The European Parliament’s Committee on Gender Equality (FEMM) welcomed the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, on Tuesday 21 March to take stock of European legislation promoting gender equality.
A decline in rights
Concerned about the decline in women’s rights in the EU, as illustrated by the conviction in Poland of Justyna Wydrzyńska (see EUROPE 13143/22), Robert Biedroń (S&D, Polish) opened the session by calling for a “coordinated, but strong response”.
“Now it’s not women fighting for their rights, it’s women fighting not to lose their rights”, the Commissioner acknowledged. However, she did not comment on Ms Wydrzyńska's case, despite MEPs’ criticism of the European Commission’s silence.
Promoting employment
In the field of employment, Ms Dalli welcomed the adoption by the co-legislators of the so-called “Women on Boards” (see EUROPE 13068/15) and “Pay Transparency” (see EUROPE 13107/14) Directives. The latter should be formally adopted at the Parliament plenary session on 29-30 March.
Despite these successes, she recognised the need to attract more women into growth sectors, such as technology and science, particularly in senior positions. “In order to tackle the root causes of gender inequalities, we launched a campaign challenging gender stereotypes [...] in all spheres of life”, she said (see EUROPE 13137/25).
Also linked to the lack of women in the labour market, the Commissioner defended the European Care Strategy, adopted by the EU Council in December 2022. “There are nearly 8 million women who are qualified to be in the labour market and who are not because of care responsibilities”, she deplored, pointing out the resulting pension gap.
Fighting against violence
On the issue of gender violence, Ms Dalli welcomed the progress made in the EU Council on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, to which the European Parliament has yet to give its consent (see EUROPE 13126/12). In parallel, she welcomed the efforts of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU as well as the European Parliament’s Committees on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and FEMM to reach their respective positions on the directive to combat violence against women (see EUROPE 13131/18).
As for the Commission, Ms Dalli announced that it intends to propose a recommendation by the end of 2023, on “practices harmful to women”, such as forced abortion or sterilisation and female genital mutilation. It will also present a new Code of Conduct for digital platforms, which will cover “both illegal and harmful content”, and will aim to “address gender based cyber-violence in order to better protect women’s safety online”.
Finally, the Commissioner presented to MEPs the guidelines for strengthening the role of Equality Bodies (see EUROPE 13145/23). (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)