Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-06-Speech-4-044"
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"en.20031106.3.4-044"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, my warmest thanks go to Mrs Dybkjær for this eminently timely and important report. We all share a concern about how balanced the representation of gender is going to be in the European Parliament in the next legislature. We have a good six months to work hard to dispel this concern and we should not be afraid.
Equality is one of the European fundamental values which the new Member States have also committed themselves to respecting. There can be no genuine democracy if women are unable to participate in decision-making at all its levels. The fact is that the establishment of pluralist parliamentary democracy does not in itself guarantee equal participation of women and men in political decision-making. We could have rid ourselves of the problem entirely by developing a common European act regarding elections, in which gender equality would be guaranteed. Female politicians have to be made strong professionals in their field with the help of training and financial and moral support. This way the reasons for the lower areas of competency with regard to the women in a quota system compared to their male colleagues would become groundless and fade away.
The aim of an equal society is dimly visible as decision-making without the need for quotas, with the highest decision-making bodies representing the genders equally. It would not seem, however, that we will achieve this without an interim stage, with the EU, the Member States and the political parties actively involved in working jointly on behalf of equality. The political groups should agree common policies to reach a position where in the end equality becomes a reality in economic, political and social life.
I now want to throw down the gauntlet, as it were, and ask the male Members of the European Parliament here to think about whether they have ever voted for a woman. Furthermore, if you are also influential in your country’s political arena would you propose a woman as President of the Commission? Moreover, if there is an office of President of the EU, who might the woman be whom you would vote for as President?"@en1
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