Activites

• 2001/06/22 Final act published in Official Journal
• 2000/10/05 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T5-0441/2000 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution equal opportunities for men and women drafted by Lone DYBKYAER (ELDR, Denmark). Parliament requested the Commission to undertake a major study into the position of women in the EU, including the applicant countries, and into the results of 25 years of European policy and assess the actual status of women in the Union. The educational level of women should be investigated, with particular reference to their chances to participate with men on an equal level in working life and in the political decision-making process. Any type of aid, funding, or benefit granted by the Union must be subject to the requirement to observe the principle of equal pay.�

• 2000/07/10 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0198/2000
• 1999/09/13 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1999/03/05 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1999)0106 summary

    PURPOSE : to present an Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union (1998). CONTENT : this third Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union presents the developments and achievements in 1998 and flags up the issues which will be important in 1999 and as the new century approaches. Concerning mainstreaming in the Treaty, the Treaty of Amsterdam specifically identifies the elimination of inequality between women and men and the promotion of equality in all the EU's activities as among its fundamental aims. The Treaty thus formalises the concept of mainstreaming equal opportunities in all other policy areas. This report tracks the growing importance of mainstreaming as a political instrument. Likewise, employment is the top priority of the European Union and particularly affects women. The Luxembourg Jobs Summit committed the 15 Member States to a co-ordinated policy for employment and identified a gender gap of 25 million jobs - 25 million fewer women than men employed - in the Member States as one of the main problems. This report examines in detail the implications of two of the main conclusions of the Vienna Summit in 1998 that "employment is the top priority of the European Union" and that equal opportunities for women and men are a vital component of the whole employment strategy. The conclusion of this chapter is that equal opportunities and employment are now inextricably linked; equal opportunities is now both a matter of social justice and of good economics. In the next ten years, Europe's working age population will begin to shrink in terms of numbers. Employment growth, so vital to our long term economic success, will depend, even more than in the past, on the increased participation of women in the labour market. The Member States must create the conditions that will enable the European economy and the European workplace to benefit fully from the creativity, talents and skills of women and to enable both men and women to have greater balance in their working and family lives. As for mainstreaming in other policy fields, the report examines the significant progress made in 1998 on equality in a number of different and varied policy areas, such as, development co-operation, youth education and training, the 5th framework programme on research and development. Special mention in this regard is made to the proposed reform of the Structural Funds, with its emphasis on the dual strategy: specific action and mainstreaming. Concerning the balanced participation in decision making, the report observes that under-representation of women in decision making can be seen as undermining the practical impact of mainstreaming in that it militates against the integration of women's needs and interests across the full spectrum of political, social, cultural and economic life. The Member States must deepen this strategy on the national level. It should be emphasised that, at the European institutional level, efforts have been made to increase the women's representation in the Commission in particular. Lastly, the process towards enlargement of the Union is one of the its greatest challenges in the near future. In the light of this, the 1998 report devotes, for the first time, a fullsection to the issue of equal opportunities between women and men in the candidate countries. As for equal opportunities policies in 1999, it can be said that 1998 can be seen as a year of consolidation, of reflection and of forward planning. The report concludes that the dual strategy for equality - combining mainstreaming in all policy areas with the activity that focuses specifically on women - produced tangible results over the course of the year. 1999 promises results which are even more telling. We can expect the ratification of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the adoption of new regulations for the Structural Funds, the deepening of the Luxembourg process and the European Council's plans for a European Employment Pact, the preparations for the review of Beijing Platform of Action in the year 2000. Events in 1999 should bring yet more change to the architecture of the Union's equality policies.�

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1999)0106
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A5-0198/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0441/2000

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)