On March 12, 2024, the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) with USAID Rule of Law Program support, held an informational meeting in Kutaisi for 17 students from Kutaisi University and Akaki Tsereteli State University as part of Women’s History Month.

After a GTUC representative gave an overview of some standard labor practices related to students, the students themselves asked questions.  They asked about barriers and problems facing young people during employment, about the abuse of internships and employment agreements for trial periods, labor safety, discrimination and its forms, women's labor rights, informal workers’ rights, equality protection mechanisms, and Labor Inspection’s activities.

“Such discussions are especially important because I got information that will help me protect my rights during employment. Labor rights are not taught anywhere actually and therefore we have less information, while all of us, university students, either are looking for a job or are already working.” – said Tsotne one of the meeting participants from Akaki Tsereteli State University

“Although it may seem that it is easy to employ young people, in reality, especially young girls face many barriers during employment. Both for me and people around me, there have been many occasions when we were directly asked if we were married and if we had small children. Not to mention the fact that it is practically impossible to combine a student's life and work. Many people around me, after starting working, had to take an academic leave and stop studying” – said Keta, another participant.