Since independence, Georgia has experienced civil strife, territorial conflicts and a severe economic crisis. Poverty is widespread, especially in remote mountainous regions. Agriculture employs more than half the population, twice the level as before the transition when industry played a greater role. Reforms are helping to improve Georgia’s economy, but a weak tax base and other structural problems contribute to increasing budget deficits. With its revenues low, the Government is unable to provide its citizens with essential social and welfare services.

Georgian society is a traditional one, with well-defined roles for men as breadwinners and women as child-bearers. With the transition, social benefits such as day-care and kindergarten diminished, leading to a drop in women’s participation in the job market. Only a third of young Georgian women are economically active, most in the informal sector. Women tend to work in education and health care, where their earning potential is low. Many women are unemployed or underemployed, and compared to men are poorer and contribute more unpaid labour to the household.

The majority of poor people live and work in rural areas. Most rural women work in agriculture, but without resources to purchase fertilizer, better seeds and other inputs, their yields tend to be low. Worsening poverty has also taken its toll on men, as their inability to fulfil their traditional role as food providers has led to an increased incidence of alcoholism and heart disease.

About 20 per cent of the Georgian population has migrated in search of work over the last decade, leaving just 100 men to every 124 women, and the rate of male depopulation is increasing. Migration causes gender and age imbalances and a loss of many of the country’s most active citizens. This puts greater demands on women, who increasingly assume the role of breadwinner.

Trafficking in people is a growing problem, primarily affecting women and children.  Georgia is a source and transit country for women and men trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour. The Government’s efforts to tackle the problem are limited. Trafficking is not prosecuted as a separate offence and no legal measures exist to combat it. A draft law on Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Persons and on Protection, Assistance and Rehabilitation of the Victims of Trafficking in Persons is currently being discussed by Parliament. It will facilitate cooperation to counter human trafficking among state agencies and non-governmental organizations on the national and international level, marking a significant step toward the creation of effective legislation.

The Georgian constitution provides equal status for men and women, but no law specifically prohibits discrimination against women on the basis of gender or marital status. The Georgian Parliament ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1994. In 1998, the Government approved a first National Action Plan for improving the conditions of women, which was then revised in 2002, and again in 2004. The plan highlights seven priority areas, including institutional mechanisms, women's participation in decision-making, economic policies, poverty, armed conflict, health and women's rights. But it lacks the mechanisms necessary for implementation.