“We will no longer wait for the equality that is due to us”, “equality is far from being a reality”, “we are tired of being one step behind”. Along with Manon Aubry (GUE/NGL, France), Ska Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany) and Iratxe García Pérez (S&D, Spain), several MEPs spoke on behalf of their political groups on Tuesday 10 March to call on the EU to do more for women’s rights and gender equality.
They were speaking in a plenary debate – one of the few to be held (see EUROPE 12442/12) – organised on the occasion of International Women's Rights Day, just a few days after the European Commission presented its strategy for gender equality (see EUROPE 12440/7).
A majority of the political groups, as well as Nikolina Brnjac, speaking on behalf of the EU Council, welcomed this strategy. They all called on the Commission to implement concrete measures now, “otherwise this strategy will be nothing but fine words”, warned Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Ireland).
“We need implementation measures in all institutions” she added, stressing the importance of recognising that the EU had not yet “gone far enough” and needed to “accelerate its efforts”.
A position shared by Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France), who called for a plenary debate on this strategy once the COVID-19 emergency is over.
Ms Tolleret also reiterated the call for the creation of an EU Council configuration dedicated to gender equality (see EUROPE 12441/8). “We regret the fact that in 2020, the EU Council still does not have a dedicated equality training. The Ministers of Agriculture, Fisheries and Employment meet periodically, whereas the Ministers in charge of equality have no specific forum to meet”, she regretted.
French MEP Catherine Griset, speaking on behalf of the ID Group, was particularly critical of these different positions and the strategy. She said it was time “to put an end to this ideological reading of gender relations and to show once and for all that women do not need the tutelary protection of the State or an institution to be free”.
In addition, some members of parliament insisted on more specific situations and points. Ms García Pérez, for example, called for measures to combat stereotypes; Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová (ECR, Slovakia) wished to highlight “a particularly vulnerable category”, that of single mothers, “more victims of stigmatisation and poverty”; Ska Keller, for her part, drew attention to the under-representation of women, particularly in governing bodies, and to the situation of transgender women, “too often forgotten”. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)