Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-19-Speech-4-032"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060119.5.4-032"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, gender equality has not been at the forefront of the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy. Yet without the active involvement of women, the Lisbon agenda is bound to fail. Unfortunately, the gender dimension is conspicuous by its absence from European discourse and, more importantly, political action. Most of the documents produced by the European institutions and the Member States come very much from a male perspective.
It is unacceptable that, in the 21st century, ten years after the Beijing Platform for Action, women still suffer every form of discrimination – be it at work, in the family, in politics or in society at large – and that the reconciliation of family and working life has yet to be achieved, even though family life is acknowledged to be the main factor holding women back in the labour market.
Unemployment stands at 10% for women and 8.3% for men. Women earn lower salaries, even though they have more qualifications; 58% of graduates and 41% of holders of higher degrees are women. Politics, business and society as a whole have yet to realise that reconciling the different areas of women’s lives is a politically and socially relevant question.
Maternity must not be viewed as a problem for employers and for the economy. Rather than being problematic, in fact, it is actually a service provided to society, which helps to combat low birth rates and the ageing of the population, and to guarantee the sustainability of the social security system. It is therefore crucial that women should not be penalised for motherhood. The truth, however, is that women do not make progress in their careers, do not receive regular productivity bonuses, do not receive a share of company profits, and have to accept less significant and less professionally rewarding jobs. What is more, when a worker of either sex sees that company bosses are more understanding of those who want to leave early to pick up the car than those who want to leave early to pick up the children from school, this says everything about the mentality of those who hold economic power and about the way in which the tasks traditionally assigned to women are undervalued.
It should also be remembered that society is organised along lines drawn by men. It is they who set the timetables without regard for the fact that children need to be picked up from school and that the fridge needs to be stocked to feed the family. This is a problem for everyone, not just for women. Appropriate policies should be put in place to encourage people to share tasks in the home. Fathers should therefore be granted an inalienable right to parental leave following childbirth or the adoption of a child, without losing any employment rights.
It has been demonstrated that the sharing of family responsibilities between men and women is the first step towards achieving much-needed reconciliation between home life and working life. With the same rights to a career as men, women must not be forced to do the same work as men outside the home and three times as much in the home. The involvement of women in the political, social and economic spheres is an essential factor in social progress. Gender equality is very much a modern, contemporary issue that needs to be part of the EU’s day-to-day political agenda.
One of the EU’s key objectives should be equal representation in the political decision-making bodies. Integrating women into the decision-making process is a modern-day necessity and an absolute prerequisite in strengthening democracy. The time has come to abandon the notion that women are capable of working but incapable of making decisions. The road is long and full of obstacles but we must make our way along that road without wasting any more time. Women cannot sit around for more generations waiting for mentalities to change and for the system to regulate itself. They need to be proactive in the fight for the right to be on an equal footing with men, both in the public and private spheres, because nobody voluntarily hands over the power that they have held for centuries.
One thing is for sure: if you have privileges you do not want to lose them; if you are sitting comfortably in the seat of power you will not get up unless you are required to do so. History has shown that men are less inclined to show their traditional chivalry in such circumstances. This report seeks to redress some of these problems. I therefore ask for Parliament’s support for this report and hope that once it is adopted the Commission and the Member States will take account of the proposals and recommendations contained therein. I should like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the contribution of the policy unit, of the secretariat of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and of those Members who tabled amendments. Thank you, everyone."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples