7. Women in decision-making
B5-0180/2000
European Parliament resolution on women in decision-making
The European Parliament,
Fdash havingregardtoArticles2,3(2),13,137(1)fifthindent,and141oftheECTreaty,Fdash havingregardtoInternationalWomen’sDaytobecelebratedon8March2000,Fdash recallingthatthecelebrationofInternationalWomen’sDayevery8MarchwasinitiatedinCopenha-
genin1910,
Fdash having regard to its resolutions based on reports from the Committee on Women’s Rights and the
CommitteeonWomen’sRights andEqual Opportunities since 1984,andespecially itsresolutionof11February 1994(
1)onwomenin decision-making bodies,containing proposalsforan action pro-
gramme,
Fdash havingregardtothe1993ViennaconferenceonhumanrightsandthePlatformforActionfollowing
theFourthWorldConferenceonWomeninBeijingon15September1995,
Fdash havingregardtotheseventhcriticalareaofthatConference,wheregovernmentspromisedtoensure
women’sequalaccesstoandfullparticipationinpowerstructureanddecision-making,
Fdash havingregardtotheCouncilResolutionof27March1995andtheCouncilRecommendation96/694
of2December1996onthebalancedparticipation ofwomenandmeninthedecision-makingpro-cess,
Fdash havingregardtotheMinisterialDeclarationof17April1999inParisonwomenandmeninpower,
A. whereastheCommissionisduetosubmitareportonthebalancedparticipationofwomenandmen
in the decision-making process, in accordance with the request in the abovementioned Council
Recommendation,
B. whereasimprovinggenderbalanceinpublicandprivatedecision-makingbodiesacrosstheEuropean
Union mustovercome both the belated recognition offemale suffrage and entrenched attitudes andbehaviourinsocietyatlargewhichrequiresimprovingawareness,providingtrainingforwomenwhoaspiretopositionsofresponsibílityandfacilitatingtheiraccesstosuchpositions,
C. whereas public and private institutions should set targets for correcting any gender imbalance; and
whereas a reasonable target should be set at 40% participation whereby performance can be com-paredonanannualbasis,asiscurrentlythecasewiththeemploymentguidelines,
D. deeply regretting that inequality and gender discrimination and under-representation of women still
persistinpoliticsandinpublicandprivateinstitutions,inEuropeandworldwide,inspiteofalargenumber ofpolitical statementsand recommendations, programmes and projects andspecific legisla-tionintroducedatEuropeanandnationallevel,
E. notingthathigherparticipationofwomeninpoliticallifeisoftenexplainedbythesystemsofpropor-
tionalrepresentationappliedinthosecountries,
F. whereastheAmsterdamTreatymadesignificantprogressinrecognisingpositiveactionasalegitimate
meanstoeliminateinequalitybetweenwomenandmenintheworkplace,
(1) OJC61,28.2.1994,p.248.C346/82 EN4.12.2000 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities
Thursday 2 March 2000
G. notingthatwomencontinuetoreceivelesspaythanmenforworkofequalvalue,despitethefactthat
a directive establishing the principle of equal pay was adopted more than 25 years ago, are to befound more often than men in jobs characterised by irregular status and less security and take thebulkoffamilyresponsibility, while in professionallife the decision-making functionremains forthemostpartinthehandsofmen,
H. welcoming the growing number of female Members of the European Parliament, who account for
approximately 30% of the Members elected in July 1999, as opposed to 27% of those elected in1994; welcoming also the fact that for the second time since the first direct elections in 1979 theEuropeanParliamenthaselectedawomanasitsPresident;
I. noting that women are still under-represented in decision-making bodies at all levels and in
allEUInstitutions,forexampleintheEuropeanParliamentwherewomenrepresentonly20%ofall
administrators,22%oftheDirectors,15%oftheHeadsofDivisionandarenotrepresentedatallat
Director-Generallevel,
J. noting that although a large quantity of statistics on mapping has been produced, significant gaps
remain,especiallywithregardtowomen’srolesineconomicdecision-making,
K. whereasthepersistingunder-representationofwomenFdashwhorepresentoverhalfofthepopulationFdash
inthepolitical,economicandsocialareasisunacceptableinademocracy,
L. deeplyregrettingthatwomenFdashmajorvictimsofhumanrightsviolationssuchasrape,sexualabuse,
