Meeting informally in Warsaw on Wednesday 16 April, the European Gender Equality Ministers concluded their exchanges with discussions on how to further integrate ‘intersectionality’ into European anti-discrimination policies.
For the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, the aim was to encourage effective equal treatment for all, taking into account the multiplicity of realities and life experiences of European citizens.
“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives”, it reiterated in a concept note that Agence Europe was able to consult, referring to the words of the African-American feminist activist and writer Audre Lorde.
As the document states, the ‘intersectional approach’ makes it possible to respond more effectively to issues specific to groups subject to a combination of forms of discrimination, such as women with disabilities, women of colour, older women, or LGBTIQ women.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the Pay Transparency Directive adopted in 2023, which deals explicitly with intersectional discrimination’, and the Equality Bodies Directive of 2024 served as a basis for the work.
Ahead of the discussions, the European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, pointed out that “discrimination is often multidimensional and cumulative”.
She also presented the ‘roadmap’ on women’s rights, on which the next ‘European Gender Equality Strategy’ post-2025 will be based.
According to the concept note consulted by Agence Europe, protection against discrimination remains uneven across the European Union. Gaps exist outside the labour market because of age, disability, religion or sexual orientation. Some Member States already recognise ‘intersectional discrimination’ in their legislation, while others limit themselves to the notion of ‘multiple discrimination’, applied mainly in judicial practice.
However, since 2008, the EU Council has been struggling to agree on a directive at European level (see EUROPE 13596/31). “We talked about the Equality Directive. It’s the element that’s missing from our actions that would take them to the next level, something we don’t yet have in Poland. I think it would be good to have more uniform standards”, declared the Polish Minister for Gender Equality, Katarzyna Kotula, who chaired the meeting, at a press conference.
Finally, to combat this head-on, a ‘Declaration for Equality’ was signed by the trio of EU Presidencies, Poland, Denmark and Cyprus.
“We have confirmed that we are cooperating perfectly on this point. This is a good thing, because we are seeing a lot of negative reactions around the world, not only when it comes to populism, but also when it comes to anything to do with gender equality and women’s rights”, said the Polish minister. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)