Internatinal Women's Day

International Women's Day is traditionally celebrated on March 8th with the aim of promoting economic, political and social rights of female members. The initial idea arose in the early 20th century, when women were protesting against poor working conditions, incurred as a result of increasing industrialization and economic expansion. Women’s Day is celebrated in March to commemorate series of public demonstrations held for the purpose of demanding less working hours, higher wages and voting rights.

Of the total population in the Republic of Croatia, in 2008 there were about 52% of women. Life expectancy was increasing over the years, so in 1953 accounted 63,2 years for women, while in 2008 accounted 79,6 years. In 2007 the average age at first marriage was 26,7 years for women, while the average age of mother at first birth was 26,9 years.

Data from the Census 2001 show that women are less educated than men, especially those older.

As for the data in the field of education, in the school year 2008/2009 proportion of women enrolled in institutions of higher education was 55.0%, while in 2008, in the total number of graduates, there was 58.7% of women. In 2008, Master's degree got 475 women (54.5% of the total number of persons who got a Master’s degree). In the same year, the Ph.D. obtained 247 women (50% of the total number of persons who obtained a Ph.D.). Most women, 285 of them, got their Master's degree in the field of social sciences, while most doctorates were in the field of biomedicine and health, 62 of them.

According to the Labour Force Survey for the 3rd quarter 2008, there were 753 000 employed women, which in the total number of employees made 44.8%. On the other hand, there were 68 000 unemployed women, or to be accurate, 54.0% of the total number of unemployed. The same Survey show that by the level of education, in 2008 there was 21.9% of employed women with basic education or less, 56.2% of women with upper secondary education and 21.9% of women with higher education.

According to data from the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute for December 2009, the average pension paid to women was 2 099 kuna and 2 715 kuna for men. To be precise, on average women received 23% less pension than men.

On average, women also receive lower wages. In 2007, for example, women in legal entities received wages about 11% less than men.

Women are less represented in politics than men. In 2010 there were 24% woman deputies of the Croatian Parliament, while at lower levels of government that number was even lower. For example, the share of women in the County assemblies was 22%, in the City assemblies about 21% and in the Municipal assemblies 16%. In the Republic of Croatia, 6 women are Mayors and one is County Prefect.