EP - Equal Opportunities - Women's Rights

Motion for a resolution on the European Union's policies on gender equality
Doc. B5-0121/2004
Vote: 10.03.2004

Vote


Only two days after the 8 March, International Women's Day, the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on the "European Union's policies on gender equality". This resolution is a follow up to the oral questions (B5-0064/0065/2004) that Anna KARAMANOU (PES, GR), Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities asked to the representative of the European Commission Margot WALLSTRÖM.

The most important point of this resolution is the equal participation of women in the future Commission. Parliament appeals to each Member State to put forward a list of three candidates of both sexes to be nominated Commissioner (as proposed by the Convention on the future of Europe). There has never been a woman President of the Commission, and MEPs call on the Member States this time actively to consider women candidates. MEPs say the next President of the Commission should appoint a Commissioner whose main responsibility would be women's rights and equal opportunities. To perform well such a Commissioner would need adequate staff, financial means and even a whole new DG.

In the light of the enlargement of the EU, MEPs request the Commission, the Council and the new Member States to put women's rights and gender equality at the top of their political agenda. In the new Member States the current trend of declining women's participation in social, political and economic life should be reversed. To fight this negative tendency, leaders of all political parties of the EU and accession countries need to work together. MEPs call for electoral lists for the June elections to be gender balanced.

MEPs also reiterate the need for new directive based on article 13 covering gender discrimination outside the scope of employment and encourage the Council to keep to its decision made in the Nice Council in December 2000 on the subject.

The European Parliament expresses its concern about the attitude of some Member States. Incorporating gender directives in their respective legislation is not enough to achieve real equality of women and men in everyday life. They also need to introduce the necessary supporting measures to eradicate the inequality that still exists between women and men, as shown in the Commission's first annual report on gender disparities.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Advancement of Women (12/10/2004)
• Commissioner Wallström's Speech at International Women's Day Event (8/3/2004)
• EU Presidency Statement - Commission on the Status of Women (1/3/2004)