domesticviolence,traffickinginhumanbeingsetc.Fdashareunder-representedonjudiciaryandlegisla-tivebodiesjudgingonthecrimesmentionedanddecidingonlegalprovisions,withtheconsequencethatlittleornopriorityisgiven tothesecrimesoftenresultinginthenon-prosecutionofoffenders,eventhosewhoareknown,
M. deeplyregrettingthatthevoicesofwomenFdashwhoareamongthemajorvictimsofarmedconflictsFdash
are absent fromkey decisions on peace-keeping efforts and fromthe design of post-conflict recon-
structionprogrammes,
N. convincedthatwomenholdingdecision-makingpositionsonanequalfootingwithmenisanecessary
conditionnotonlyforsuccessfullyputtinganendtoinequalities,genderdiscriminationandviolenceagainstwomenbutforthebenefitofthefunctioningofsocietyasawhole,
1. Reiteratesitsabovementionedresolutionof11February1994;
2. RequeststheCommissiontopresentbeforetheendoftheyearareportonactionactuallytakenand
the resultinstatisticaltermswhere appropriate,considering thatsixyears have elapsedsince theabove-mentionedresolutionwasadopted;
3. Notesthattheuseofquotasasatransitionalmeasurehelpstoevenuptheinvolvementofmenand
womeninpoliticallifeandcallsfortheprovisionofpoliticaltrainingandinformationforwomencandi-datesbythepartiessothattheycantakeuppoliticallifewithfullconfidence;
4. UrgestheMemberStatestoseekactivelytoreachamorebalancedparticipationofwomenandmen
inalltheEUinstitutions;
5. WelcomestheCommission’sintentiontopresentaproposalforaFifthActionProgrammeonEqual
Opportunities;
6. Recallsthatgender mainstreaming isalong-termtransformativestrategy which involveslarge-scale
re-education about policy design and delivery and that it shouldbe used to complement positive actionmeasures;4.12.2000 EN C346/83 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities
Thursday 2 March 2000
7. NotestheCommission’sintentiontopromotewomen’sparticipationinitscommitteesandworking
groupsanditscommitmentstoincreasethenumberofwomenindecision-makingwithinitsadministra-tion;
8. Callsonthe Commissiontomakeitapriority toimprove the statisticaldatabasetoestablishand
maintainafullsetofregularlyupdatedstatisticsonwomenindecision-makingthroughouttheEU;
9. Concludesthatbothmenandwomenarenecessaryinthedecision-makingprocesswhilethespecial
qualitiesofbothsexesarecomplementary,whichcanonlyleadtobettermanagement;
10. CallsontheMemberStatestopromotetrainingforexecutivesandleadersFdashmenaswellaswomen
Fdashinordertopromotenon-discriminatoryworkingrelationships;
11. Calls on the Member States to introduce capacity development with government agencies with a
viewtoadvancingcareerdevelopmentforwomen;
12. Callsonthesocialpartnerstopromotebalancedparticipationbywomenandmeninpositionsof
responsibilityanddecision-makingand,inordertoachievethis,totakethenecessarystepsintherecruit-
mentandprofessionaltrainingoftheirrepresentativesinthevariousbodiesofthesocialdialogue;
13. Calls on the Commission to use the existing Treaty provisions to encourage governments to
develop and implement policies and programmes to establish gender balance in decision-making bodies
andinthebodiesanddelegationsinvolvedintheenlargementprocess;
14. Calls on Member States to increase the number of women participating in peace-keeping, peace-
making,peace-building andconflict-preventing activities with which Member Statescollaborate;instructs
itscompetentcommitteetopayspecialattentiontotheroleofwomeninthesefields,andtomakerecom-
mendationstowardsthemainstreamingofgenderconsiderationsintoallaspectsofconflictresolution;
15. ExpectsthatthepositiondefinedbytheEuropeanUnionandtheNGOswillplayanimportantrole
intheforthcomingUNConferenceonthefollow-upofthePlatformforAction‘Beijingplusfive’inNew
YorknextJuneandthatthiswillbedecisivelyimplementedbygovernmentsinordertofulfiltheircom-
mitmentsthroughconcretemeasures;
16. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the other
EUinstitutionsandbodies,andthegovernmentsandparliamentsoftheMemberStates.
8. Annual economic report
A5-0041/2000
European Parliament resolution on the Commission document ‘The EU Economy Odash 1999 Review’
(C5-0081/2000 Odash 2000/2046(COS))
The European Parliament,
Fdash havingregardtotheCommissiondocument(C5-0081/2000),Fdash having regard totheCommissionreportonthereview ofthesinglefacilityprovidingmedium-term
financialassistanceforMemberStates’balancesofpayments(COM(1999)628),
Fdash havingregardtoArticles99and104oftheECTreaty,C346/84 EN4.12.2000 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities
Thursday 2 March 2000