Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union 2000"
Date: 2001-11-15
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: activity report, anti-discriminatory measure, gender equality

C 107/82

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

3.5.2002

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Report from the Commission to the Council,
the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions:
Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union 2000’

(2002/C 107/25)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for
Women and Men in the European Union 2000, COM(2001) 179 final;

having regard to the decision of the European Commission on 2 April 2001 to consult the CoR on this
subject in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European
Community;

having regard to the decision taken by its President on 2 May 2001 to instruct Commission 5 — Social
Policy, Public Health, Consumer Protection, Research and Tourism — to draw up the relevant opinion;

having regard to the Committee of the Regions Opinion ‘Equal Opportunities for women and men’ (CdR
161/96 fin) (1);

having regard to the Committee of the Regions ‘Resolution by the CoR to the Member States with regard
to proposals for future appointments in terms of equal opportunities’ (CdR 237/97 fin) (2);

having regard to the Committee of the Regions document ‘analysis of female participation in CoR work’
(CdR 242/97 fin);

having regard to the Committee of the Regions document ‘Guidance to rapporteurs on incorporating an
equalities impact analysis into CoR opinions’ (CdR 243/97 fin);

having regard to the Committee of the Regions brochure: ‘Equal Opportunities — contribution of the
CoR to the construction of Europe’, July 1998;

having regard to the Committee of the Regions Opinion ‘Towards a Community framework Strategy on
gender equality’ (2001-2005) (CdR 233/2000 fin) (3);

having regard to the Report from the Commission on the implementation of Council recommendation
96/694 of 2nd December 1996 on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making
process (COM(2000) 120 final);

having regard to the Commission Communication Work Programme for 2001 (COM(2001) 119 final);

having regard to the Commission staff working paper ‘Women and Science: the gender dimension as a
leverage for reforming science’ (SEC(2001) 771 final);

having regard to the Council Decision of 20 December 2000 establishing a programme relating to the
Community framework strategy on gender equality (2001-2005) (4);

having regard to the European Parliament resolution on equal opportunities (A5-0198/2000 of
5.10.2000);

having regard to the European Parliament resolution on balanced participation of women and men in the
decision-making process (R5-0034/2001 of 18.1.2001);

having regard to the European Parliament resolution on the Gender Equality Work Programme 2001
(A5-0224/2001 of 3.7.2001);

(1) OJ C 34, 3.12.1997, p. 39.
(2) OJ C 379, 15.12.1997, p. 65.
(3) OJ C 144, 16.5.2000, p. 47.
(4) OJ L 17, 19.1.2001, p. 22.

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C 107/83

having regard to the Council of Europe Recommendations of the Council of Ministers R(85)2 on legal
protection against sex discrimination, R(96)5 on reconciling work and family life, R(98)14 on gender
mainstreaming; Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1229 (1994) on equality
of rights between women and men, Recommendation 1269 (1995) on achieving real progress on
women’s rights, Recommendation 1413 (1999) on equal representation in political life;

having regard to the Draft Opinion (CdR 204/2001 rev.) adopted by Commission 5 on 10 September
2001 (rapporteur: Cllr Diane Bunyan (UK/PES) member of Bristol Unitary Authority);

whereas

— equal opportunity, including gender equality, is a political priority of the Committee of the Regions;

— there is an increasing problem of disengagement with local and regional politics, particularly in
relation to women and other groups that are under-represented, resulting in a shortage of candidates
from those groups putting themselves forward for selection;

— there is evidence from research that women and people from under-represented groups who do put
themselves forward face greater barriers to be selected to stand in ‘winnable’ seats or positions on
party lists; in the case of the CoR, members from under-represented groups are predominantly
alternates rather than full members in their own right;

— women make up half of the population and half of the electorate, but are under-represented in
policy-making and political decision-taking (defined by the Council of Europe as the decision-
making positions people are elected to through the democratic process, serving in local, regional,
national and European/supra-national spheres of governance, as well as holding ministerial and
other offices in the various spheres of governance and positions within political parties; it also
includes senior civil servants and chief executives);

— research indicates that the greatest difficulty women face in engaging in political

life is the
increasingly heavy workload of being an elected politician alongside demanding family and work
commitments;

— the proportion of women in local and regional political life is lamentably low and improving at an

unacceptable rate;

— the proportion of women in political life in the accession countries is a serious cause for concern

and must be addressed in the accession negotiations;

— the proportion of women in the labour market, whilst increasing, is focused in the lower salary
segments, or concentrated in certain categories of activity, or are more frequently in less secure
contractual arrangements (e.g. temporary work), in all respects exemplified by the CoR secretariat,

has adopted the following opinion at its 41st plenary session on 14 and 15 November 2001 (meeting of
15 November).

The Committee of the Regions

1.
reiterates its commitment to gender equality and combat-
ing all forms of discrimination, as reflected in its earlier
opinion on Article 13 of the Treaty (1);

2.
reiterates its earlier call for gender issues to be integrated
into the political work of the Committee of the Regions,
especially in the drafting of opinions and resolutions, consist-
ent with the concept of gender mainstreaming;

(1) CoR 513/1999 fin — OJ C 226, 8.8.2000, p. 1.

3.
welcomes the publication of Annual Reports and an
annual work programme as an essential tool for implementing
and monitoring the application of the Community Action
Programme, and for regularly raising the issue of gender
equality;

regrets the lack of detail in the European Commission

4.
work programme for 2001;

5.
considers that the balanced participation of women and
men in policy-making and decision-taking in local and regional
government is imperative as a matter of human rights, social
justice and the better functioning of a democratic society;

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3.5.2002

6.
is concerned at the lack of gender-balance in political life
in all spheres of governance, and calls for more detailed
monitoring and evaluation of positive action and positive
discrimination strategies, in order to enable local and regional
authorities and political parties to develop appropriate policies;

7.
recognises the work of the Council of European Munici-
palities & Region’s Committee of Women Elected Members in
the field of gender balance in decision-making;

11.
welcomes and concurs in European Parliament resol-
ution R5-0034/2001 on balanced participation of women and
men in the decision-making process where it calls on the
Member States to propose at the next IGC amendments to the
Treaty which promote gender balance in the EU institutions
and all decision-making bodies; the Committee of the Regions
considers that
this should be extended to other under-
represented groups, such as people with disabilities;

8.
calls for a greater effort to share experience and identify
best practice across the European continent in promoting
women’s participation in political life, with particular regard
to the situation in the accession countries. In this respect,
reiterates the proposal for a CoR comparative study on this
topic;

12.
regrets the current under-representation of women in
the membership of the Committee of the Regions, calls on the
national nominating bodies to ensure a better balance in the
next mandate, and calls on its political parties to ensure gender
balance in the appointment of office-holders at the beginning
of the third mandate in 2002;

requests an evaluation report on progress made in gender

9.
mainstreaming in the Structural Funds;

10.
welcomes the current debate on men and gender
equality, called for in its earlier Opinion, recognising that men
have both rights and obligations;

13.
welcomes the CoR action plan on equal opportunities
and calls for its full and speedy implementation and eventual
extension to other under-represented groups to ensure that
the secretariat reflects the diversity of the communities that it
serves.

Brussels, 15 November 2001.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT