WUNRN
European Women's Lobby - EWL
The EWL 50/50 Campaign Continues!
More Women in the European Parliament -
What about EU Top Jobs?
On the eve of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) General
Assembly, the EWL held a very successful public conference entitled “No
Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality”, on 26 June 2009 in
Brussels, Belgium. The conference analyzed the results of the recent European
Parliament Elections from a gender equality perspective and discussed the EU
“top jobs”, the representation of women in the future European Commission, the
perspectives for women chairing the European Parliament and its Committees and
experiences of the 50/50 Campaign.
The recent European elections led to a slight progress
in the representation of women in the European Parliament (EP), which now
reaches about 35% (compared to about 30% at the beginning of the 1999-2004
term) but still does not attain parity or even the 40% threshold agreed by
Member States of the Council of Europe.
Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission and strong
supporter of the 50/50 Campaign, was a speaker during the conference, and
stated: “The European Parliament elections are now behind us, but the work
is not yet over. I know some people think quotas should only be applied to
fishing and whales, but I don't agree. I think the only way to restore what is
today a de facto discrimination against women, is by introducing
gender quotas across Europe."
From June 2009, the focus of the 50/50 Campaign will be on actions to improve the representation of
women in internal decision-making posts within the European Parliament:
(President, Vice-Presidents, Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Parliamentary
Committees) and in the European Commission (the designation of Commissioners).
To ensure a 50/50 representation in the European Commission, the EWL is calling for an improved system of
nomination and would like each Member State to propose a woman and a man as
nominate Commissioners. The EC President would then choose from among the
nominees with a view to achieve an equal representation of women and men
in the new Commission.
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