Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ' Proposal for a Council Recommendation on the balanced participation of women and men in decision-making'
Date: 1996-04-24
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: decision-making, equal treatment, gender equality, participation of women, women's rights













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51996AC0532

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ' Proposal for a Council Recommendation on the balanced participation of women and men in decision-making'  


Official Journal C 204 , 15/07/1996 P. 0021 





Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Recommendation on the  balanced participation of women and men in decision-making`(96/C 204/08)On 30  January  1996, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article  198 of the  Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal. The Section for Social, Family, Educational and Cultural Affairs, which was responsible for  preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 12  April 1996. The  Rapporteur was Mrs  Twist. At its 335th Plenary Session (meeting of 24  April 1996), the Economic and Social Committee adopted  the following Opinion by 102 votes to 3, with 9  abstentions. 1. General commentsThe Committee welcomes the proposal for a Council Recommendation  subject to the following comments: 1.1. Whilst falling short of legitimate expectations in favour of equal participation in  decision-making, the proposal nonetheless should help to stimulate an integrated and comprehensive  gender equality strategy including 'mainstreaming` and the question of parity (). Reference to the  Beijing Platform for Action (agreed by 186 states) and to the Essen and Cannes Summit commitments  to equal opportunities might usefully be made in this connection. The Council Recommendation should  also address the need to enshrine the goal of equal participation in the future Treaty on European  Union. 1.2. The Recommendation calls for strategies and activities to 'promote` balanced representation,  rather than for strategies which could help guarantee it. The Committee would nonetheless urge  Member States to set clear goals with specific measures, to ensure broadly-based information  campaigns and to work in close cooperation with socio-professional organizations on achieving  concrete progress towards more equality in decision-making. The reference to targets should at  least be backed up by timetables and other monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Positive actions  could be better highlighted in the text. 1.3. Positive actions are particularly necessary in the fields of education and training. The  Commission proposal is rightly critical of existing gender imbalances in decision-making resulting  from the 'stereotyping` of men's and women's roles by 'education and training`. However, it does  not sufficiently address the question at source which is a cultural one. Attitudes must change.  Positive actions to promote access to education and training, objective career guidance, and a  wider choice of jobs for girls and women are vital if women are to develop to the full their role  in economic, social, political and cultural spheres and if they are to be integrated into the  labour market on an equal footing. Likewise, it is important that boys and men should be encouraged  to enter into labour market areas 'traditionally` occupied by women. 1.4. Although there is a link between women in decision-making and the need for an equal sharing of  responsibilities between men and women in all spheres of society, the Commission proposal does not  sufficiently underscore the need for measures to encourage men to take a fairer sharing of family  responsibilities. The concept, already suggested by the OECD and recently endorsed by Commissioner  Flynn, of a new 'gender contract` () could be highlighted. The Committee would also call for  concrete measures in the Recommendation concerning childcare and other mechanisms which facilitate  the reconciliation of professional and family life (). 1.5. It follows that direct reference should also be made in the Recommendation to 'employment` and  to work organization and working time. Labour market segregation, unequal pay, unequal promotion  possibilities and career structures and the casualization of women's employment should be addressed  if the traditional masculine culture which dominates labour market decision-making is to change. 2. Specific comments2.1. Point 1 of the proposal could usefully refer to the concept of a new  'gender contract`. It should also make specific reference to employment, the need to combat a  segregated labour market, to facilitate new working time arrangements and to promote all measures  which make it possible to reconcile working and family life. 2.2. Point 2 should emphasize the need for a climate of sensitivity at school and in training, not  just as regards 'textbooks` and 'curricula`, but also and especially as regards access and choice. 2.3. Point 3 should not concentrate on the massive and passive production of statistics. Member  Governments and the Commission should instead pinpoint societal trends and attempt to explain how  and why, in some instances, good female participation rates in employment, in higher positions of  employment and in decision-making have been achieved. 2.4. Point 4 could better point out that under-representation of women in political and other  representative bodies in a fundamental challenge for democracy. Clear targets redressing this  democratic deficit are required, together with appropriate timetables, monitoring and evaluation  mechanisms. 2.5. Member Governments are encouraged, in close cooperation with the appropriate  socio-professional organizations and NGOs, to nominate more women to the Economic and Social  Committee. Governments should also appoint more women to similar EU representative organs and  bodies. 2.6. A single evaluation report on the implementation of the Recommendation to be submitted within  three years of its adoption does not suffice. An on-going assessment, on the basis of regularly  up-dated proposals, should be foreseen. Done at Brussels, 24  April 1996. The Presidentof the Economic and Social CommitteeCarlos FERRER() Also see  COM(96) 67 final, 21. 2. 1996.  () Les femmes et le changement structurel (Women and structural changes), Paris, OECD, 1991.  () See, for example, OJ No C 39, 12. 2. 1996, p.  39, point 2.3 'Objective  3: Women and men  combining work with household - family life`.