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RIGHTS-BULGARIA: Two Women Take on Defence Ministry

Claudia Ciobanu

BUCHAREST, Jul 29 2009 (IPS) - Two young women are suing Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence over gender discrimination in the mainly ceremonial, National Guard – a case that could go a long way in changing patriarchal social norms.

Elena Krasteva, 22, and Gabriela Galabova, 21, both law students, argue that the problem lies with a 2005 legislation which prohibits women, who are otherwise enlisted in the National Guard, from doing duties that require them to do the salute. The Defence Ministry has cited the law to deny women equal opportunities.

On Jul. 14, the two women filed a suit challenging the law, which flouts both national and European anti-discrimination laws, in the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court.

Krasteva and Galabova have the support of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), an independent, Sofia-based human rights organisation. Margarita Ilieva, the legal programme director at BHC, is representing the two women in the Administrative Court.

The National Guard is a unit of the Bulgarian army, and considered one of the symbols of state authority, along with the flag, coat of arms, and national anthem. The unit holds largely ceremonial functions, such as participating in parades and publicly demonstrating combat techniques.

According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense, only one percent of the Guards are women, working as security personnel, in the armory or playing in the brass band.

The ministry insists that the 2005 law, which explicitly states that sex is a determining requirement for performing salutes in the National Guard, was a result of consultations with the Ministry of Health.

“In the first year after guardsmen are appointed, they get varicose veins, backache, curvature of the spine,” National Guard officer commanding, Colonel Boyan Stavrev, told Bulgarian media in a statement Jul. 19. “Imagine a woman who has to bear such a load!” he added.

Stavrev invited Krasteva and Galabova to participate in an upcoming parade of the National Guard in order to see for themselves that being in the parade was not a job for women.

But the two women have dismissed the health reason as absurd. “The real cause cannot possibly be the occurence of health problems for women,” Krasteva told IPS. “This job is not as physically challenging as many others in the army, which women are legally allowed to do.”

“I think the Ministry of Defense does not want women in the Guard because of the stereotype that women are unfit to represent the dignity and the power of the state,” she adds with certainty.

“The regulation excluding women (indirectly) points out that women cannot represent the Bulgarian army,” agrees Galabova. “It implies that power and dignity belong only to men.”

Galabova and Krasteva are studying law in Sofia. They told IPS that while currently neither was planning a career in the National Guard, they may go on to the military academy after law school and hence, they would like to have the option of joining the Guard.

“The reason for this legal action is very principled,” Galabova told IPS. “Discrimination exists in this country, not only on the basis of gender, but also on other criteria. That is why there must be people who take a stance to combat this.”

Why then are they focusing only on gender discrimination in the National Guard?

Lawyer Ilieva explains that the issue was tailor-made since it involved a discriminatory law. “Discrimination against women in the army in general would be factual and possibly covert, discrimination in the National Guard concerns secondary legislation as such,” she told IPS.

“It is hard to imagine that women can enjoy equal opportunities in the army considering their unequal status in almost all other walks of life,” Ilieva said. “But, while there is anecdotal evidence on women being marginalised in the army, and media reports of some cases of sexual harassment, we do not have comprehensive reliable data to base an allegation concerning the whole army.”

There is abundant oral evidence about discrimination in public institutions. Krasteva told IPS of professors at law school who tell students that “women cannot be lawyers” or that a woman cannot be raped by her husband because “the wife has an obligation to sleep with her husband whenever he wants it”.

The lawsuit filed by Krasteva and Galabova can play an important part in changing discriminatory practices and perceptions in Bulgaria.

“The decision over this trial affects all women in Bulgaria,” thinks Krasteva. “If the decision of the court is in our favour, it will clearly demonstrate that all people in Bulgaria really do have equal rights and obligations, regardless of their gender.”

“I hope this case will influence the whole of society,” adds Galabova. “I hope more people will think about discrimination and try to root it out of their minds.”

“I also hope the case will influence future ministers, the legislative and the judiciary,” she adds. “I think laws and regulations are the first step in combatting discrimination!”