“Losing a job during pregnancy, because of my condition, especially in times of a global crisis, is very stressful,” a woman worker recalled.

She was fired from her job at a bank in Skopje when her employer learned that she was pregnant.

Amid the global pandemic, the most vulnerable groups of women have faced the greatest risks of gender-based discrimination and rights violations. Meanwhile, at the height of the pandemic, North Macedonia lacked an antidiscrimination, law and its expert equality body the Commission for Protection of Discrimination, was not functioning. This hindered access to justice in cases of discrimination. The lack of legal and institutional support has further hindered women’s access to justice in cases of discrimination.

Once the worker learned that she had been wrongfully terminated, she approached the Helsinki Committee (MHC) for assistance, concerned about the process of seeking justice. She learned about the Helsinki Committee’s work through Facebook post regarding a case of termination of pregnant worker’s employment contract which ended up successfully with the Committee’s help.

“It’s frustrating that access to justice is expensive and slow,” she said. “I wouldn’t be motivated to initiate court proceeding by myself. You gave me motivation, willingness and financial security to initiate the court procedure,” she continued. 

Meanwhile, her case has inspired other women to claim their rights. Namely, after informing the public about this case, more than 10 women approached MHC’s office for legal aid regarding pregnant workers’ rights, termination of pregnant workers’ employment contracts, rights of the pregnant workers regarding night time and overtime work.

This initiative provided free legal aid to victims of gender-based discrimination at work. Further, infographics, monthly posts and videos contributed to raising awareness and informing the public about gender-based discrimination against women at work, which led more women workers to seek assistance from the Helsinki Committee.

Another woman worker employed in the textile industry in Shtip informed the Helsinki Committee that as a mother of children under 10 years of age was fired as a result of which her salary for April and May 2020 was reduced to only 50% of the total salary. She was paid only 7.500,00 denars (approximately 120 EUR), insufficient to cover her everyday costs, particularly considering that she lives in a four-member household with two children.

The Helsinki Committee submitted a complaint to the State Labour Inspectorate. After conducting an inspection, it found irregularities in the employer’s work and ordered the employer to pay the employee the full salary.

“With the Helsinki Committee’s help, the employer paid me the full amount of my salary for the months when I had to stay at home and take care of my child,” the employee happily reported.

Since 2020, the Helsinki Committee have documented a record number of beneficiaries seeking assistance as part of their “Women Workers Unite” initiative.

“With support of Reactor and KWN, MHC successfully raised the public awareness about the phenomenon of gender- based discrimination at the workplace, informed many women workers about their rights but also stimulated them to seek for justice in case of their breach.“, said one of the MHC counsellors.

They have provided free legal aid in 33 cases involving 36 women workers as beneficiaries, initiated 10 administrative procedures and one court procedure for gender-based discrimination at work.

The Helsinki Committee’s initiative “Women Worker Unite!” has improved women’s access to justice in cases of gender-based discrimination at work and raised women’s awareness regarding the mechanisms that exist to protect them.

This “Women Workers Unite” action has been supported by the Reactor, Kosovo Women’s Network and their partners through the Action “Furthering Women’s Labour Rights”. This Action is financed by the European Union and co-funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation.

The new Law on prevention and protection from discrimination entered into force in October 2020 and the Commission for prevention and protection from discrimination started being operational in February 2021.  The victims of discrimination now have a proper access to the protective mechanism from discrimination.