On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Monday 8 March, nine European Heads of State or Government and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, co-signed a declaration presenting the post-Covid-19 relaunch as “a test for women’s rights”.
“We must integrate successful approaches based on gender equality into our European recovery plans”, demanded the Prime Ministers of Estonia, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Spain and the President of Romania.
For them, there can be no long-term economic resilience without a “more inclusive” approach. They intend to rebuild “by ensuring women’s participation in the economy and addressing income inequalities”, arguing that economies with gender equality “perform better”.
The ten European leaders further acknowledge that women have been “disproportionately affected by the virus” (see EUROPE 12672/7).
European Parliament. This reality was also highlighted on Monday by the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, who opened the plenary session with a celebration of this international day.
“Women must be protagonists in the recovery of our economies and societies”, he argued, calling for the resumption of discussions on the ‘Women on Boards’ draft directive (see EUROPE 12581/14).
The issue of women’s presence in governing bodies was also raised, in particular by Ms von der Leyen. “We must show every child in Europe that there are no limits to who can lead and held position of power in our Union regardless of colour or gender”, she said.
According to a Eurostat infographics released for the occasion, the European Parliament is now composed of 39% female MEPs. Proportionally, the Finnish delegation is the one with the highest number of women (57%), compared to 18% for the Romanian delegation, the worst in terms of parity. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)