COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - Framework Strategy on Gender Equality Work - Programme for 2002 {SEC(2001) 1992}

I - Introduction

The EU has a long-standing commitment to promoting gender equality enshrined in the EC. Nowadays equality between men and women must be ensured in all policy areas. [1] To further this policy, the Commission adopted in June 2000 the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality [2], which sets out a comprehensive strategy involving all Community policies and all Commission services. This was followed in March 2001 by the adoption of the first annual work programme for gender equality [3], which set out in detail the Commission's activities in the course of the year 2001 for the promotion of gender equality in the different policy areas. This document sets out the annual gender equality work programme for 2002.

[1] Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union article 23, EC Treaty article 3 par.2

[2] Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions towards a "Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2005) COM(2000) 335 final.

[3] Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament: Framework Strategy on Gender Equality - Work Programme for 2001 (COM(2001)119 final) and Commission Staff Working Paper: Work programme for 2001 of each Commission service for the implementation of the Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (SEC(2001) 382), see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equ_opp/gms_en.html

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The annual gender equality work programmes are prepared jointly by all Commission services. The activities in the work programme are used as performance indicators with progress and achievements being monitored by the Commissioner's Group on Equal Opportunities [4] and supported by the Inter-service Group on Gender Equality [5].

[4] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equ_opp/strategy/com_group_en.html

[5] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equ_opp/strategy/isg.html

The gender equality work programme 2002 consists, like the 2001 work programme, of two parts:

1. The present communication, which is common to and will be implemented by all Commission departments, sets out the priority actions of the Commission to progress with its gender equality policy in all areas.

2. The Commission staff working paper {SEC(2001) 1992}, which describes in detail the policy-specific activities to promote equality between women and men including the gender mainstreaming method in each Directorate General and service. These activities often give more detail on the implementation of the priority actions. This document also contains details regarding joint activities of different services, such as the 3rd conference on gender mainstreaming within the European Structural Funds.

II - Evaluation of the implementation of the 2001 gender equality work programme

The activities planned for 2001 centred around three priority actions, namely

- Conducting a gender impact assessment of selected policy areas, which have up to now not been gender mainstreamed,

- Collecting gender desegregated data and systematically breakdown by gender of statistics with information on individuals,

- Insert in all calls for proposals and expressions of interest a reference to the gender equality policy of the Community and that women are particularly encouraged to submit proposals or to be involved in their submission and to respond to expressions of interest.

As interesting new areas for the integration of a gender equality perspective, the Commission services selected for instance world trade and globalisation (Directorate General for Trade), the integrated product policy, in particular waste management (Directorate General Environment), the social inclusion process (Directorate General Employment and Social Affairs), and the asylum and refugee policy (Directorate General Justice and Home Affairs) with a view to analysing the impact of these policies on men and women respectively and to identifying the possibilities to promote gender equality through their activities. An in-depth study on the role of women in the fisheries sector has been carried out (Directorate General Fisheries).

Significant progress has been made with regard to the engendering of statistics. Eurostat published analysis on gender differences, for instance in the sector of agriculture, and developed activities to obtain data broken down by sex from the national statistical offices, for instance with regard to asylum and refugees. DG Research and Eurostat in co-operation with Member States and associated countries, are collecting sex-disaggregated data about human resources in R&D.

The practice of DG Research and DG Information Society to mention the Commission's dedication to gender equality in calls for proposals and expressions of interest in order to encourage more women to apply or participate in applications, was not as widely taken over by other services, as it was hoped. Therefore, other tools and methods to promote women's participation in the Commission's funding and grant systems will have to be developed.

Further information on the monitoring and the evaluation of the implementation of the 2001 work programme will be published in the "Annual Report on Gender Equality in Europe" to be available in March 2002.

III - Priority actions for 2002

The Commission gender equality work programme for 2002 builds on the successes achieved in 2001 and includes pro-active interventions, i.e. adjusting policies by applying gender mainstreaming, and reactive interventions by implementing concrete actions designed to improve the situation of the disadvantaged or under-represented sex in the respective policy area. The gender equality work programme of each Commission service is therefore split between

- the integration of a gender perspective in policy initiatives (gender mainstreaming) and

- specific actions addressed to the disadvantaged or under-represented gender in the relevant policy area.

Besides policy-specific initiatives, which are listed in the Commission Staff working paper with the gender equality work programmes of each Commission service [6], the following priority actions will be implemented by all Commission services:

[6] SEC(2001) 1992

1. Conduct gender impact assessment of selected policy areas, which have up to now not been gender mainstreamed, i.e. to analyse and take into account in the policy planning and implementation the potentially different impact on men and women of policies, even if they appear on face value as gender neutral. This will be done as part of the ex-ante policy analysis and planning, as well as at the implementation and evaluation stage.

2. Since gender sensitive policy planing and analysis require gender desegregated data as input in the relevant policy area, each service will enhance its efforts to collect gender desegregated data and systematically break down by gender all related statistics. All services will start developing indicators, which will allow assessment of progress of gender equality in that policy.

3. There is still a considerable need for awareness-raising on gender issues in the Commission services and for training of the Commission staff on the methods for assessing the different impact of policies on women and men respectively and for mainstreaming a gender equality perspective into the policy planning and implementation process. Each DG and service will therefore insert gender mainstreaming modules in its training plans for staff members of all levels, in particular management level. This may take the form of specific gender equality or gender mainstreaming training sessions or as modules of general training courses.

IV. - Gender balance

The Commission is committed to achieving gender balance, in particular in committees and expert groups, as set out in its Decision 2000/407/EC of 19 June 2000 [7], which was a follow-up to the 1996 Council Recommendation on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process [8].

[7] Commission Decision relating to Gender Balance within the Committees and Expert Groups established by it Official Journal L 154, 27/06/2000 p. 34-35.

[8] 96/694/EC: Council Recommendation of 2 December 1996 on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process Official Journal L 319 , 10/12/1996 p. 11 - 15

The Commission Decision on improvement of gender balance in committees and expert groups [9] applies to existing and new committees and groups of the Commission. It sets the target of 40% minimum participation of women and men respectively. To achieve this, particularly in committees and groups, which are already in existence, the participation of women and men can be balanced at the time of replacement of members (or at the end of the term of appointment) by requesting a gender mixed proposal of four candidates for each vacancy. From these proposals the Commission can select a gender balanced composition of the group or committee, while ensuring the appointment of the most qualified candidates.

[9] Official Journal L 154, 27/06/2000 p. 34-35.

Following a first survey in 2000 of certain expert groups of the Commission [10], in which an average of only 13.5% of the members were women, a second survey was conducted in 2001.

[10] Groups funded under budget line A-7032

This 2001 survey covered all Commission committees and expert groups, distinguishing between the members of committees and groups who were appointed by the Commission and those members who were appointed by the member states, social partners, interest groups, NGOs and other bodies which have representatives in Commission committees and groups.

In 2001, the average percentage of women in all committees and expert groups of the Commission was 29%. Among the members of those committees and expert groups for whom the Commission has the right to appoint them, 30.5% were women whilst among the committees and groups on whose membership the Commission has no influence 28,6% were women.

The results of the survey reflect general participation rates of women and men in the respective sectors, e.g. relatively high female representation in the education and social sectors and higher representation of men in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and research.

This survey shows a clear improvement as compared to previous data. However, efforts must continue and indeed be enhanced in those sectors where female participation has been up to now lower. Progress will continue to be monitored as part of the work programmes of the Framework Strategy on Gender Equality.

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