The European Parliament recently released a draft report outlining a resolution on gender mainstreaming in the Parliamentary committees. The resolution calls for the Parliament to enforce gender mainstreaming by eliminating discrimination based on gender in public life and promoting the balance between men and women in public life. The report recognizes that women are different from men. But instead of those differences creating a competitive relationship, the report says that women and men complement each other in a way that helps everyone working in public life. While discrimination based on gender is prohibited by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), there is still an imbalance between the number of women and men in public life.
The resolution will work towards reducing the gender imbalance in European public life. This report on the resolution is the first of its kind in regard to gender mainstreaming in the Parliament.
To see the motion and explanatory statement, please go here.
To see the text of the ECHR, please go here.
Compiled from: "Draft Report on gender mainstreaming in the work of the committees," Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, European Parliament, 6 November 2006, accessed 17 November 2006.