Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-18-Speech-4-017"
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"en.20070118.3.4-017"2
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".
Madam President, the previous speaker has just made reference, regretfully, apparently, to lots of jobs in politics going to the stronger people – the men. She obviously never met Mrs Thatcher!
Why cannot these reports be written in plain language? The term ‘gender mainstreaming’ occurs throughout the report; what is that? Is it some kind of political correctness? Paragraph 16, which is all about filling vacancies in EU institutions, says that gender mainstreaming is ‘to be taken into account’. Does that mean specific jobs for men and specific jobs for women?
Paragraph 1 calls for ‘gender equality […] which does not set women against men’. Does that mean men and women cannot apply for the same job in case it sets the one against the other?
Recital A states that some committees ‘never take an interest’ in gender mainstreaming. Goodness, what do we do about that? But, wait a bit, there are some facts and figures to go with the jargon. Recital F refers to the ‘continuous increase in the percentage of female Members of the European Parliament, from 17.5 % in 1979 to 30.33 % in 2004’. But, then, recital G notes that, in EU administration, ‘women are under-represented in positions of responsibility’ where political decisions are taken. Clearly, we are leading to reverse discrimination. Any kind of discrimination is not only thoroughly bad, but surely goes against all that the EU stands for.
Inevitably, you then move on to quotas, but the report also calls for the dignity of women. In Britain, other political parties have women-only candidate lists. What kind of dignity is that? Our party does not do it. In the situation under consideration here, what happens if not enough women apply to satisfy the quota? Do you leave the post unfilled?
I suppose, now, some people will think they have got some kind of raving chauvinist on their hands – not so. I am a teacher, I taught for 39 years and I did so happily with many women. I worked for women in teaching, very happily – no problem. I respected them all. I simply believe that women should have no bar to going for qualifications and should apply for posts on a totally equal basis. Anything else, like this report, is demeaning to women, and any self-respecting woman should find this report offensive. I ask Members to dismiss it with their vote."@en1
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