A4-0072/99

Resolution on the progress report from the Commission on the follow-up of the Communication: 'Incorporating equal opportunities for women and men into all Community policies and activities¨ (COM(98)0122 - C4-0234/98)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the progress report from the Commission (COM(98)0122 - C4-0234/98),

- having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Cars and others on mainstreaming in the European Parliament (B4-0699/98),

- having regard to the Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 15 September 1995,

- having regard to its resolution of 16 September 1997 on the Commission communication - Incorporating equal opportunities for women and men into all Community policies and activities (mainstreaming) ((OJ C 304, 6.10.1997, p. 50.)),

- having regard to the conclusions of the European Councils of Luxembourg (20/21 November 1997), Cardiff (14/15 June 1998) and Vienna (11/12 December 1998) and to the Guidelines for Member States' Employment Policies 1999,

- having regard to the Commission's Annual Report 1997 on Equal Opportunities for women and men(COM(98)0302),

- having regard to the Commission's interim report to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of the medium-term Community action Programme on equal opportunities for men and women (1996-2000) (COM(98)0770),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Women's Rights (A4-0072/99),

A. whereas the Treaty of Amsterdam provides a stronger legal basis for Community action in favour of equality between women and men by making equality a task, a principle and a goal of the Community, as stipulated in Articles 2 and 3 of the EC Treaty,

B. whereas the strategy of gender mainstreaming was endorsed by the Beijing Platform for Action, which called on governments and other actors to promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes,

C. whereas the Commission has started a mainstreaming policy with the aim of integrating the equal opportunity dimension into Community policies and activities, as outlined in its Communication of February 1996,

D. whereas the objective of equal opportunities between women and men has been incorporated into the European employment strategy, as agreed by the European Council of Luxembourg in November 1997 and assessed for the first time at the Cardiff Summit in June 1998,

E. whereas the principle of mainstreaming in employment has been reinforced by the European Council of Vienna which invited Member States to achieve, in their National Action Plans, 'tangible progress in promoting equal opportunities between women and men, in particular using benchmarks and a gender mainstreaming approach¨,

F. whereas gender mainstreaming is part of a dual approach aimed at achieving equality between women and men by incorporating equal opportunities into all policies and activities alongside specific measures of positive action in favour of women,

1. Urges all the European Union's institutions and bodies to step up and give practical expression to their work on gender mainstreaming in accordance with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and in line with the commitment to promote equality between men and women enshrined in the Amsterdam Treaty;

2. Has taken note of the Commission's first progress report on mainstreaming and takes a positive view of the few areas of progress made, both in terms of methodology and of policies;

3. Regrets, however, that measures taken so far have not influenced mainstream Community policies to any great extent outside those policy areas with a longer tradition and expertise in promoting equal opportunities for women and men;

4. Points out, taking into consideration the barriers and shortcomings which still exist, as noted by the Commission in its progress report, the importance of maintaining the specific programmes and projects in the framework of equal opportunities between women and men in the Union at at least its present level, or in future a higher level, depending on the effects of mainstreaming policies;

Methodological approach

5. Notes that gender mainstreaming requires a comprehensive approach to policy making and the mobilisation of all policy actors, and that it involves a reorganisation, monitoring and assessment of policy processes from a gender equality perspective, closer cooperation and coordination between policy departments and with new political actors, including NGOs;

6. Calls on the Commission to take the initiative to devise clear objectives and accountability mechanisms both internally and externally and to review rules and procedures with a view to promoting gender mainstreaming;

7. Notes the barriers to progress mentioned by the Commission and considers that the lack of awareness of gender issues at the decision-making levels must be remedied and given top priority;

8. Calls on the Commission actively to seek cooperation with national and international experts in the field and NGOs;

9. Calls on the Commission to improve the methodological framework of mainstreaming, in particular by developing an evaluation method to identify the impact of all Community policies and measures on women and men and by introducing the gender perspective in all forthcoming legislative proposals;

Priority areas for action

i) gender relevant data and statistics

10. Stresses that an effective implementation of equality policies depends on the existence of statistics at all levels of its application and calls on the Commission always to require statistics broken down by gender;

11. Expects the Commission to develop a set of indicators and criteria for formulating, implementing and evaluating equality objectives and results and to develop benchmarking;

12. Calls on the Commission to consider the development of a gender equality index of progress based on a set of clear indicators and comparable data (as already used in the annual United Nations Development Report);

ii) women in decision-making

13. Calls on the Commission, as a matter of priority, to review all its advisory and decision-making structures with a view to achieving an equal distribution by gender; to encourage the Member States fully to implement the Council recommendation of 2 December 1996 on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process ((OJ L 319, 10.12.1996, p. 11.)) and appoint an equal number of female and male candidates to the committees and working parties assisting the Commission;

14. Calls on the Commission to pursue and intensify work on its strategy aimed at achieving gender balance among its staff and in particular to increase the number of women in management and decision-making positions;

iii) income differentials and work

15. Calls on the Commission to identify the circumstances and reasons why women as a group and almost without exception are valued lower than men in terms of pay and to enter into talks with the social partners to examine in greater detail and take action on gender-related differences in wage structure;

16. Calls on the Commission to focus its efforts on the above-mentioned priority areas during the coming year and to report to Parliament on the results achieved in the next progress report;

17. Calls on the Council and the Member States respectively to review the existing Community and national legislation in order to update it by incorporating a gender equality perspective;

18. Calls on the Council and the Member States respectively to ensure that the gender mainstreaming principle is implemented at local, interregional/regional, national and Community level as well as within the Council's institutional framework;

Mainstreaming within the EU institutions

19. Considers that the political responsibilities of the Committee on Women's Rights as a committee in its own right in Parliament needs to be redefined and strengthened in line with the new provisions on equality between men and women enshrined in the Amsterdam Treaty;

20. Calls on Parliament's political groups to appoint members both within their respective groups and on every parliamentary committee who will take responsibility for ensuring that the gender-mainstreaming principle is applied throughout their work;

21. Calls for an interinstitutional working party to be set up, primarily between Parliament and the Commission, to act as coordinating body to promote the objective of equality between women and men in all spheres of activity of the institutions, using all the mechanisms to further equality, such as positive action, mainstreaming etc.;

22. Calls on the EU institutions to draw up equality programmes for and within their own activities;

23. Calls on the Commission to take all the measures it considers necessary to report to the European Parliament every two years on progress in implementing mainstreaming;

24. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the other EU's institutions and bodies and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States.