Equal access and equal opportunities for men and women to the municipal clubs for pensioners and people with disabilities in Sofia

There are nine municipal clubs for pensioners and people with disabilities in Sofia, used by members of the respective associations to the clubs or with individual permits for attendance. The main goal of the clubs' activities is to provide opportunities for social contacts. The activities are organized by the associations to the respective clubs and basically include board games like chess, backgammon, cards, as well as lectures, excursions, concerts and trips. However, in practice, the men and women who actually attend the activities are less than the members of the associations to the clubs.  Moreover, there is a clear gender division in the choice of activities which separates men and women into large groups with different interests.

The objective of the survey is to find out if men and women have equal access and equal opportunities to use the municipal clubs for pensioners and people with disabilities, based in Sofia and to participate in their preferred activities.

Margarita Peeva, Chief Expert in the Social Activities Directorate, Sofia Municipality, Phone. +359 2/ 822 61 44, e-mail: mpeeva@sofia.bg

School sports facilities - suitable for girls and boys

The identified problem is the low participation of pupils in both curricula and extra-curricula sports activities practiced in the school sports facilities, which has negative effects on their health and physical development. Usually the reasons are seen in the unsatisfactory conditions of the sports facilities. But why it has more negative impact on girls compared to boys?

The survey analyses data for one representative school in Sofia and focused on the use of school sports facilities by the pupils from different age group by gender and the general conditions of the sports facilities. The objecives of the survey are to determine the main trends regarding the participation of pupils in sports activities from a gender perspective and make recommendations.

Directorate of Sports and Prevention of Dependencies, Sofia Municipality: Irena Dimitrova, Director, Pavel Ivanov, Chief Expert, Chavdar Velinov, Senior Expert. Contacts:  phone: +359 2/9810649, e-mail: bowlingfest@abv.bg

Kindergartens provide children only with female behavior and role models. Stereotypes about male and female professions contribute to the nearly 100% female teaching staff. Due to the low pay and public image of the profession, it is not attractive for young graduates in pedagogy with more diverse qualifications, like foreign languages and arts or graduates in psychology and as a result they rarely specialize in this area.

There is a big demand on the part of the parents for additional classes in music, arts and English language in public kindergartens. For answering the demand the kindergartens ensure external teachers in foreign languages and arts. These services are additionally paid by the parents. All graduates in pedagogical specialties in their final year of study have compulsory practical internships.

The 3 parallel surveys were conducted to explore the attitudes of male and female students to work with the age group of 3-5 years - two in Sofia and one in Plovdiv - among students in different specialties in four universities. They aimed at identifying the attitudes of male and female students to: (i) work with children between 3-5 years; (ii) do their internship in kindergartens instead of/and in schools; and (iii) choose a topic of their diploma paper, related to this age group.

(1) Diana Vaneva, Chief Expert in International Cooperation and European Integration Directorate, Municipality of Plovdiv, contacts: tel.: 032/ 656527, e-mail: euro@plovdiv.bg;

(2) Margarita Peeva, Chief Expert in Social Activities Directorate, Municipality of Sofia, tel.:  02/822 6144, e-mail: mpeeva@sofia.bg, Dobroslav Iliev, Junior Expert in Social Activities Directorate, Municipality of Sofia, tel: 02/9875367, e-mail: diliev@sofia.bg;

(3) Gueorgui Stoimenov, Municipal Councilor, mandate 2003-2007, e-mail: geost10@hotmail.com

Vandalism to monuments of culture - factor for restricting the access of women to public spaces

Recently, acts of vandalism, especially graffiti drawing on monuments of culture, was identified as a problem both by the police and the Municipality of Veliko Turnovo - a tourist city with 865 monuments of culture of national significance. The acts of vandalism influence negatively the image of the city and create the feeling that these places could be considered risky for the citizens and the tourists as the youth groups gathering there often have asocial behavior. But how does this behavior influence men and women in the city?

The survey explores the potential lack of access after dark to the areas of the monuments in Veliko Turnovo for the citizens and the tourists, especially for women, and determines the level of social intolerance towards the acts of vandalism against the cultural and historic monuments.

Veliko Turnovo Municipality: Mina Ilieva, General Secretary; Rozaliya Stefanova, Director of Administrative, Legal and Information Services Directorate; Ivan Krastev, Chief Specialist of Public Relations; Borislav Apostolov, Senior Expert, Eurointegration and Projects Department; Zheni Sapundzhieva, Municipal Councilor, mandate 2003-2007; for contacts: Tel.: (+359 62) 619 307; E-mail: pirvt@abv.bg

Extra-curricular activities - need of rationalizing the free time of pupils to develop their interests and talents

Local authorities are the main provider of extra-curricular activities in the educational institutions. The necessary funds for the implementation of extra-curricular and out-of-school activities are provided mainly through external financing programs for which the schools apply in partnership with the municipalities. Are these programs gender sensitive and how is that reflected in the project proposals regarding the choice of activities and the evaluation of the results achieved?

The survey explores from gender perspective the guidelines and the project proposals developed by the Municipality of Sofia in partnership with schools in 2007 under 2 programs of the Ministry of Education. It makes an analysis from gender perspective of the requirements in the guidelines and their application through the criteria for choosing extra-curricular and out-of-school activities as well as to determine the factors for the choice of activities.

Irena Dimitrova, Director of Sport and Prevention of Addictions Directorate, Sofia Municipality; Phone: +359 2/ 9461412; E-mail: irena13@abv.bg;

The project entitled "Equality for Local Development: Gender Mainstreaming in Municipalities" (2006-2007) is financed and implemented within the Community Programme relating to the Community Framework Strategy in Gender Equality (2001-2005). Sole responsibility for the contents of this publication lies with the authors, the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained there.