CELEX: 51996PC0252
Language: en
Date: 1996-05-30
Title: Amended proposal for a COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION on the balanced participation of women and men in decision- making

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
it •&
                                          Brussels, 30.05.19%
                                          COM(96) 252 final
                                           95/0308 (CNS)
                       Amended proposal for a
                  COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION
                  on the balanced participation of
                women and men in decision-making
      (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a(2)
                          of the EC Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---  EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
 1.   The initial proposal for a Council Recommendation was adopted by the Commision
       on 29 November 1995 (COM(95) 593 final). Its aim is to encourage the Member
       States to examine the question of the balance between women and men in all areas
      of decision-making (economic, political, social and cultural), and to adopt a
      comprehensive and integrated strategy to achieve such a balance.
 2.   The Economic and Social Committee delivered favourable opinion on this initial
      proposal (24 April 1996)
3      At its plenary of May 24th, the European Parliament voted 36 amendments, of which
      8 are acceptable by the Commission in toto and 1 in part (2, 8, 10, 14, 19, 25, 26, 31,
      35): The accepted amendments strenghten and broaden the scope of the initial proposal
      in terms of:
      the importance of reconciling professional and family life,
      the close links between the decision-making process and women's participation in the
      labour market as well as main streaming.
      the need for public campaigns
      the monitoring and evaluation of targets
      the promotion of entrepreneur ship of women
4 The amendments which are not accepted can be seperated into three groups:
Those which:
      propose changes to the meaning of the text that do not appear to add anything useful
      (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 32)
      propose completely new concepts which are not yet developed sufficiently either by
      the Commission or the Member States (5, 9, 13, 28, 29, 33).
      refer to areas where Commission has the right of initiative (36) or propose activities
      for the Commission which fall outside its present competences (34).
The amended proposal takes into account those amendments which have been accepted by
the Commission.
 ---pagebreak---  COM (95) 593 final
 PROPOSAL FOR                                AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR
 A COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION ON                 A COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION ON
 THE BALANCED PARTICIPATION OF               THE BALANCED PARTICIPATION OF
 WOMEN AND MEN IN DECISION-                  WOMEN AND MEN IN DECISION-
MAKING                                       MAKING
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN
UNION,
having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Community, and in particular
Article 235 thereof,
having regard to the Commission's proposal,
having regard to the opinion of the
European Parliament,
having regard to the opinion of the
Economic and Social Committee,
having regard to the opinion of the
Committee of the Regions,
Whereas the Council has adopted a series
of legislative instruments and political
commitments in the field of equal treatment
and opportunities for men and women;
Whereas the Heads of State and
Government, meeting within the European
Council in Essen and Cannes, stressed that
equal opportunities for women and men and
the fight against unemployment were
paramount tasks of the European Union and
its Member States;
 ---pagebreak---  Whereas attention was focused on women's
 access to decision-making in the Council
 Recommendation of 13 December 1984 on
 the promotion of positive action for women,
 in the Council Resolution of 24 July 1986
 on the promotion of equal opportunities for
women and in the Council Resolution of
21 May 1991 on the Third Medium-Term
Community Action Programme on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men (1991-
 1995);
Whereas the Council Resolution of
27 March      1995     on the balanced
participation of women and men in
decision-making called on the Member
States to "promote the balanced
participation of men and women in
decision-making as a priority objective in
the context of their respective practices
regarding equal opportunities for women
and men and to adopt this objective as such
in their government's programmes" and,
moreover, called upon the Commission "to
draw up a draft recommendation to be
submitted to the Council aimed at
promoting the balanced participation of
women and men in decision-making";
Whereas the European Parliament in its
Resolution of 11 February 1994 "on women
in decision-making bodies" asked the
Commission "to step up implementation of
the equal opportunities policy ... to combat
individual obstacles which hinder women
from taking part in decision-making" and to
define "measures and actions to promote
greater participation of women in the
decision-making process";
 ---pagebreak---   Whereas the European Commission's Fourth
  Medium-Term         Community        Action
  Programme on Equal Opportunities for
  Women and Men (1996 to 2000), which has
  been submitted to the Council for decision,
  included promotion of the balanced
  participation of women and men in
 decision-making as one of its six main
 objectives;
 Whereas the Declaration and the Action
 Platform of the Fourth World Conference
 on Women stressed the need to ensure that
 responsibilities, powers and rights are
 shared equally, and that the Member States
 are fully involved in the implementation of
 the platform for action;
 Whereas the underrepresentation of women      Whereas the underrepresentation of women
 in decision-making bodies is largely a result in decision-making bodies is largely a result
 of the delay in women's attaining equal       of the delay in women's attaining equal
