Britain, she added, had previously had one of the lowest percentages of women in parliament among the 15 Member States with only 9.5 per cent. In the European Parliament, around 27 per cent of MEPs are women, compared to 19 per cent prior to the 1994 elections. Getting women into places of influence is a crucial step towards achieving equality between the sexes. In 1996, the average female representation in national parliaments was only 15 per cent. The jury is still out on the best means of achieving parity.
Quotas attract considerable controversy and charges that they discriminate against men.
Nevertheless, there are reports that the Liberal Democrats will be positively discriminating in favour of women, initially for the next European elections, but possibly also for prospective MPs. She also wants to see women in decision-making posts in areas beyond the political sphere, such as justice, public health, the financial sector and education. With the British government announcing that the next European elections are to be conducted on the basis of proportional representation and the submission of party lists, the Labour Party may be tempted to follow the Swedish example and include alternate names of women with men in the list order, thus ensuring parity of representation. Airbus The strategy document goes on to say that, despite the opportunities created by the single market, there are only a few projects, such as Eurofighter and Airbus, where aerospace companies can be found working together at a European level and that the future of the industry in Europe is dependent on this kind of co-operation on a bigger scale. Similar co-operation with US manufacturers should not be discouraged on the understanding that European companies do not end up becoming the junior partner in any such undertakings.