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THE WORK OF THE
COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Introduction
The Committee on
Women's Rights has resulted from a long evolutionary process going back
to the creation of an ad hoc committee in 1979. The very limited remit
it had at the outset, to analyse the situation of women within the
European Community, contrasts with the role it currently plays in
promoting women's rights and equal opportunities.
This document aims
to give a brief survey of its development and assess its impact and its
work during the 1994-1999 parliamentary term. During this period, the
Committee on Women's Rights adopted many reports, gave its opinion on a
wide range of topics, held hearings on issues which were sometimes
controversial such as affirmative action or matters of concern such as
trafficking in women. It sent delegations to many countries. During the
same period members of the Committee on Women's Rights were very much
involved in negotiations on the Amsterdam Treaty.
The Committee on
Women's Rights has thus become a kind of mirror reflecting the main
questions confronting women in a changing Europe. In this context it
endeavours to find a place on the agenda for issues which have not yet
been taken up by the Commission or the Council. I. 1979-1994: CREATION AND ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
The first direct
elections to the European Parliament were held in June 1979. At that
time Parliament was chaired by a woman, Mrs Simone Veil. There were 67
women in that new Parliament, not many in comparison with the
approximately 170 women in the current Parliament. Nevertheless, those
women were responsible in October 1979 for setting up an ad hoc
committee to analyse the situation of women in the European Community.
This committee was
chaired by Mrs Yvette Roudy and worked for 14 months preparing a major
debate which led to the adoption of a resolution on 'the position of
women in the European Community' (1).
In this document of 11 February 1981, the ad hoc committee presented an
exhaustive list of points concerning the specific problems and
discrimination experienced by women, which were exacerbated by the
economic crisis at the time.
In principle the
resolution meant the end of the committee's mandate, although it made
provision for it to be reconstituted after two years to assess changes
in the interim. However, in June 1981 Parliament set up a committee of
inquiry to review the extent to which the objectives set by the 1981
resolution were being achieved and to monitor developments in the
situation of women in all the countries of the European Community, as
otherwise the aspirations expressed in the resolution risked being
forgotten.
It was not until
1984 that the Committee on Women's Rights was set up permanently. After
two and a half years of work, the Committee of Inquiry submitted a
report and a motion for a resolution, adopted on 17 January 1984
(2)
in which Parliament proposed setting up a permanent committee after the
June 1984 elections, in order to preserve the acquis communautaire and
promote equal opportunities between women and men. The 116 articles of
this resolution provide a guide to a policy on women.
In July 1984 the
newly-elected Parliament decided at its constitutive meeting to set up a
permanent committee on women's rights. The committee at that time had 25
members (30 after Spain and Portugal joined), and its objective was to
monitor the application of the directives which were in force in the
area of equal opportunities and also to consider issues such as
education, employment, vocational training, new technologies or migrant
women. In future it was to draw up reports on various topics, meet every
month and regularly organise hearings and debates on all topical
subjects concerning women.
The fact that the
members and substitutes of the Committee on Women's Rights are also
members of other committees has allowed the Committee as such to table
amendments to other committees' motions for resolutions when they were
relevant to equality between men and women.
The Commission of
the European Communities, taking Parliament's resolutions into
consideration, has implemented from the 1980s onwards specific action
programmes to promote equal opportunities between women and men. At the
time when it proposed the first Community action programme to promote
equal opportunities for women (1981-1985) (3)
discrimination still existed despite Article 119 of the EEC Treaty on
equal pay and various directives on equal pay (4),
equal treatment in employment (5)
and equal treatment in social security (6).
At present the fourth medium term Community action programme on equal
opportunities for women and men (1996 to 2000) is in force (7).
This legal
instrument has been complemented by directives on equal treatment for
self-employed workers (8)
and on the safety and health of women who are pregnant, have recently
given birth or are breastfeeding (9).
