Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the Implementation of gender mainstreaming in the Structural Funds programming documents 2000-2006"
Date: 2003-07-02
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Social Fund, European social policy, gender equality

24.10.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 256/41

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Communication from the Commission to the
Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions on the Implementation of gender mainstreaming in the Structural Funds programming
documents 2000-2006’

(2003/C 256/07)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the Implementation of gender mainstreaming in the
Structural Funds programming documents 2000-2006 (COM(2002) 748 final);

having regard to the decision of the European Commission of 20 December 2002 to consult it on this
subject, under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 14 May 2002 to instruct its Commission for Economic and
Social Policy to draw up an opinion on this subject;

having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 83/2003 rev.) adopted on 29 April 2003 by the Commission for
Economic and Social Policy (rapporteur: Ms Irene Oldfather, Member of the Scottish Parliament, (UK-
PES));

Whereas:

structural Funding as the main EU tool for re-distribution of resources in the European Union is crucial
in tackling social deprivation;

the fight against social exclusion needs to be strengthened in the Structural Funds’ programmes in order
to fight poverty in Europe. Specific focus should be given to women who constitute the majority of poor
people in Europe;

it is a democratic right that women and men have equal access to the Structural Funds’ resources,

adopted the following opinion unanimously at its 50th plenary session, of 2 and 3 July 2003 (meeting of
2 July).

1. The Committee of the Regions’ views

The Committee of the Regions

1.4.
believes that gender mainstreaming should be seen as
fundamental to eliminating social deprivation in Europe, as it
enables the many remaining pockets of discrimination against
women to be pinpointed more easily.

1.1.
welcomes the communication from the commission,
which gives a comprehensive inventory of progress of the
implementation of gender mainstreaming in the Structural
Funds, and supports the recommendations;

2. The Committee of the Regions’ recommendations

The Committee of the Regions

welcomes the opportunity that Structural Funding
1.2.
Programmes gives local and regional government in promoting
gender equality in the European Union;

2.1.
calls for the important role that local and regional
government play in the implementation of Structural Funding
to be acknowledged; particularly in developing ways to share
good practice that is timely, practical and accessible;

1.3.
shares the commission’s concerns about the balanced
participation of men and women in all the decision-making
bodies relating to the Structural Funds, and believes that
without equal participation in planning, decision-making and
evaluation, women’s access to the Structural Funds’ resources
cannot be ensured;

2.2.
calls for the active and committed support of leaders
nationally and locally to gender mainstreaming because with-
out the use of the sanctions gender mainstreaming will not
succeed;

C 256/42

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.10.2003

2.3.
proposes that more fundamental measures need to be
consistently applied and expertise grown in gender main-
streaming and high quality and continuous awareness training
provided for those who might have a direct or indirect
influence over
the effectiveness of any implementation
strategy;

calls for adequate resources to be made available to
2.4.
support gender mainstreaming and the range of capacity
building that is required;

2.5.
calls for capacity building and support for organis-
ations representing gender perspectives and asks that more
information on taping into the Structural Funds is provided to
smaller organisations working with women and that local and
regional government have a role in supporting this process;

recommends

2.6.
that Structural Funding programmes
should specifically demonstrate their contribution to the
achievements of the objectives in the European Employment
Strategy, in particular the Lisbon EC target to increase the
current female employment rate to 60 % by 2010, and also
those set at Barcelona to provide childcare to at least 90 % of
children between three years and school age, and at least 33 %
of children younger than three;

shares the commission’s concern about current pro-
2.7.
grammes reinforcing gender stereotypes and asks that further
work is commissioned in this area under 2004 Action Plan
which focuses on gender stereotyping;

2.8.
calls for a review of Objective 1 and 2 programmes
in order to strengthen the gender-equality scope of these
interventions;

Brussels, 2 July 2003.

asks that Gender Impact Assessments are developed

2.9.
and made compulsory for all three objectives;

2.10.
rejects the notion that spatial planning issues e.g.
infrastructure investment, is gender neutral and therefore calls
for the ex ante assessments that are required in the regulations
(Article 41 §2c) to be comprehensively applied;

2.11.
calls for use to be made of gender budgeting to shape
budgets so that they are actively promoting gender equality,
starting with the EU budget;

advocates that gender specific programmes are more
2.12.
robustly developed in order to deliver gender mainstreaming
in the Structural Funds;

believes that there needs to be an increased involve-
2.13.
ment of people who are aware of gender and equalities’
issues, women NGOs and gender experts, at all stages of
programming,
implementation and monitoring; this must
involve partnership with local and regional governments who
have the contacts to support this;

calls for all monitoring and statistical surveys, conduc-
2.14.
ted at European level or by Member States, to give a gender
breakdown of data, so that it is easier to ascertain and assess
whether or not there has been any real progress in equality.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Albert BORE