Brussels, 03/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Irish Presidency of the EU Council organised a two-day conference on gender equality, focusing on the topical theme of women executives and entrepreneurs. Those attending the conference in Dublin on 29 and 30 April also looked at the participation of women in entrepreneurship for business creation. The Commission representative during the event, Daniela Banker, who is head of the gender equality unit, quoted a number of figures that justify European action being taken in these areas: - across EU companies, women account for under 16% of board members; - and just 19 out of 582 of the largest companies in the EU member states have a female chairperson or president. The Irish minister responsible for gender equality, Kathleen Lynch, therefore affirmed that, with this conference, Ireland wished to open a debate on the role that women play in the economy, and to encourage the EU to put various measures in place to “encourage women to become more active in the labour market - a 'win-win' situation for women's economic independence and for economic growth”.
The next debates among member states on the 40% quota of women holding non-executive posts on the boards of large European companies quoted on the stock exchange will also be held under Irish Presidency. This is likely to be at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Council in June. (MD/transl.jl)