Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-18-Speech-4-021"
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"en.20010118.2.4-021"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women is a very recent affair.
It was not until the twentieth century that women acquired the right to access education, the sciences, the arts and paid employment and that they were finally recognised as beings with political rights. The 20th century began with women fighting for the right to vote.
At the start of the twenty-first century, the demands of half the population on the planet centre around achieving a fair division of responsibilities and obligations between the sexes in all sectors of economic, social, family and political life.
The need for women to be promoted in the decision-making process and for a balanced participation of women and men in the democratic institutions, reflecting the balance of the sexes in nature, is a
of democracy and peace and of the cohesion and competitiveness of the European Union.
In response to this need and on the basis of documented proposals by the European network of experts which made up the Commission in 1992, the Council adopted an important recommendation to the Member States on the balanced participation of men and women in the decision-making process in December 1996. We can see from the details provided by the Member States that little progress has been made over the last three years and that there are huge discrepancies between the Member States. The most satisfactory results are in countries which have a long tradition of promoting equality of the sexes, such as Sweden and Finland, where the proportion of women in parliament and government is over 40%. Sweden, as you all know, has a cabinet of 10 male and 10 female ministers. And of course, at the other end of the spectrum, there are countries such as Greece and Italy, where the proportion of women is below or around 10%.
The problem obviously relates to the upper rather than the lower echelons of administration, where the real decisions are taken, where the real power is exercised, where the future of the European Union is planned and organised. Clearly, courageous measures are needed if the problems and contradictions inherited from past covenants between the sexes are to be resolved. We need a new institutional and social framework which reflects all the changes that have taken place since, which guarantees equal opportunities and divides responsibilities fairly and evenly between the two sexes, so that any decisions taken reflect the wishes, values, priorities, interests and abilities of both sexes of the human race.
Now that women are fully involved in the production process and outnumber men at European universities, there is no excuse to exclude them from policy- and decision-making processes, nor is it right that women should bear the burden of family obligations and home-making alone. According to studies and research, men and women working and taking decisions together, a balance between the male and female, could result in a more balanced and fairer world. This balance must not, of course, drop below 40% for each sex, which is considered an acceptable percentage, especially in Scandinavia, where it has been applied for years now.
What is certain is that, once there is a critical mass of women in the decision-making process, priority issues relating to the quality of life, such as environmental protection, social policy and welfare, medical care, education, the fight against drugs and trafficking in human beings and the peaceful resolution of conflicts will emerge on the political agenda. If we are to move in this direction, i.e. if we are to achieve a balanced participation of the sexes, we need to adopt specific initiatives and measures, such as revising the party political structure and the procedure for selecting candidates. The legislation on public funding for political parties should make provision for greater funding for parties which guarantee a gender balance within the party and for sanctions for parties which have too few women, as was recently decided in France. Governments, especially in countries in which the proportion of women is below 30%, should consider how to adapt and reform their electoral systems. Similarly, if quotas introduced are to be effective, they must be linked with other measures relating to political parties and the reform of the electoral system. We also need to tackle stereotypes by teaching the role of the sexes from an early age and to cultivate women's ability to hold high office. We need to strengthen the social infrastructure in order to care for and support senior citizens and, finally, the Member States need to take part in the next Intergovernmental Conference to reform the Treaty so that there is a strong legal basis which will guarantee a balanced participation of the two sexes in the institutions of the European Union, so that we can finally do the obvious and ensure that the natural balance of the sexes is also expressed in the centres of power and that any decisions taken on the future of Europe are not taken in the absence of women."@en1
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