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The Women’s Council in
Denmark (hereafter “WCD”) representing more than 50 organisations working
within different fields of gender equality, welcomes the opportunity to
comment on the Danish Government’s response on the Beijing +10
questionnaire (hereafter “the report”).
Part 1: Overview of achievements and challenges
in promoting gender equality and women’s
empowerment.
In relation to the sentence
“gender equality is a crux of Denmark’s democracy” (page 1) it should be
mentioned that equal opportunities between women and men are not secured
by the Danish Constitution. In connection with an ongoing debate about a
revision of the Constitution, WCD has suggested that equal opportunities
between women and men be incorporated into the Constitution showing that
the area is one of the fundamental principles of Danish
society.
Policy on gender equality
(page 1-2)
As stated in the report, the Beijing conference
inspired and influenced the governmental equality work. Among other
initiatives the Government initiated a commission to look into the
organisational set-up of governmental equality work. Actors from outside
the Government were invited into the process, and the WCD took seat in the
commission alongside other NGOs and experts. The work of the commission
had great impact on governmental equality work, which was subsequently
heavily reorganised under three separate pillars. These were established
as follows: a departmental unit; a complaints board for discrimination on
grounds of gender, the Gender Equality Board, and finally a state-funded
Knowledge Centre for Gender Equality to do research and qualify the public
debate on gender issues. Unfortunately, one of the first acts of former
Minister for Gender Equality, Ms. H. Kjær, was closing down the Knowledge
Centre for Gender Equality, thereby demolishing one of the three pillars
which governmental equality work rested upon. By this act, embedding a
total ignorance with regards to the massive work done by the commission in
wake of Beijing, the Minister saw to that gender equality work in Denmark
lost an independent body to promote and qualify the debate on gender
equality. WCD strongly regret this act.
Implementing the
gender mainstreaming strategy (page 2)
More emphasis on
mainstreaming was apparent in the wake of Beijing and implementation of a
gender mainstreaming strategy evolved as a key issue in Governmental
equality work. Commending the inter-ministerial gender mainstreaming
project and the set-up of inter-ministerial working groups on the subject
matter, the process unfortunately proves very slow – i.e. the official
Danish report to the CEDAW committee mentions that several ministries are
in the process of building capacity to conduct gender equality assessments
of new legislation. Being “in the process of building capacity” is, in a
Danish context, simply not enough a decade after Beijing where
mainstreaming stood out as one of the fundamental measures in the fight
for equality.
Men and gender
equality (page 2-3)
The inclusion of men in gender equality work
can only be welcomed. However, the sentence ”Gender equality applies to
both genders, and it must become clear that gender equality policies also
benefit men, allowing them, for instance, a better chance of participating
in family life“ (p. 2) seems both patronising and grossly at odds with the
fact that the part of paternity leave (the part of parental leave
exclusively reserved to men) was halved (from 2 x 2 weeks till 1 x 2
weeks) at the same time as the overall parental leave period was
prolonged.
Part II: Progress
in implementation of the critical areas of concern in Beijing and Beijing
+5.
A. Women and Poverty (page 4)
WCD would have liked to
see the poverty risk of ethnic minority women being dealt with under this
heading. Previously Government has taken initiative to lessen the amount
of social benefits received by certain groups of ethnic minority families.
WCD argued that such a step would counteract integration and the women’s
possibilities for playing an active part in society. Sadly no analysis or
mention of this group’s financial situation is to be found in the
report.
B. Education and training
of women (page 4-5)
The WCD regrets that the situation at University
level receives a mere 4 lines of attention, as one of the main problems in
relation to equality and education is to be found in this setting.
Documentation shows that a mere 10% of professorships are occupied by
women and 52% of committees for appointment of professors, associated
professors and assistant professors (1998-2000) consisted exclusively of
male members. WCD has pointed at three possible areas for intervention.
Firstly, a repetition of the FREJA programme allocating funds for research
projects led by outstanding female researchers. Importance must be paid to
embed the project at the university setting at the end of the programme.
Secondly, targets and timeframes regarding female occupation of a
specified percentage of professorships must be stated in the contract of
each university. Thirdly, creation of more professorships in female
dominated areas is needed.
C. Women and health
(page 5-6)
WCD would like to emphasise the importance of looking
into harmful substances in the external environment and their impact on
humans. There is a need for Government to put more emphasis on studies on
chemically produced hormone-like substances and their effects on for
example the fertility of women and men. Regrettably, specific research on
the effects on women is paid little attention.
