, 130 most prominent and active women from over 40 countries of the world are sharing their experiences and ideas on how to ensure full and safe life for women.

President Grybauskaitė underlined that today Vilnius turned into a global centre, where ideas raised and initiatives proposed, good practices identified and success stories of leading women shared will serve to define clear guidelines on the best ways to solve problems and strengthen women's engagement in establishing democracy and will inspire women around the globe to seek education and take an active part in politics, business and public life.

"We are not talking about men's and women's rights. We are talking about women's input and capacities to contribute actively to the well-being of the state and people. The fact that 12 states have women as presidents and 12 have women as prime ministers demonstrates that more and more women assume responsibility even at most economically and politically challenging times," the President of Lithuania said in a joint press conference with Finland's President Tarja Halonen.

According to the President, protection of women's rights is equally relevant both for developing countries and for Western democracies which already have advanced legislation on the issue. In Lithuania and the rest of the world, there is still a large gap between men and women in terms of participation in decision-making, representation in politics, and salaries, and there are also problems of domestic violence and women's health.

The Lithuanian leader noted that despite Lithuania being considered one of the most advanced countries of world in terms of women's rights and women education, the share of women holding highest positions in business is still low. Moreover, men are paid 20 per cent more than women. Research indicates that if salary discrimination is eliminated in Lithuania, its GDP could rise by 30 per cent.