Activities of Antigoni PAPADOPOULOU related to 2011/2295(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Equality between women and men in the European Union - 2011 - Women in political decision-making (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on women in political decision-making – quality and equality PDF (205 KB) DOC (111 KB)
Amendments (41)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12
Citation 12
– having regard to the rRecommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Rec (2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision making, adopted on 12 March 2003, and the results of the two rounds of monitoring of the progress made in the implementation of this Recommendation Rec (2003)3, based on a questionnaire on gender-segregated data on the participation of women & men in political and public decision-making, completed in 2005 and 2008 respectively,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 a (new)
Citation 12 a (new)
- having regard to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Resolution (PACE) 1079 (1996), on the increased representation of women in the PACE, the Recommendation 1413 (1999) on equal representation in political life, the Resolution 1348 (2003) on gender- balanced representation in the PACE, as well as the Recommendation 1665 (2004), on women's participation in elections, and the Resolution 303 (2010) on achieving sustainable gender equality in local and regional political life,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 b (new)
Citation 12 b (new)
- having regard to the Congress of local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Resolution 85 (1999), the Recommendation 68 (1999) on women's participation in political life in the regions of Europe and the Recommendation 111 (2002) on women's individual voting rights and democratic requirements,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 c (new)
Citation 12 c (new)
- having regard to the Declaration on Women's participation in elections adopted by the European Commission for Democracy through law ("Venice Commission"),
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 d (new)
Citation 12 d (new)
- having regard to Council of Europe, Directorate General of Human rights and Legal Affairs Gender budgeting practical implementation (Handbook, April 2009),
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas there is imbalanced participation between women and men in political and public decision-making and clear under- representation of women in elected and nominated political decision-making positions at the level of the European Union and in its Member States;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas the participation of women in political decision-making and the methods, strategies and cultural attitudes and tools to combat discrepancies vary greatly at national level within the EU and among its Member States, political parties and social partners;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
A b. (new) whereas women's representation in the European Parliament has increased to 35% but has not yet reached parity; whereas women are even more under-represented in leading positions in committees and political groups; whereas the representation of women in the European Commission is stagnating at one third, and the Commission has never been chaired by a woman;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas, according to statistics and despite the numerous actions undertaken, imparity prevails, and women's representation in political decision making has stagnated in recent years instead of displaying linear improvement, the gender balance in national parliaments across the EU remaining unchanged at 24 % women and 76 % men, with women accounting for only 23 % of ministers overall5 ;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas equal representation of women and men in political decision making is a matter of human rights and social justice and a necessary conditionvital requirement for the functioning of a democratic society;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas the European Elections to be held in 2014, followed by the appointment of the next European Commission and the nominations for the EU "Top Jobs", is a chance to move toward parity democracy at the EU level and for the EU to be a role model in this area;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe encourages: - reforms in the electoral systems to make them more favourable to women's representation; - gender-based anti-discrimination provisions in constitutions and electoral laws with the necessary exception allowing positive discrimination measures for the under-represented sex; - gender-sensitive civic education and elimination of gender stereotypes and "built-in" bias against women candidates, especially within political parties but also the media;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas owing to persisting gender stereotypes there is astill severe segregation as regards key political decision-making positions whereby women are even more under-represented in fields such as economic and monetary affairs, trade, defence, and foreign affairs, which distorts the power structure and resource allocation;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
F a. whereas political parties, who have the responsibility for selecting, ranking and nominating candidates for leading positions, do have a central role in guaranteeing the equal representation of women and men in politics and should therefore endorse good practices such as voluntary party quotas for elections, as they have already been introduced by some political parties in 13 EU Member States;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas comprehensive multifaceted strategies are needed, consisting in non- binding, enabling and legally binding measures, bearing in mind that legally binding measures measures such as targets and voluntary party quotas, enabling measures such as mentoring and awareness-raising and legally binding measures such as electoral gender quotas, bearing in mind that legally binding measures, which are compatible with the institutional and electoral system and which entail rank- order rules, monitoring and effective sanctions for non-compliance, have proved most effective;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas, it is of vital importance to change societal attitudes, cultural norms and misperceptions on the need for balanced decision-making through awareness-raising campaigns and gender education in order to achieve gender balance in politics;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas women's access to electoral campaign funding is often gender-biased; more restricted, owing to discrimination within political parties, women's exclusion from moneyed networks and their lower income and savings;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas procedures in electoral systems, political institutions and political parties play a decisive role and have a serious impact on the effectiveness of strategies applied and on the extent of gender balance achieved in politics;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas women's participation and leadership in political decision making is still affected by various obstacles such as the absence of enabling supportive environments in political institutions and in society's welfare structures, as well as by the persistence of stereotypthe persistence of gender-based stereotypes as well as the consequences of the recent economic crisis and its negative repercussions on gender equality issues;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
I a. whereas the uneven burden of sharing family responsibilities, between women and men, lies heavily on women's shoulders, thus creating obstacles for women as regards their full participation in politics;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
