Ministry of Defence Marks International Women’s Day

Date: Tuesday, 8 March 2016

The Ministry of Defence of Georgia organized a series of events under the banner “Woman in Service of the Country”, to mark Gender Week, culminating in a final ceremony celebrating International Women’s Day, held on 8 March 2016 in the Information-Education Centre of the Ministry of Defence.

Minister of Defence awarded Women Officers; Photo: MOD Georgia

Minister of Defence, Tinatin Khidasheli, opened the event, where she committed the Ministry to approving its next Strategy on Gender Equality in 2016. She went on to say, “As a female Minister of Defence, I feel a stronger responsibility to achieve a gender balance in the upper echelons of the Georgian military and the defence sector in general. We have a lot of women in the armed forced and only one of them has the rank of colonel; this is not fair. My task is to ensure that everyone enjoys equal opportunities, while observing all the rules, procedures and standards applicable within the Armed Forces.”

As a symbolic launch of the process to recognise women’s service in the Georgian Armed Forces, the Minister personally awarded Officers Natia Chitauri, Ekaterine Kharashvili and Rusudan Romelashvili the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and Sergeant Nana Tskhadadze received an apartment.

UN Women Country Representative, Erika Kvapilova, also addressed the audience, complementing the Ministry for their commitment to gender mainstreaming and hard work towards implementing the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and security, in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

Minister of Defence Marks International Women's Day; Photo: MOD Georgia

Attending the event were the First Lady of Georgia, Maka Chichua, Secretary of the National Security Council, Irine Imerlishvili, Head of the President`s Administration, Giorgi Abashishvili, Head of the General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forced, Vakhtang Kapanadze, Assistant to the Prime Minister on Human Rights and Gender Equality Issues, Sophio Japaradze and representatives from civil society and the media.

After the official segment of the event was over, a photo exhibition was launched, showing the activities of women serving in the Georgian military and the Military Band of the Military Orchestra of the National Guard provided a musical accompaniment for the reception.