To mark the International Women’s Day of 8 March, the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg invited, on Wednesday 15 March, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
The latter recalled the scientific, but also economic opportunities brought by the space domain. “I was serving as commander of the International Space Station, the first European woman to do so, but certainly not the last. At ESA [European Space Agency, editor’s note], just last year, we selected a new class of career and reserve astronauts, and over half of them are women”, she said.
Ms Ebadi called on MEPs not to forget Iranian women and to “stand on the right side of history”. “Please make sure that the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guards, are named as a terrorist group”, she asked.
Present at the exchange, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, praised the achievements of the two guests, stressing the need to have female representatives in leading fields and committed to the fight against gender violence. “The struggle and courage of Iranian women move and inspire women all across the world. Because the challenges we face may be different, but the rights we strive for are the same”, she recalled. “This is why we’re pushing hard to ensure equal protection to all women in all European countries […] Let us bring to life the first-ever EU law on combating violence against women and domestic violence”.
The European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola, in turn called for the EU to “lead by example”, by setting “standards in criminalising violence against women” and ratifying the Istanbul Convention “before the end of this term”.
The political groups also spoke. Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Irish) called for an end to the “gender digital divide”, recalling that “78% of the jobs created in the future” will be in the technology fields. Iratxe García Pérez (S&D, Spanish) reiterated the importance of having female role models like the two European Parliament guests, while paying tribute to “the millions of anonymous women who have made history”.
María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Renew Europe, Spanish), Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, German) and Manon Aubry (The Left, French) spoke about Justyna Wydrzyńska, who was sentenced the previous day to eight months of community service in Poland for helping a woman who was a victim of domestic violence have an abortion (see EUROPE 13097/15). “Let us put the right to abortion into the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights”, Ms Reintke said.
Lastly, Assita Kanko (ECR, Belgian) encouraged science to address issues such as menstrual pain, and Isabella Tovaglieri (ID, Italian) focused on eating disorders. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)