D. Violence against
women (page 6-8)
The WCD supported the increased penalties for
rape, but at the same time stressed the equal importance of initiating
other actions in this area of concern such as early trials and convictions
as well as creating a sufficient number of treatment possibilities for the
perpetrators. The National Action Plan aimed at combating
violence against women is a big step forward. However, WCD finds the
target of the action plan too narrow. The focus of the action plan is
domestic violence, but from our perspective violence against women
includes many sorts of violence, i.e. domestic violence, rape, violence
against prostitutes, violence at the work place etc. As a consequence the
National Observatory on Violence against Women (an expert group
coordinated by WCD) has suggested the Government to develop an action plan
on sexualised violence against women. It is of outmost importance that the
initiatives resulting from the action plan become permanent, which
requires allocation of additional funding.
In 2003 the
Act on Social Service was amended to ensure that the women’s shelters are
now mentioned in a separate paragraph. We regret that this paragraph does
not include uniform qualitative measures for the
shelters.
The offering
of assault alarms to women who are victims of violence does not work as
intended. There is a need for psychological follow up, and the
police ought to inform the women about possibilities for
counselling.
As mentioned a new act
allowing the domestic abuser to be removed from the home was adopted this
summer. WCD has supported the idea as we find it ideologically strong and
fair to punish the perpetrator and not the victim. Nevertheless the
consequences of the act may be worse than nothing due to the fact that it
omits the obligatory offering of professional help to the abused woman and
the children who stay in the home, as well as to the violent man. Today
counselling and treatment of violent men are only offered few places and
only to men who seek help voluntarily. According to international research
the period of separation is the most risky for the woman. Consequently we
have expressed our deep concern about the act in its actual
form.
The situation of disabled
women is not mentioned in the report even though efforts to highlight the
particular problems of disabled women who are exposed to violence have
been made. Unfortunately, the women’s shelters are not able to meet modern
standards of accessibility for disabled persons, and the above mentioned
act on women’s shelters does not mention accessibility as a
necessity.
With regard to children living in violent families, there is
generally too little focus on the children as individuals. Often they are
seen as an appendix to the mother.
Not mentioned in the
report is the act on aliens with a time-limited residence permit who have
been subjected to violence by a spouse. Unfortunately this act needs
special attention, as WCD is deeply concerned about the
fact that a large number of foreign women who are exposed to domestic
violence are forced to leave the country. Criteria, which it can be very
difficult for foreign women to meet, for getting a permission to stay in
Denmark have been established. The criteria are as follows; Criteria 1:
documentation of the abuse implies that the abused woman
knows about the social and health systems in Denmark as well as the
authorities’ request for documentation. Criteria 2: connection to
Denmark is very hard to prove for a woman who has lived an isolated
life in Denmark, and even children of the marriage do not seem to be
sufficient reason to prove connection. Criteria 3: personal
circumstances are particularly burdensome. The WCD finds this
criterion to be absurd. It should not be necessary to prove that it is
particularly burdensome for a battered woman to return to the
country of origin. It goes without saying that a battered woman needs help
from the country of residence, and if she applies for a time-limited
residence permit she has a serious reason to do so. In conclusion we find
that the restrictive Danish practice is more a result of immigration
policy than a result of care for women exposed to
violence.
Regarding the campaign
“STOP THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN – BREAK THE SILENCE” it is important that
the campaign is linked to and embedded in a continuing effort in this area
of concern.
Trafficking in women
(page 8-9)
The National Plan of Action on Trafficking in Women
imbedded a number of measures which the WCD argued
against.
Firstly, the victims of
trafficking are only allocated a 15 days’ stay in Denmark before being
repatriated. This timeframe needs to be prolonged to better cater for the
needs of the trafficked women. WCD feels that the low number of trafficked
women at the centres can be seen as an indication of the insufficiency of
the timeframe. Furthermore WCD has never seen documentation showing that
the chosen timeframe of 15 days is optimum.
Secondly, the WCD finds it
positive that the plan stresses the importance of creating links with the
woman’s country of origin before she is sent back. However, going through
the plan’s allocation of resources it becomes evident that no funds are
allocated to strengthen the work, capacity or staffing of the receiving
organisations in the countries of origin. Hence, the Plan’s talk on this
issue regrettably comes through merely as a token.
Finally, WCD would like to see
even more attention to the prevention of trafficking, amongst others steps
to minimize the demand for prostitutes.