I b. whereas the fact that the low level of participation of women in decision- making and governance is mainly attributed to problems in reconciling work and family life, the unequal distribution of family responsibilities and the persisting discrimination at work and in occupational training;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Invites the Council, the Commission and the Member States to design and implement effective gender equality policies and multifaceted strategies for achieving parity in participation in political decision making and leadership in all their activities at all levels, especially in the areas of macro- economic policy, trade, labour, budgets, defence and foreign affairs, throughassessing the impact and making this available to the public by means of appropriate equality indices and indicators, ensuring quantified targets and deadlines, clear action plans and regular monitoring mechanisms followed up with legal, binding corrective measureactions where the set targets are not met by the deadlines;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Welcomes the legislated parity systems /gender quotas for elections introduced in France, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal and Poland; calls on the Member States with particularly low representation of women in political assemblies to consider introducing legislative measures to make progress toward parity and ensure the efficiency of these measures through zipper systems, monitoring and effective sanctions;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Invites, moreover, the Council, the Commission and the Member States to enforce parity at all levels by sending clear anti-discrimination messages, by providing appropriate resources, by using specific tools and by promoting necessary training for civil servants responsible for preparing budgets in gender budgeting;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to pay special attention to gender educational programmes aimed at civil society and young people in particular, starting from an early age, acknowledging that women's rights are human rights and parity is essential in political life;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission and Member States to launch a pledge wherebyto all political parties at European and national level will, to take measures to encourage women's active participation and involvement in political life and in elections, to achieve parity in their internal decision making, in their nominations for elected office and in party electoral lists, paying attention, where applicable,and to pay attention to the position of women candidates on these lists;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Acknowledges the role of political parties as key factors in the promotion ofng gender parity; calls in consequence for the Member States to require from national parties, where appropriate, to set quotas andto set and implement quota systems and other types of positive action; to apply rank-ordering rules to electoral candidate lists for national and EU elections,; and to define and enforce appropriate sanctions for non-compliance;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises the need for concrete steps designed to achieve parity in elected offices in the national parliaments and the European Parliament (such as the President, Vice-Presidents, Chairs and Vice-Chairs), for instance by setting a target of 50 % representation of men and women in those offices within three consecutive parliamentary terms;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the Commission's intention of encouraging participation of women in the next European Parliament elections through the financial programmes ‘'Fundamental Rights and Citizenship’' and ‘'Europe for Citizens’'; calls for the Commission to ensure in its relevant annual work programmes that enough funding is available in 2013 and-2014 for financing among others, appropriate awareness-raising campaigns in the media to encourage the election of women and to ensure that this funding is easily accessible byto national parties and to civil society organisations for theirproject initiatives aimed ato increaseing women's participation in decision making;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls on the Member States to link party funding to the finalisation of lists based on parity between the sexes;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Encourages the media to promote women's participation in the political process and the impact of gender parity programmes on reforming societal attitudes in addition to providing a fair and balanced coverage of male and female candidates during elections;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to support parity by proposing a woman and a man as their candidates for the office of European Commissioner; calls on the President of the Commission to aim at parity when forming the Commission; calls on the Commission to publicly support this procedure; recalls that the European Parliament could reject the President's proposal for the Commission if it is not gender-balanced;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Council to enhance gender parity, if necessary by using quotaby establishing and implementing quota systems and other types of positive actions, when recruiting high-level officials; calls on the national governments to nominate both women and men to high- level positions at EU level;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Member States to promote positive action measures, including binding legislative measures, with a view to ensuring parity in all governing bodies and public appointments and; to develop tools for gender monitoring of nominations and electio; to ensure fair media coverage of men and women candidates during elections: and to provide sufficient financing for gender- awareness campaigns;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to implement similar positive action measures throughout Europe when a gender is under- represented;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate women's networks and to promote mentoring, adequate training and exchange of good practices and programmes, with a special emphasis on women policy-makers in their early careers;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Council, Commission and Member States to enable women and men to take an active part in political decision making by promoting reconciliation and a balance between family life and working life by means of measures such as sharing the costs of parenthood equally between both parents' employers, and calls on the Commission to support equal access to services, minimum income and freedom from gender-based violence by appropriate legislative proposals in the form of directives;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Recalls the importance of preferential treatment and special measures in promoting the representation of peoplewomen of all ages, from different backgrounds and vulnerable groups, such as peoplewomen with disabilities, migrant women and members, single mothers and women of ethnic and sexual minorities, in decision-making positions;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Encourages the Member States and the Commission, including through the involvement of the EIGE where appropriate, to collect, analyse and disseminate data broken down by sex for the purpose of monitoring gender equality in decision making in all sectors (public and private) and at all hierarchical levels and as a basis for further measures if the set targets are not met; invites the Commission to continue to collect and disseminate comparable data at EU level through the use of its database on women and men in decision-making positions and to report regularly on the basis of common indicators;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that adequate financial and technical assistance is provided for special programmes focusing on enhancing women's participation in electoral processes through training, civic education and media mobilisation, in addition to funding general education programmes promoting gender-sensitive civic awareness, elimination of gender stereotypes and "built-in" bias against women;