The European institutions are preparing to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March. This year, like every year, a whole series of discussions and demonstrations of every kind are expected. Nonetheless, the #MeToo denunciation campaign, launched in 2017, also seems to have left its mark on the European scene.
International Women’s Day appeared in the context of social change at the turn of the 20th century in North America and Europe. It was made official in 1977 to take stock of the situation of women’s rights and the reduction of gender inequalities. This year, the United Nations organisation has chosen the theme of rural and urban activists.
At the European Parliament
In Brussels, our attention turns to several initiatives more directly related to harassment in the institutions. Thus, MEPs Edouard Martin (S&D, France) and Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, Germany) have collected 117,500 signatures to combat harassment in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 11891). Their petition, which is to be forwarded to the president of the institution, calls amongst other things for zero tolerance regarding violence in any form, an independent anti-harassment committee in Parliament, and the creation of a central office for filing complaints. It should also be noted that, on 6 March, the S&D group launched a European platform of towns committed to combating sexist advertising, and that the GUE-NGL group organised a feminism forum from 6 to 8 March.
At the European Commission
The European Commission is also taking action. Commissioner Vera Jourova had invited journalists from the European bubble to come to speak, on 6 March, on the daily lot of women. The gathering – that Jourova could not attend due to a virus (and to which EUROPE was not invited) – was notably devoted to the pay gap between men and women, the balance between professional and private life, and harassment.
The European Commission is also preparing to publish, on 8 March, its new report for 2018 on gender equality, in which it shows that women still take on most of the family responsibilities, the pay gap between men and women is stagnating at 16%, as it has done for years, and violence against women remains a problem. The report indicates, for example, that women are under-represented in politics, especially in six countries (Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary and Malta) where women account for under 20% of parliamentarians (compared with 36.1% at the European Parliament).
It should be noted that, in the EU, most top positions are held by men (the Presidents of the Commission, Council, Parliament, ECB, EIB, Eurogroup and MES) compared with just two for women (Europol and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy).
Other initiatives
In addition to these “institutional” initiatives, there is the #lasperiodistasparamos petition signed by 2,300 journalists (and joined by 3,500 other women) who speak out strongly against glass ceilings, the pay gap, professional insecurity, responsibility-sharing, and the predominance of men in high positions. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)