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 (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2000-07-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU policy, committee (EU), decision-making, equal treatment, gender equality, participation of women

C 203/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

18.7.2000

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

is a key element

The balanced participation of women and men in the decision-
in the achievement of
making process
is also
It
substantive equality between women and men.
for democracy, as
increasingly recognised as a requirement
well as having a positive outcome for
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.

society,

formal equality,

the prime promoters of
The Community has been one 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
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 represen-
tation 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 dero-
gation 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:

(cid:151) an integrated strategy to promote a balanced participation

of women and men,

(cid:151) awareness raising campaigns,

(cid:151) the collection of data,

(cid:151) encouraging examples of good practice, and

(cid:151) the promotion of a gender balance at all levels of govern-

mental bodies and committees.

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

the Council

the under

levels of

(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.

18.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 203/5

the committees established by the
A preliminary study of
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 (1).

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 (2) 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
(cid:145)balanced participation(cid:146). Although the Scandinavian countries
and the United Kingdom target a 50 % participation, most
least 30 % to
countries consider a participation rate of at
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 partici-
pation 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 Devel-
opment
(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.
is a realistic
medium-term aim towards achieving full gender balance.

and Demonstration Activities

It

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
is
balance will be improved. Here the Commission itself
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
nominate suitably qualified members of this sex.

to make a special

effort

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.

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) Studiy of DGEmpl Committees see website:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg05/equ.opp/index-en.htm

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