Brussels, 19/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Women are still a minority in positions of responsibility, despite the fact that they have the appropriate training. The participants at an international conference on 15-16 October in Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembourg) highlighted this fact. The event was organised by the Ministry for Equal Opportunities, in cooperation with the Luxembourg National Women's Council. It was chaired by the Luxembourg Minister for Equal Opportunities, Lydia Mutsch. In her speech, the latter highlighted the need for “collective awareness about the need for things to change”.
Mutsch pointed out that the indicator on gender equality in positions of power in the EU, calculated by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), reached a figure of 39.7 (out of 100). She said that even though quotas are not a “universal remedy or guarantee that more women are elected”, they often have this effect. The director of EIGE, Virginia Langbakk, referred to the examination of EU member states' implementation of the “Beijing Action Programme” adopted in 1995, which sought to reinforce women's empowerment and which is included in a EIGE report in November. The preliminary data presented by Langbakk confirms an increase in the representation of women in the legislative and executive policy institutions, as well as in public administration but also highlight persisting stereotypes that put a brake on the fair distribution of men and women in certain key posts. Women are still more represented in socio-cultural and health sectors than in those that are more politically important such as defence, finance and foreign policy. (Original version in French by Isabelle Lamberty)