Legislative and policy framework

The Croatian Constitution enshrined gender equality in a constitutional amendment in 2000 (Article 3). Gender equality is reinforced in Article 14, which prohibits discrimination based on race, skin colour, sex, language, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth, education, social status or any other characteristic.[1]

The EU gender equality acquis was transposed into Croatian law as part of Croatia’s accession to the EU. In anticipation of becoming an EU Member State, Croatia promoted gender equality through national policies to improve the position of women.

The Gender Equality Act (Zakon o ravnopravnosti spolova) constitutes the legal framework for gender equality in Croatia and establishes the protection and promotion of gender equality as a fundamental value. Moreover, it ensures the application of the equality principle in all aspects of national policy. Article 3 of the Gender Equality Act refers to gender mainstreaming and stipulates that public bodies should – at all stages of the planning, adoption and implementation of legal acts, decisions and actions – assess their gender impact with a view to achieving genuine equality between women and men. However, the legal obligation to implement gender mainstreaming does not include provisions for enforcement or sanctions.

In March 2023, the government approved the new national plan for gender equality for the period until 2027, along with its action plan for implementation until 2024. This national plan recognises the necessity of improving the position of certain groups of women and men who may find themselves in vulnerable situations, such as women with disabilities, members of national minorities (especially Roma women), women in rural areas, young women, victims of trafficking, migrants, refugees and international protection seekers and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) persons.

The action plan specifically provides measures for the implementation of gender mainstreaming and the introduction of gender equality perspectives into public policies. The plan sets specific targets for some areas, which have measurable indicators and are evaluated yearly. It envisages three measures for the implementation of special objective 6, ‘Introducing a gender equality perspective into public policies’, each with specific indicators and targets.

Implementation measures of the national plan for gender equality

  • Enhancing the public administration’s ability to implement gender equality principles in daily operations and policymaking.
  • Providing ongoing support to state bodies in developing action plans for gender equality.
  • Boosting the capacity and cooperation of county-level gender equality committees.[2]

Structures

Governmental gender equality body

The Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy has the highest level of responsibility concerning the promotion of gender equality in Croatia. Since 2004, the governmental gender equality body has been the Office for Gender Equality (Ured za ravnopravnost spolova), a government agency without legal personality that consults and supports various ministries with tasks related to gender equality impact and policies. The mandate of the body exclusively covers gender equality, but may include the application of an intersectional approach to gender equality issues.

Functions of the Office for Gender Equality

  • Providing expert services to the government.
  • Developing and monitoring the national policy for the promotion of gender equality.
  • Overseeing compliance with gender equality laws and international documents.
  • Preparing national reports on meeting international standards.

The Office for Gender Equality has established an intersectoral work group, comprising representatives from ministries and government bodies. The group monitored the implementation of the national plan for gender equality until 2024. The work group aims to ensure cooperation and communication with public authorities in relation to specific measures of the action plan.

The Office for Gender Equality has seven employees. Its annual expenditure is EUR 232 288.00, with 83.2 % of the budget assigned to administrative costs. The body is fully funded by the national government.

The Office for Gender Equality must submit an annual activity report to the government by the end of April each year, covering the previous year’s activities. The Office for Gender Equality is rarely consulted on issues other than those strictly related to gender equality. [3]

Gender mainstreaming is coordinated through gender equality coordinators, who are present in every ministry and state administration organisations. They are officials appointed by the head of the public body (under the Gender Equality Act, Article 27(1)). Their tasks include coordinating the implementation of the Gender Equality Act and national gender equality policy, within the scope of the responsibilities of the public body, and cooperating with the Office for Gender Equality. In addition to the staff of the Office for Gender Equality, 26 staff members specifically support gender mainstreaming across all ministries.

Independent gender equality body

The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (Pravobranitelj/ica za ravnopravnost spolova) was established in 2003 and is Croatia’s independent body focusing on gender equality and, to a lesser extent, other equality-related functions.

Functions of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality

  • Conducting research.
  • Publishing and disseminating gender-equality-related information and training materials.
  • Providing legal support for victims of discrimination.
  • Deciding on the outcomes of complaints of discrimination on the grounds of sex or gender.
  • Integrating gender equality considerations into EU and international affairs.
  • Conducting gender-sensitive analysis of policies and legislation.
  • Monitoring progress towards achieving gender equality.

This independent gender equality body currently employs 13 members of staff. Departments or ministries consult the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality on occasion, in the context of the promotion of gender equality, on new or existing policies, laws or programmes. These consultations in relation to gender equality issues lead to relevant adjustments in 25–50 % of cases. The ombudsperson is rarely consulted on legislation in policy fields other than gender equality. The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality is fully funded by the national government, with an annual expenditure of EUR 1 104 636.68 in 2023, 45.6 % of which was spent on administrative costs.

Parliamentary body

The Gender Equality Committee of the Croatian parliament was established in 2001 with the goal of promoting and monitoring the implementation of the principle of equality between women and men in legislation. It deals with promoting the signing of international agreements on gender equality and monitoring the implementation of those agreements, and also the drafting, implementation and analysis of the national policy for gender equality. This committee also co-organises and establishes measures and activities for the promotion of gender equality, proposes programmes or measures for the elimination of gender discrimination, and promotes balanced gender representation in working bodies and parliamentary delegations. In addition, the committee establishes draft acts and other regulations in the field of gender equality and introduces the principle of gender equality into the areas of education, healthcare, social policy and employment, among others.

