Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) and the ‘People’s Power’ have introduced a bill aiming to remove the terms ‘gender’ and ‘gender identity’ from all over Georgian legislation The proposed changes, presented in the rump parliament on February 24, would also rename the ‘Law on Gender Equality’ as the ‘Law on Equality between Women and Men’.
The bill’s explanatory note says that “gender is an artificially created term,” further arguing that since Donald Trump’s presidency, “discussions about the dishonest motives and directed nature of this artificial process have become increasingly active.” The proposal states that eliminating the term is necessary to “reinforce at the legislative level the principle of equality between men and women as recognized by the Constitution of Georgia.”
The legislation also seeks to disintegrate the Parliament’s Gender Equality Council, redirecting its 50,000 GEL budget to other parliamentary structures focusing on “equality issues between women and men.” It also proposes eliminating Gender Equality Councils in Georgia’s Autonomous Republics and municipalities to “reduce administrative expenses.”
Among the MPs backing the bill are Archil Gorduladze, Tornike Cheishvili, Rati Ionatamishvili, Davit Matikashvili, Sozar Subari, and Mamuka Mdinaradze, among others.
This is not GD’s first attempt to pick out gender-related policies. In September 2024, Parliament passed an anti-LGBTQ+ legislative package on ‘Pn Protection of Family Values and Minors’, introducing 18 amendments restricting LGBTQ+ rights. The law, in effect since December, was criticized by the Venice Commission and ILGA-Europe.
