SARAJEVO, MARCH 8 (ONASA) – On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the European Commission and the High Representative/Vice President made the following statement:
The number of women in politics still does not even come close to representing the diversity of our societies. The share of female deputies in unicameral parliaments or lower houses of parliaments is on average 33% in EU member states and 26.5% in the world. We need to work harder to inspire women and encourage them to get involved in politics.
The year 2024 is a historic election year. In different parts of the world, more than 4 billion people will have the right to vote, and among them are more than 400 million EU citizens who will vote in the European Parliament elections in June. On International Women’s Day, we pay tribute to the brave European suffragettes, who fought for the right to vote when only men had it, but also to all women who participate in shaping a fairer and more equal society, in all their diversity.
In many parts of the world, women unfortunately still cannot participate in public life, and in some areas they are completely excluded from decision-making and public space. In all societies, women continue to face discrimination and violence on and off the Internet, especially politicians, journalists and activists, and above all human rights defenders.
In this election year, we encourage all women, including young women, to vote regardless of where they are, to stand up for their place in society and to participate in political life.
Context
The global theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is “Enhancing Inclusion”, which is in line with this year’s United Nations theme “Investing in Women: Accelerating Progress”. It is very important that women participate proportionately in society, including in decision-making positions.
Vice-President Jourová opened the Commission’s high-level event entitled “Women in Public Life” in Brussels on 6 March 2024, before the European Parliament elections. It featured panels on the difficulties faced by women in politics, journalism and civil society, and discussed why women leave public positions. Concrete solutions were sought, including greater involvement of media platforms, regulatory bodies and political parties.
Women are still underrepresented in politics. Only six member states achieved gender balance in 2023 and had more than 40% women among their parliamentary representatives, and seven member states had less than 25% female representatives. The European Parliament, with 40% women and 60% men, has almost achieved balance, but in January 2024, women were at the head of only five of the 27 member states. Worldwide, women hold only 26.7% of representative positions, 35.5% of positions in local administrations and only 28.2% of managerial positions in companies. If we continue like this, the share of women in management positions will be only 30% by 2050. The Commission will help Member States to develop and implement more effective strategies to increase the number of women in decision-making positions, such as the introduction of gender-balanced electoral lists to enact better policies and erase discriminatory and sexist cultures, and to strengthen democracies that more successfully address various social issues.
Today, the Commission also published the Report on Gender Equality in the EU for 2024, which provides an overview of progress in the implementation of the Strategy for Gender Equality 2020 – 2025. Most of the measures from that strategy have already been implemented. The first Commission headed by a woman and whose College of Commissioners is gender-balanced and the first female Commissioner for Equality succeeded in making gender equality one of the priorities of the EU agenda. The Commission significantly increased the gender balance in management positions: on March 1, 2024, 48.5% of management positions were held by women.
The latest progress is the political agreement reached on February 6, 2024 between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission’s proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. It is the first comprehensive legal instrument at the EU level to combat violence against women, which is still far too widespread. The directive criminalises certain forms of violence against women throughout the EU, online and offline. Female genital mutilation and forced marriage per se will be criminalized, as will the most widespread forms of online violence, including the sharing of intimate images without consent (including plausibly fake content), online stalking, online harassment, misogynistic hate speech and unwanted intimate displays. content on the Internet (so-called “cyber-flashing”). The directive also introduces extensive measures for victim protection and access to justice and assistance, such as shelters, crisis centers for rape victims and helplines. These measures will help victims of all forms of violence against women who are criminalized at the national level.
In the last four years, there have been several important legislative milestones in the promotion of gender equality. In March 2021, just one year after the adoption of the Gender Equality Strategy, the Commission presented a proposal for a directive on strengthening the principle of equal pay with the help of pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms. The political agreement on the pay transparency directive was reached in record time, in December 2022, and was adopted in May 2023. The new rules on transparency and remedies will enable the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, enshrined in the Treaty from 1957, finally began to apply.
From August 2022, new rights for parents and guardians at the EU level to achieve a balance between work and private life began to apply. In September 2022, the Commission proposed a European strategy for care and new goals in the field of early and preschool education in order to increase the participation of women in the labor market.
In November 2022, ten years after the adoption of the proposal of the European Commission, the Directive on gender balance in the management boards of companies was adopted, which will help to remove obstacles for women’s career advancement.
On March 8, 2023, the Commission launched the #EndGenderStereotypes campaign, which lasted all of last year. She encourages citizens to recognize and deconstruct gender stereotypes in the workplace, when sharing responsibility for care and when making decisions.
In October 2023, the Commission became a signatory to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). The EU must therefore comply with ambitious and comprehensive standards for preventing and combating violence against women in the areas of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, asylum and non-refoulement and public administration. This includes funding, policies and legislative measures.
In autumn 2023, the Commission established an EU network to prevent gender-based violence and domestic violence. It is a place where member states and stakeholders can discuss approaches to violence prevention and share knowledge and successful practices.
In 2024, the commission will issue a recommendation on preventing and combating harmful customary practices against women and girls. It will establish measures that member states could take on the ground to combat such practices, such as female genital mutilation, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and early and forced marriage.
For years, the Commission has been funding projects and organizations for the promotion of gender equality and the fight against gender-based violence within the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values program. It is expected that gender equality and non-discrimination will be taken into account when designing all projects financed under this program. Two calls for proposals are currently open for the prevention of gender-based violence and support for victims, as well as the elimination of the causes of gender-based differences in care and the implementation of the Wage Transparency Directive, within which up to 35 million euros are allocated.
Progress was also made in the EU’s external action. Promoting the equal participation and leadership of women is one of the priorities of the Gender Equality Action Plan (GAP) III for the EU’s external action. Helping young women to participate more intensively and take the lead in making policies and decisions is another priority of the first action plan for youth in the EU’s external action. One of the leading initiatives, “Women and young people in democracy”, deals with strengthening rights, strengthening the position and participation of young people and women as key actors in development and changes, in public and political life. Within the framework of the Commission for the Status of Women in New York, the component of women’s political participation worth 11.5 million euros will be activated on March 14.
In November 2023, the Commission and the High Representative published a joint report midway through the implementation period of the EU action plan for gender equality, the main theme of which is the results of the EU’s external action for gender equality and strengthening the position of women and girls. Since the adoption of GAP III three years ago, important new global, regional and national EU initiatives and programs have been launched, including several Team Europe initiatives to empower women and girls in areas ranging from sexual and reproductive health and rights to equal access to quality education and access to financing for young entrepreneurs.
In 2021, the EU confirmed its commitment to the implementation of the plan within the call to action for protection against gender-based violence in crisis situations for the period 2021-2025, launched in 2013. It is a global initiative for structural changes in the humanitarian system to solve the problem gender-based violence.