 rights and of obstacles to their gaining      rights and of obstacles to their gaining
 economic independence;                        economic independence; as well as of the
                                               difficulty of combining the pursuit of a
                                               career with family life:
Whereas women are still underrepresented
in such bodies - be they public or private,
political, administrative, economic, social or
cultural;
Whereas women account for over half the
population and balanced participation of
women and men in representation and
administration of nations is a requirement
for democracy;
Whereas the underrepresentation of women
in decision-making posts constitutes a loss
for society as a whole and does not allow
the interests and needs of the whole
population to be catered for in full;
 ---pagebreak---                                                (new)
                                               Whereas the aim of improving women's
                                               participation in the decision-making process
                                               cannot be divorced from employment policy
                                               given the disadvantage to women of
                                               continuing segregation in the labour market
                                               and the increasing casualization of female
                                               labour:
                                               (new)
                                               Whereas measures aimed at achieving equal
                                               participation of women and men in the
                                               decision-making process in all sectors must
                                               go hand in hand with the goal of
                                               mainstreaming a gender perspective into all
                                               Community policies:
Whereas a' balanced participation of men
and women in decision-making is likely to
give rise to different ideas, values and
behaviour which will result in more justice
and equality in the world for both men and
women;
Whereas the Member States, the social
partners, political parties and organisations,
NGOs and the media have a key role to
play in creating a society where public and
private, economic, political and domestic
responsibilities are shared equally by
women and men;
 ---pagebreak--- Whereas, in conformity with the principle       Whereas, in conformity with the principle
of subsidiarity and proportionality as set out  of subsidiarity and proportionality as set out
in Article 3B of the Treaty establishing the    in Article 3B of the Treaty establishing the
European Community, the aim of the              European Community, the aim of the
present Recommendation -the balanced            present Recommendation -the balanced
participation of women and men in               participation of women and men in
decision-making- can be pursued more            decision-making- can be pursued more
effectively by the exchange of information      effectively by the exchange of information
and examples of good practice within a          and examples of good practice within a
common framework for all Member States;         common framework for all Member States;
it is therefore appropriate to propose, at      it is therefore appropriate to propose, at
Community level, guidelines to promote a        Community level, guidelines to promote
balanced representation of women and men        balanced participation bv women and men
in decision-making bodies; whereas the          in decision-making bodies with a view to
present recommendation is limited to the        achieving equality between women and
minimum necessary to obtain this objective      men: whereas the present recommendation
and does not exceed what is necessary;          is limited to the minimum necessary to
                                                obtain this objective and does not exceed
                                                what is necessary;
Whereas the Treaty does not confer, for the
purpose of the adoption of this
Recommendation, any other powers that
those set out in article 235,
RECOMMENDS THAT THE MEMBER
STATES:
I.      Adopt a comprehensive and
        integrated strategy designed to
        promote balanced representation of
        women and men in places of power,
        influence and decision, and develop
        or introduce suitable legislative or
        regulatory measures or incentives to
        achieve this.
2.
a)      Highlight in school textbooks and
        curricula and in education and
        training at all levels the role and the
        contribution of women in society
        and stress the importance of sharing
        both     public       and      private
        responsibilities between women and
        men,
 ---pagebreak--- b) Take suitable steps so that the
    image of women and men in the
    media and advertising neither
    reinforces      nor    consolidates
    unjustified stereotyping of men's and
   women's responsibilities,
c) Devise, encourage and propagate         c) Devise, encourage and propagate
   public campaigns to alert public           public campaigns targeted at men
   opinion to the usefulness and              and women to raise awareness of
   advantages for society as a whole of       the usefulness and advantages for
   balanced participation by women            society as a whole of balanced
   and men in decision-making,                participation by women and men in
                                              decision-making, including among
                                              others campaigns run in conjunction
                                              with elections. Ensure proper
                                              evaluation of these campaings to
                                              guarantee their effectiveness:
d) Alert the social partners, political
   parties and groups, associations and
   NGOs and the media to the
   importance of a balance between
   women and men in decision-making
   bodies, and encourage them to
   develop equal opportunities plans
   with measures to ease access to
   decision-making for women.
