With three months to go before the European elections, MEPs are considering how best to ensure gender balance in the next election. On Tuesday, 26 February, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality met and, with the Alliance and the European Women's Lobby, discussed the results of a study published the day before that showed that, today, just over a third of the European Parliament is made up of women.
The current situation
As a general principle, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) recommends that the representation of women and men in bodies such as the European Parliament not be less than 40%. This is also one of the objectives of the European Commission, which has committed to achieving a 40% rate of women among its senior and middle managers by 2020.
Yet, a European Parliament study shows that this is far from being the case since, in the wake of the 2014 European elections, only 36.9% of MEPs were women. This rate even decreased slightly in April 2018 to 36.2%. Consequently, by that date (spring 2018), only seven out of 28 Member States – Croatia, France, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom – could claim a certain gender balance among their MEPs, that being between 40% and 60% of women parliamentarians.
The other European institutions are not doing much better, note the researchers at Opcit, the British research institute that conducted the survey on the Parliament’s behalf. Out of a total of 246 senior positions, only 57 (23.2%) are held by women. In 10 of the 13 European institutions examined, the majority of positions of responsibility are held by men. The three institutions and bodies to be the exceptions are the European External Action Service, the European Ombudsman, and the European Economic and Social Committee. In the European Commission’s 53 directorates-general, only 26% of management positions are held by women.
Binding quotas?
Faced with these inconclusive results, the researchers recommend that lagging states “consider introducing binding quotas (50%) with zipping throughout the list and legal sanctions for non-compliance in the form of rejection from party lists”. They also suggest that Member States provide or develop funds earmarked for women candidates’ campaigns and women’s capacity development.
The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) – behind the “50/50: Europe for Women, Women for Europe” – campaign also advocates gender equality in the European Parliament and other European institutions. Even so, as the researchers note, the organisation does not, however, have a fixed position on binding quotas or a link between party financing and gender equality.
Let us bear in mind that, although it is not a matter of policy, a legislative proposal aiming to introduce quotas in the management boards of listed companies is currently blocked in the Council even though the Romanian Presidency is planning a working group in mid-April (see EUROPE 12184).
A series of male appointments
On Twitter, MEP Sophie in’t Veld (ALDE, Netherlands) lamented that the Economic Affairs Committee had received all-male lists for senior positions in the European Central Bank, the European Banking Authority, and even the Single Resolution Board. Her point of view is shared by MEP Pervenche Berès (S&D, France), who expressed regret at Philip Lane’s appointment to the European Central Bank’s Executive Board (see other news). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)