Communication from the Commission

of 7 July 2000

addressed to Member States on the Commission Decision relating to a gender balance within the committees and expert groups established by it

(2000/C 203/03)

(Text with EEA relevance)

1. INTRODUCTION

The balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process is a key element in the achievement of substantive equality between women and men. It is also increasingly recognised as a requirement for democracy, as well as having a positive outcome for society, in that different ideas and values will be fed into the decision-making process, leading to results which take into account the interests and needs of the whole population.

The Community has been one of the prime promoters of changing the status of women in society and guaranteeing their right to equality. The legal principle of equal treatment between the sexes is a fundamental principle of Community law. The Amsterdam Treaty, amending the Treaty establishing the European Communities, takes the Community beyond the guarantee of formal equality, towards a more pro-active approach of aiming to eliminate inequality and promote equality between women and men(1) in all Community policies. It also allows the Member States to adopt measures of positive action to ensure full equality in practice between women and men. Gender mainstreaming has been adopted by the European Union as an effective strategy to promote equality between women and men, and the Treaty establishing the European Communities enshrines this approach. An equal number of both women and men in decision making bodies is an appropriate means of reaching a gender-sensitive policy.

The Platform for Action of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, to which all the Member States committed themselves, recognised that the lack of balanced participation between women and men in decision-making amounted to a democratic deficit.

2. THE NATIONAL CONTEXT

Five Member States have legally binding provisions on the composition of committees. In Austria the numerical representation of women and men in committees must be taken into account by the authorities. In Belgium, advisory committees may only give opinions if a maximum of two thirds of members are of the same sex, unless they have a special derogation from the Ministry of equal opportunities. In Denmark the obligation is to put forward equal numbers of women and men for appointment to public committees, whereas in Finland women must make up 40 % of the members of committees. Germany provides for a system of double nominations, as does Sweden, Norwegian law prescribes a minimum gender balance in committees of 40 % of either sex, and in Iceland the figure of 30 % is set.

3. THE EU CONTEXT

In order to redress the under representation of women in decision-making, which amounts to a democratic deficit in addition to being an under utilisation of human resources, the Council adopted a recommendation(2) on 2 December 1996 on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making processes through:

- an integrated strategy to promote a balanced participation of women and men,

- awareness raising campaigns,

- the collection of data,

- encouraging examples of good practice, and

- the promotion of a gender balance at all levels of governmental bodies and committees.

The overall objective of the Council recommendation was to encourage Member States to promote a more balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process, and to adopt specific measures to achieve this goal. The recommendation was also addressed to the Community institutions and agencies. The Commission prepared a Report(3) on the implementation of the Council recommendation, which reveals that despite a host of different measures adopted by Member States the under representation of women in governments and Parliaments, and in committees preparing decisions, as well as in the higher levels of the labour market, has not changed considerably since the recommendation was adopted in 1996.

A preliminary study of the committees established by the Commission in the Directorate General for Employment and Social Affairs revealed that women were very much in the minority, except in committees dealing with free movement of workers, and equal opportunities between women and men(4).

4. THE COMMISSION DECISION

The Commission recognises that it must make more progress in achieving a greater gender-balance in its own committees and expert groups in order to make the decision-making process at European level more balanced, and to this end it has adopted a decision(5) relating to gender balance within the expert groups and committees established by it. In order to go beyond merely eliminating existing inequalities and to actively promote equality, the Commission is proposing that both existing and new committees and expert groups should be gender balanced.

The Council Recommendation does not define the term "balanced participation". Although the Scandinavian countries and the United Kingdom target a 50 % participation, most countries consider a participation rate of at least 30 % to constitute the critical mass above which women or men can exercise any real influence. The Commission has decided to set 40 %, in the medium term, as the minimum level of participation of women or men in committees and expert groups.

The figure of 40 % was chosen as it represents a good compromise of the procedure followed in the Member States. This figure also reflects the procedure the Commission follows for women's participation in all panels, assemblies and advisory bodies which assist the Commission in implementing the Fifth Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities (1999 to 2000). Science was identified as an area in which women were seriously under-represented, a situation which had to be rectified in the interests of equal opportunities generally, but also in order to enrich European science. It is a realistic medium-term aim towards achieving full gender balance.

The Commission's aim is to achieve a gender balance in newly created expert groups and committees by appointing women and men members when the expert group or committee is first established. For committees and expert groups which are already in existence, when the terms of members come to an end, or a member must be replaced, the Commission will aim to appoint a new member so as to ensure a gender balance.

In considering how to increase the gender balance in its expert groups and committees, the Commission was faced with the problem that whilst it has the formal power of appointment to such groups and committees, nominations for members usually come via the Member States. Sometimes the Member State itself makes nominations, but frequently the Member State does no more than pass on to the Commission nominations from the social partners, NGOs and professional bodies. Thus, while the Commission can try and appoint members to expert groups and committees in order to achieve a gender balance, if there is no gender balance among the nominees put forward, the Commission's ability to appoint members to achieve a gender balance will be severly limited.

The Commission therefore calls on Member States and all bodies and organisations responsible for proposing candidates to put forward the names of men and women in sufficient number to allow the Commission to appoint members so that expert groups and committees are gender balanced. The Commission suggests that four names should be put forward for each position of member, and that the list of names must include at least one of each sex. If the rules establishing an expert group or committee call for alternate members, then the nominations for these posts should follow the same procedure as that for members. The same procedure should apply to nominations when a member of an expert group or committee is replaced, and in this way the existing gender balance will be improved. Here the Commission itself is responsible for proposing and appointing members to expert groups or committees, it will ensure that a gender balance is achieved.

It should be made clear that the Commission does not intend to appoint under-qualified nominees just in order to achieve a gender balance in a committee or expert group. However, if the members of one sex are very much under-represented in a particular committee or expert group, the Commission calls upon the Member States to make a special effort to nominate suitably qualified members of this sex.

Three years after the adoption of the decision, the Commission will prepare a report on its implementation, which will include statistics on the gender balance of expert groups and committees. Commission services which have not improved the gender balance of their committees will be expected to justify why this is the case. On the basis of this report, the Commission will then be able to decide whether further action is necessary.

(1) Article 3(2) of the EC Treaty.

(2) 96/694/EC (OJ L 319, 10.12.1996 (Annex I).

(3) COM(2000) 120 final.

(4) Studiy of DGEmpl Committees see website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg05/equ.opp/index-en.htm

(5) OJ L 154, 27.6.2000, p. 34.