Brussels, 15 /10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commissioner, Viviane Reding, is delighted that over the past year there has been a 1% rise in the number of women in the boardroom of major companies quoted on the stock exchange, despite the fact that this proportion is only 16.6% this year as opposed to 15.8% in 2012. These figures result from the report on Women in Decision-making, published by the European Commission on Monday 14 October, following the parliamentary committee vote on quotas for women in company boardrooms. This report explains the most significant progress achieved since introduction of binding measures in countries such as France, Italy and the Netherlands.
As part of economic decision-making, the report demonstrates that men remain significantly represented in the European central banks and that there has been no noticeable development in this respect with the proportion of women stagnating at between 16% and 18% since 2003. Only the Finnish and Slovenian central banks are shifting towards parity, with 40% of women in the boardroom. The figures are quite telling at the level of the European financial institutions, such as the European Central Bank, European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund: only three of its fifty-seven members are women and none of these three are on the 17-seat board of governors at the European Central Bank.
The European institutions are not therefore setting a good example in terms of equal opportunities in the economic decision-making process but are doing much better in political decision-making bodies. 36% of women are MEPs, which is above the average in national parliaments (27%). At the European Commission, a third of the Commissioners are women. This trend is not replicated at the level of the national governments given that only four out of the twenty eight heads of European states (Germany, Denmark, Slovenian and Lithuania) are women. At a European ministerial level, only a third of posts on average have been awarded to women. The French, Danish, Finnish, Swedish and Austrian governments have respected a gender balance (at least 40%) in their ministries.
To demonstrate its determination to develop gender equality, the Commission presented a mid-term review with these figures on the European strategy in this area (2010-2015). The Commission has asserted that it is, “delivering its commitments” and putting forward legislative proposals to improve the rights and protection of women victims of violence, the launch of a campaign against genital mutilation, the promotion of employment opportunities for women and access to childcare. The EU has also done a lot to rectify wage disparities between men and women, with its campaign to raise awareness in companies and the implementation, over the past three years, of the European Equal Pay Day event (which marks the extra number of days that women would need to work to match the amount earned by men: currently 59 days, meaning this year the event fell on 28 February). (MD/transl.fl)