PENANG, February 2014 – The audience was taken through the development of gender equality in the largest of the Baltic States, Republic of Lithuania, by Dr Alina Zvinkliene in her talk titled Gender Equality Politics: Women and Anti-Discrimination Laws in Lithuania at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Women’s Development Research Centre (KANITA) recently.

Introducing the evolution of the process, she highlighted that in Article 29 of the Lithuanian Constitution of 1992, it stated that “A person may not have his rights restricted in any way, or be granted any privileges, on the basis of his or her sex, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, convictions, or opinions.”

This was in pursuant to the Human Rights context such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1979.

Taking gender equality a step further, the Lithuania parliament set up a Ombudsman system for the Parliamentarian in 1995; Equal Opportunities for women and men, 1999; Rights of the Child, 2000; the Media, 2001; and Academic Ethics and Procedure, 2013.

Alina pointed out that the mandate of the Ombudsperson investigates besides what has been stipulated in Article 29 of the Lithuanian Constitution, “sexual orientation, harassment or sexual harassment”.

Such gender equality pervades all levels including the government, non-governmental organisations and trade unions.

National programmes on equal opportunities between all genders were also organised and have a representative sitting in the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, United Nations, in 2012.

She then cited the case of Alicija who worked at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Vilnius, Lithuania. Alicija lodged a complaint about sexual harassment by a diplomatic staff of the embassy.

“When the Lithuanian authorities declined to hear Alicija’s complaint, she appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg,” Alina said.

She added that the Court found that the Lithuanian authorities had breached the Convention in declining to hear the complaint. In other words, there is a genuine case of violation of the principle of equal treatment.

Alina is a Chief Researcher at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Research and was a lector at the Institute of Contemporary History of Sodertorn University, Sweden (2011-2013). Her main research fields are democratisation and social development in post-socialist countries, human, rights and citizenship in multicultural societies from a gender perspective.

This talk is part of a series of talks organised by KANITA in its effort to share knowledge and experiences with the university community in transforming society towards gender equality and social justice.

Also at the talk were KANITA Director Associate Professor Dr Noraida Endut; Deputy Director Associate Professor Dr Nor Hafizah Selamat; Associate Professor Dr Intan Osman; and Visiting Professor Professor Dr Chee Heng Leng. - Text and photos: Yong Check Yoon