E. Women and armed
conflict (page 9-10)
The initiatives of the armed forces following
the study of the scope and nature of gender related insulting behaviour
seems sound and the WCD would like to commend the Armed Forces’ openness
on the study and the quick set-up of different initiatives to prevent the
behaviour and help the women. For several years WCD has been lobbying for
the need to establish strict ethical rules for staff officially
representing Denmark abroad (i.e. not only representatives of the Danish
Armed Forces) and their relationship with the women at destination. Upon
the publication of the study, WCD argued that such an ethical set of rules
was even more necessary, as it could be feared that the same behaviour
documented to take place within the Armed Forces could very well be
reflected in an even more severe attitude to women not being
colleagues.
F. Women and the
economy (page 10-13)
The
gender segregated labour market
Having the heavily gender segregated labour
market in mind, the counties and municipalities as public employers in
sectors heavily dominated by women could do much to raise women’s pay.
Therefore the WCD recommends the Government, employers, employees and
trade unions to take action in accordance with the Beijing Platform for
Action in its call to “review, analyse and, where appropriate, reformulate
the wage structures in female-dominated professions, such as teaching,
nursing and child care, with a view to raising their low status and
earnings”.
Equal
pay
It is mentioned that “The
Government’s effort on equal pay is very complex…”. Unfortunately the WCD
is not in agreement with this statement. Part of the so-called “complex”
strategy resulted in a severe setback for the work towards equal pay -
from the WCD’s point of view - as Parliament abolished the former
Government’s newly passed bill regarding gender disaggregated wages
statistics. WCD sees no mention of this incident/initiative in the report
under the heading “Concrete initiatives”. The WCD looks upon gender
disaggregated wages statistics as one of the main measures in the fight
for equal pay, and urges the Government to revoke its decision. In 2001
one area of priority for the Minister for Gender Equality was combating
inequalities in wages. As mentioned in the report and unfortunately
apparent in latest research the wage gap is still wide (12-18%) and
generally not narrowing. Much more needs to be done in this
area.
G. Women in power and
decision making (page 13-16)
The statistics on women elected to
local municipalities and female mayors are depressing. Even more
depressing is the lack of progress. All initiatives from the Minister’s
side are welcomed.
Representation
of women in Parliament is rather high at 38%. Unfortunately, this was not
reflected in the Prime Minister’s first choice of female Ministers. As
noted in the report, out of the 18 Ministers appointed by the Prime
Minister only five were women – corresponding to a modest 28%. Thereby the
Prime Minister regrettably both surpassed the opportunity to promote
gender equality at large and to bring gender equality to the forefront of
politics. Since the writing of the report the Prime Minister has appointed
new Ministers - in favour of the gender balance.
Boards, Commissions
and Committees
As the figures suggest, close surveillance regarding gender
representation in Public Councils, Boards and Committees has to be
secured, so that the previous years’ unfortunate development can be
halted.
Not mentioned in the report is the fact that the state’s
institutions are heavily dominated by men - at highest level (head of
department and directors) a modest 18% of chairs are occupied by
women.
L. The Girl Child
(page 16-18)
The Danish Government has supported different organisation in the
prevention of FGM among ethnic groups (living in Denmark) with tradition
for FGM, not only through the Ministry of Social Affairs, but especially
through economic support from the Ministry of Integration and the National
Board of Health. The economic support has made it possible for the
organisations to inform and educate not only these ethnic groups, but also
society in general as well as professionals who meet the problem of FGM in
their work. Such broad cooperation on preventive measures is of great
importance in the efforts to prevent and eradicate this harmful
tradition.
Part
III: Institutional development
Seen from the outside the
governmental work for gender equality seems to lack sufficient funds and
staffing. The WCD would like to see more funds allocated to governmental
work on gender equality. Likewise women’s organisations are facing
difficulties in financing activities partly because governmental subsidies
to the area have not increased for years – thus real value of support has
fallen in proportion to inflation – and because of removal of other forms
of support for NGOs. At yet another level the willingness in government to
use temporary special measures as catered for by the CEDAW unfortunately
appears to be lacking. From the point of view of the WCD too much effort
from governmental side goes into arranging café-debates and seminars,
writing of pamphlets and developing tool-boxes. According to WCD one of
the main tasks of administration should be to ensure that all governmental
circulars, bills etc. have passed a gender analysis and been mainstreamed
in relation to the gender perspective – presently this is too often
missing.
Part
IV: Main challenges and actions to address them
Importance must be paid
to imbed all campaigns, assessments etc. in an institutional setting in
order to ensure that the results have an impact beyond the timeframe of
the campaign.
Copenhagen, August
2004
Ms. Randi
Iversen
President, Women’s Council in Denmark
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