WUNRN
European Women's Lobby - EWL
http://womenlobby.org/spip.php?article3004
The European Parliament has now elected a new president
and 14 vice-presidents to lead the institution for the next two and a half
years. The Parliament will once again be chaired by a man. The number of women
among its vice-presidents has dropped down to 21% (only three out of 14).......
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The backlash against gender
parity within the European Parliament means that it is necessary to reopen the
debate on binding measures for gender balance within European institutions.
In 2009, European voters sent a
clear message in support of parity democracy: the number of women MEPs
increased by five percentage points, to 35%. Two and half years later, the
unwillingness of the political groups of the Parliament to do their share, by
ensuring the election of women in internal leadership posts, means that this
message has not been heard.
Last week, the MEPs elected a new
president and 14 vice-presidents to lead the institution for the next two and a
half years. The Parliament will once again be chaired by a man. The number of
women among its vice-presidents has dropped down to 21% (only three out of 14),
undermining the progress made in recent years (43% in the first part of the
current term).
The reshuffle did not improve the
poor gender balance among the presidents of political groups. The S&D group
nominated a new president - again a man. This means that the Conference of
Presidents continue to be an almost exclusively male club, attended by only one
woman.
This week, parliamentary
committees convened in Brussels to elect chairpersons and their deputies until
the end of the legislature. Out of the 22 committees and subcommittees of the
Parliament, eight will be chaired by women. The committees responsible for
foreign affairs, fisheries, and environment, environment and public health are
fully dominated by men.
The backlash against parity
democracy in the Parliament is worrying, as the EU decision-making bodies need
democracy and transparency more than ever. Citizens’ trust in the capacity of
these institutions to listen to their voices is fading, and economic and social
challenges will not be solved to the benefit of all women and men if
decision-making bodies are not representative of their concerns.
The European elections in 2014
are the next opportunity for our political leaders to get the gender balance
right. For this to happen, political parties must ensure that women and men are
equally placed in national electoral lists. The political groups of the
Parliament must, in their turn, commit themselves to putting up both women and
men as candidates for internal leadership posts. Finally, the debate on binding
measures for gender balance within European institutions needs to be reopened,
now!