The Gender Equality Committee is composed of a president, vice-president, 11 members who are Members of Parliament and three external members who are representatives of civil-society organisations (CSOs) and academic and professional institutions that are active in the promotion of gender equality and human rights.

Despite the presence of the Gender Equality Committee, there is no obligation for the Office for Gender Equality to regularly report to this committee.

Regional structure

The Office for Gender Equality has regional departments (equal opportunities committees), organised at the county, city and municipal levels, that are responsible for promoting and coordinating all activities concerning gender equality and the advancement of women in society, in accordance with Article 28 of the Gender Equality Act. [4]

At the regional level, there are 21 gender equality committees, which are local advisory bodies tasked with promoting gender equality and implementing the Gender Equality Act and the national gender equality policy. Local government units may also establish municipal gender equality commissions.

Consultation with civil society

The representatives of CSOs are regularly involved in governmental work on gender equality.

CSO involvement

  • CSOs are represented on a legally established advisory body attached to the ministry responsible for gender equality.
  • They are invited to participate in various temporary bodies, committees, commissions and working groups, etc. developing policy proposals for the government or monitoring and/or assessing the status of various gender equality efforts.
  • They regularly participate in consultations during the process of preparing gender equality reforms, such as legal reforms, national action plans on gender equality and reports on the status of gender equality efforts.
  • CSOs regularly participate in meetings and hearings on the government’s efforts and policies on gender equality.
  • They participate in events such as conferences and seminars.
  • CSOs receive information, publications and more.

There is no permanent and systematic structure for the inclusion of CSOs in policy and legislation development.

The involvement of civil-society representatives in working groups developing policy proposals and drafting laws and other regulations and measures is based on a non-binding code of public consultations in the procedures for the adoption of laws, other regulations and acts. CSOs were part of the working group for drafting the national plan for gender equality for the period until 2027 and the corresponding action plan for implementation until 2024. Similarly, they participated in the process of drafting the rules of procedure in cases of sexual violence.

The Office for Gender Equality distributes funds to non-governmental organisations whose work relates to gender equality and women with disabilities. Funds of EUR 1 328 for each financial year are planned to be distributed as cash donations for activities related to protecting vulnerable groups, such as women with disabilities or women in rural areas, from discrimination.

Methods and tools

Note: the methods and tools listed in this section were the focus of EIGE’s 2024 assessment. If certain methods and tools are not mentioned in this section, this does not necessarily mean that they are not used by Croatia.

Gender impact assessment

Ex ante gender impact assessments are used when drafting laws, policies, programmes or plans, as required under Article 3(1) of the Gender Equality Act and the regulation on the procedure for regulatory impact assessment (Uredbu o provedbi postupka procjene učinaka propisa) (Official Gazette No 52/2017).[5]

Gender budgeting

Gender budgeting is not used and there are currently no legal or policy obligations in place that require the implementation of such an approach.

Training and awareness raising

In terms of gender equality training provision, only employees of the Office for Gender Equality receive training on an ad hoc basis. Some employees from selected ministries or other public bodies receive regular training on gender equality. However, training is only mandatory for employees working on EU funds and programmes and for gender equality coordinators within ministries.

Under the Croatian parliament’s uniform methodological and nomotechnical rules for the drafting of acts, there is a legal obligation to use gender-neutral language in all acts that are adopted by parliament. For example, the masculine or the feminine gender must be stated when referring to civil servants’ titles, deciding on the rights and obligations of civil servants and deciding on their assignment to specific posts.[6]

Each year, the Office for Gender Equality organises four seminars on gender equality for the public administration. In addition, the government agency regularly disseminates various printed materials and invites representatives of the ministries to the public events it organises. Other gender mainstreaming activities of the agency have included the development and dissemination of specific gender mainstreaming manuals in 2017 – for politicians, members of the judiciary, gender equality coordinators, county and municipal gender equality commissions and employees of the Office for Gender Equality – as part of a twinning project in cooperation with Finland.[7]

Gender statistics

According to Article 17 of the Gender Equality Act, all statistical data and information on persons collected, recorded and processed by state authorities, local and regional self-government bodies, and legal and natural persons performing regulated activities must be reported by gender.[8] These are to be made available to the public, in line with the regulations governing the protection of personal data and the provisions of the special law governing the area of official statistics.

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics does not have a specific section of its website dedicated to gender statistics.[9] There is some dissemination through the Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia (the bureau’s main report), which regularly provides all data disaggregated by sex; it can be viewed and downloaded online.[10] The Croatian Bureau of Statistics also makes related publications and online analyses of gender statistics available to the public – for example, the preparation of the annual Women and Men in Croatia reports since 2008.[11] The annual report is disseminated by email and as a printed publication. Some of the data is also taken from other institutions, such as the Croatian Institute of Public Health and the Croatian Employment Service. It contains chapters on population, healthcare, education, employment and earnings, pension insurance, the administration of justice and political power.

Monitoring progress

Croatia's institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gender mainstreaming stand above the EU average and show progress compared with 2021.

Explore Croatia's scores on the four key indicators on institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming developed to monitor progress on Area H of the Beijing Platform for Action. 

Croatia: Institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gender mainstreaming

References