Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-12-Speech-1-137"
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"en.20070312.19.1-137"2
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"Through the indispensable role that they play in society, women have a significant involvement in shaping our ever-changing world. They are involved as mothers, wives, owners of family businesses, professionals and managers of large companies. They make successful politicians, artists and sportswomen. They are agents of progress, making the world a better, more worthwhile place.
Even though women possess admirable managerial skills and perform remarkably well in the business sector, in Central Europe men are two times more likely to succeed as entrepreneurs than women. To a large extent, this is due to the fact that women in executive positions are forced to face many additional challenges, notably to do with their role in the family. To attain the goals of the Lisbon Strategy, Europe needs to boost the employment of women by ensuring good working conditions. By the same token, in order to stand up to the challenges of a globalising world, Europe must promote demographic recovery through a mix of family policies.
A stable family in which the woman plays her unique role as the giver of life is a basic precondition for stability and prosperity in Europe. Recently published statistics suggest that the birth rate has plummeted in an unprecedented way during the past few years. This calls for thorough analysis of the situation and requires solutions that will enable us to escape from the current demographic predicament.
The arguments I have mentioned corroborate the importance of this discussion of the own-initiative report by the rapporteur, Mrs Sartori, who I would like to congratulate and thank for her work. The report, however, contains some problematic and sensitive points, such as quota implementation and reproductive health. Unless we manage to muster enough courage and strength to protect human life, to encourage lifestyles based on traditional family values and to protect families with children, in a couple of years we will end up at an impasse.
I do not think that women need quotas to elevate them to politics, science or business. What they need is for us to put the conditions in place to enable them to enter the labour market and retain their positions there. It is essential to dismantle all remaining forms of discrimination, such as wage gaps and unequal treatment in the implementation of pension schemes. I am convinced that only a roadmap with this vision of gender equality in its sights will ensure prosperity…"@en1
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