Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-24-Speech-2-295"
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"en.20020924.13.2-295"2
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".
Mr President, I should like to start by thanking Mrs Smet for this report, which shows that very little progress has been made as regards the representation of both sexes among the social partners and that discrimination is alive and kicking.
It is a disgrace that huge trade union organisations in Europe, with hundreds of thousands of members, do not even have token representation of both sexes and that there are entire trade union executives made up only of men. The number of women on the job market has risen but there has hardly been a commensurate increase in the number of women in trade union organisations, where fewer than 25% hold executive positions, even though over 40% belong to a trade union.
On the employers' side, as Mrs Smet said, the situation is even worse, with the lowest proportion in Belgium, with 1.5%, and the highest in Finland, with just 19%. Of course, there has been an increase in the number of working women over recent years, but remember that Beijing concluded ten years ago that, if we continue at this rate, we shall achieve equal numbers in 2500 years.
So what can we do at European level? Clearly this is not an issue which can be resolved through legislation or binding measures. The Commission, as you have already heard, has selected a researcher to monitor statistics and record them throughout Europe, because at present the only records we have are from the national representations; we have no analytical sectoral representation and no breakdown by Member State. This statistical exercise will last 4 years, but we shall be able to use the data from year one and it will be especially helpful in finding out where we need to intervene by networking, by exchanging practices, by working together and by giving incentives to trades union.
The second point is that we need to agree on specific quantitative targets and timetables for the involvement of women. The social partners, who are due to present their common agenda at Christmas, intend, as far as I am aware, to include the question of equality as one of the common issues which they will endeavour to resolve over the next few years. So if the social partners at European level present a common agenda at Christmas and include the question of gender equality, it is important that we then set specific quantitative targets and timetables. The Commission is still aiming for equal representation of men and women at all levels, including in the committees it sets up, but, to tell the truth, few women are involved even in the Commission unions.
Before I finish my intervention, I should like to point out that the question of the lack of involvement of women, as Mrs Smet has explained, is a question of democracy, it is a question of representation, it is a question of neglecting half the population, neglecting half the force and half the talent of European society. We really do believe that, with the employment strategy and social dialogue, we can make progress, but Europe cannot push ahead alone if the social partners themselves fail to assume a large part of the responsibility, which is why we also need their initiative here."@en1
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