A year dedicated to gender equality: Purple is not a decor, it's a message

In 2022, NALED started the tradition of choosing the theme of the year, in order to draw attention to the strategic priorities and activities it implements with the support of members and partners, and to support the changes it wants to see in society. In previous years, it was the green agenda, innovation, and digitization, and this time NALED is consciously and symbolically dressed in purple - the color of gender equality, equal opportunities, dignity and resilience.

Purple is not a decoration, it is a message. The message that equality is no longer a secondary topic, but one of the development tasks for Serbia on the European path - said Stanka Pejanović, vice-president of NALED's Managing Board, during the presentation of the topic at the closing ceremony of the 19th annual assembly of the association.

Speaking from personal and professional experience gained on a global level - in Japan, America, China and Western Europe, Pejanović stressed that diversity is not a matter of justice, but a matter of performance.

Companies, institutions, and communities thrive when you incorporate diverse perspectives, experiences, and ways of thinking into their core. There is no sustainable development if half of the potential, which is women, is ignored. Imagine how much potential remains unseen. How many ideas, innovations, stability and different approaches remain unused - said Pejanović.

In Serbia, we have knowledge, we have abilities - but we still do not have a balance. Although women make up more than half of the working-age population, they run only one in five companies, they own less than a third of registered businesses, and only 17% of agricultural farms are owned by them. Among 174 municipalities and cities - only 20 have women at the head.

Since its establishment, NALED has supported concrete changes that make the path easier for women. As an example of past activities, she reminded that NALED:

 • contributing to the abolition of unnecessary administration for obtaining maternity benefits, when it was necessary to attach as many as 86 papers for one right,

 • in 2019, he contributed to the amendment of the Land Registry Act, for the first time introducing the equal registration of spouses' property,

 • assisted in the adoption of the Law on Social Entrepreneurship in 2022, which opened up space for supporting women from vulnerable groups and communities,

 • supported the work and development of the Ethno Network, as a national professional association that gathers women from all over Serbia to preserve cultural identity and heritage through the production of fine handicrafts.

Special emphasis was placed on the two-year project "Small and Powerful", which NALED is implementing with the support of the British Embassy, ​​with the aim of empowering women entrepreneurs through the improvement of the regulatory framework and the awarding of non-reimbursable grants.

According to the membership, the first goal of NALED in the coming year should be better legislation, where gender equality has an important place. For these reasons, NALED will supplement the Gray Book with key recommendations for the economic empowerment of women, such as equalizing the rights of entrepreneurs with working mothers.

Great Britain and other Northern European countries can be an inspiration for the reforms that should be implemented in our country. For example, in Sweden, Norway and Finland, women participate in the labor market with over 70%. There, the system does not expect women to "end everything by themselves", but provides them with infrastructural and political support: childcare services, tax benefits, flexible working hours, equal representation in decision-making. Not because of idealism - but because they realized: when you invest in women, you invest in long-term stability.

Talent knows no gender, but chance often does. That's why I'm here - not to speak, but to advocate. To bring the experience I gained globally back to the community - and to help as many women as possible make their way to the places where decisions are made - concluded Pejanović, with the message that gender equality is not only an economic potential, but also a cultural capital that we should nurture together.