The European Union ministers responsible for equality, meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 7 May for an Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO), took stock of the problems that still exist in the participation of women in public life and the strategies underway to strengthen their representation in decision-making bodies.
The Belgian Secretary of State for Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity Marie-Colline Leroy, who chaired the session, stressed that, despite progress in areas such as employment, gender discrimination continues to hold back democracy in Europe, failing to reflect the diversity of societies.
She identified several major obstacles, such as the unequal distribution of family responsibilities, a male-dominated political culture and an increase in gender-based violence, particularly online. On this point, the European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, stated that women politicians are three times more likely to be targeted than their male counterparts. She called for greater cooperation between political parties to overcome these obstacles and break the glass ceiling.
The debate provided an opportunity to review national strategies in this area. The Dutch minister, Robbert Dijkgraaf, denounced an environment of threats and sexism against women, while the Swedish minister, Paulina Brandberg, praised voluntary quotas.
In Poland, despite a 35% quota, women account for only 29.5% of parliamentary seats, hence the call from its minister, Katarzyna Kotula, for more rigorous measures. The Danish minister, Marie Bjerre Holst, stressed the importance of female role models and measures against harassment.
Among other approaches mentioned, Croatia has established a legal framework to combat gender inequality and Lithuania and Latvia mentioned the development of national action plans. Ireland has also established correlations between the funding of political parties and gender balance.
Above all, as a whole, the ministers agreed on the importance of exchanging national practices in order to establish common standards to strengthen the representation of women and their position in the political sphere. They unanimously committed to working together on implementing strategies to create a more inclusive environment. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)