3.
a) Develop or promote the production
   and publication of statistics
   illustrating how men and women are
   represented in decision-making
   circles in general and in political
   and administrative domains, public
   councils        and    committees,
   administrative and management
   boards at national, regional and
   local level and in the economy and
   social and cultural life in particular,
 ---pagebreak--- b) Support, develop and encourage
   quantitative and qualitative studies
   on women and men in decision-
   making and especially on the legal,
   social or cultural obstacles to
   decision-making for persons of
   either sex, on ideas and concepts
   which are likely to enhance the
   concept of a democratic partnership
   between women and men and on
   strategies to bring about equality in
   decision-making,
c) Support and encourage initiatives
   creating examples of good practice
   in the various areas of decision-
   making and develop programmes for
   the"dissemination and exchange of
   experience with a view to
   propagating such practice.
4.
a) Promote a better balance between
   women and men at all levels of
   government,
b) Introduce or pursue active measures,   b) Introduce or pursue active measures,
   such as mentorship activities and         such as mentorship activities and
   target figures, to promote a balance      target figures with timetables and
   between women and men in political        effective monitoring of these targets.
   representation at national, regional      to promote women's access to
   and local level, including advisory       political representation with a view
   bodies which contribute to public         to achieving equal representation of
   decision-making. Particular attention     women and men at national,
   should be paid to the promotion of        regional and local level, including
   a balanced         composition      in    advisory bodies which contribute to
   committees, commissions and               public decision-making, and ensure
   working groups at national as well        that all such measures are
   as European level.                        monitored,       documented       and
                                             evaluated. Particular attention should
                                             be paid to the promotion of a
                                             balanced composition in committees,
                                             commissions and working groups at
                                             national as well as European level.
 ---pagebreak---                                         4b(a)(new)
                                               Review the differential impact of
                                               electoral systems on the political
                                               representation of women in elected
                                               bodies and consider,           where
                                               appropriate, the adjustment or
                                               reform of these systems.
c) Implement or develop equal
   opportunities plans for the public
   sector incorporating the concept of
   balanced participation in decision-
   making,      and    ensure,   when
   recruitment competitions take place,
   that women and men are, as far as
   possible, represented equally in the
   committees       responsible     for
   preparing competitions and in the
   selection boards,
d) Encourage the private sector to
   increase the presence of women at
   all levels of decision-making,
   notably by the adoption, or within
   the framework, of equality plans or
   positive action programmes,
                                        4d(a)(new)
                                               Provide for programmes and
                                               measures to promote female
                                               entrepreneurship and give women
                                               greater access to the professions.
e) Encourage press, radio and
   television organisations to adopt
   measures to promote balanced
   participation by women and men in
   production, management and
   decision-making bodies,
 ---pagebreak---   AND THEREFORE CALLS ON THE
  COMMISSION:
   1.  to step up its efforts to provide
       information, alert public opinion,
       encourage research and promote
      pilot activities to achieve balanced
      participation by women and men in
      decision-making,
  2.  to encourage and organise, in
      conjunction with the Member States,
      systematic pooling of experience
      and assessment         of   policies
      implemented to achieve a balance
      between women and men in
      decision-making,
  3.  to submit a report to the Council,      to submit a report to the European
      within three years of adoption of       Parliament and the Council, within
      this Recommendation, on progress        three years of adoption of this
      achieved in implementing it on the      Recommendation, on progress
      basis of information provided by the    achieved in implementing it on the
      Member States.                          basis of information provided by the
                                              Member States.
                                           10
X
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                             COM(96) 252 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                        04 05
                                     Catalogue number : CB-CO-96-264-EN-C
                                                              ISBN 92-78-05191-8
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