At the political level, equality between women and men has become, if
not a permanent concern, at least a recurrent theme in politicians'
speeches. At Community level the 1994 Essen European summit on
employment policy recognised that promoting equality between women and
men, together with combating unemployment, was a priority task for the
EU. II. 1994-1999: SUMMARY OF THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
The amount of
legislation on equality between women and men has increased during this
parliamentary term. The Committee on Women's Rights has drawn up
numerous reports which led to resolutions adopted by Parliament. New
directives were also adopted during this period, on which the Committee
on Women's Rights gave its opinion; for example on the directive on
reversing the burden of proof in cases of sex-based discrimination
(10).
There have also been directives on matters such as parental leave (1)
and part-time working (11).
During this third
parliamentary term since it was set up, the Committee on Women's Rights
has drawn up numerous reports, ten of them on its own initiative when,
pursuant to Rule 148 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure, the Committee
on Women's Rights decided 'to draw up a report and to submit a
motion for a resolution to Parliament on a subject within its
competence'. To this end, it had to 'request prior
authorisation from the Conference of Presidents'.
There is another
category of own-initiative reports adopted on the basis of Rule 50 of
Parliament's Rules of Procedure in conjunction with Article 192 of the
Amsterdam Treaty (former Article 138B of the EC Treaty). Under this Rule
50, 'Parliament may request the Commission to submit to it any
appropriate legislative proposal ... by adopting a resolution on the
basis of an own-initiative report from the committee responsible and
authorised pursuant to Rule 148'. Article 138B of the EC Treaty
states 'In so far as provided in this Treaty, the European
Parliament shall participate in the process leading up to the adoption
of Community acts ... Parliament may ... request the Commission to
submit any appropriate proposal on matters on which it considers that a
Community act is required for the purpose of implementing this Treaty'.
The Committee on
Women's Rights has also carried out remarkable work during the
negotiations leading to modifications to the Maastricht Treaty. Many of
Parliament's concerns were taken into account, and promoting equality
between men and women is now one of the tasks of the European Union.
The main activity
of the Committee on Women's Rights during this parliamentary term was
based on incorporating equal opportunities between women and men into
all Community actions and policies (mainstreaming). Mainstreaming is
enshrined in Article 3 of the Amsterdam Treaty; Article 3(2) states 'in
all the activities referred to in this article, the Community shall aim
to eliminate inequalities, and to promote equality, between men and
women'. Mainstreaming as a priority Community activity represents
incalculable progress, the effects of which will only be measurable
during the next parliamentary term.
The mainstreaming
strategy must be combined with more specific measures and here it is a
matter of ' positive action to promote women where they are
particularly disadvantaged' (13).
The text adopted in Amsterdam also refers to measures providing for specific
advantages for women, which has been viewed in some quarters as
discriminatory. Article 141(4) of the Amsterdam Treaty states 'the
principle of equal treatment shall not prevent any Member State from
maintaining or adopting measures providing for specific advantages in
order to make it easier for the under-represented sex to pursue a
vocational activity or to prevent or compensate for disadvantages in
professional careers'. Article 6 of the Agreement on Social Policy,
incorporated in the consolidated Treaty, refers to 'specific
advantages in order to make it easier for women to pursue a vocational
activity'.
Two judgments by
the Court of Justice of the European Communities have provoked much
discussion, the Kalanke (1995) and Marschall (1997)
judgments, and the Committee on Women's Rights held several hearings on
this subject. The judgment of 17 October 1995 in the Kalanke case
revealed that there was a lack of legal clarity on equal opportunities
issues, as it stated that a policy of positive action with regard to
recruitment and promotion contravened Article 2(4) of Directive 76/207
on equal treatment, which provides for the possibility of 'measures
to promote equal opportunity for men and women, in particular by
removing existing inequalities which affect women's opportunities'
in the area of access to employment, including promotion and vocational
training. On 11 November 1997 the Court judged in the Marschall
case that the directive in question allows Member States to adopt
measures which, by giving special advantages to women, aim to improve
their ability to compete on the job market and to pursue a career on an
equal footing with men. Thus, Member States are allowed to apply a
national rule under which women with the same qualifications as a male
applicant may be given preference for promotion in areas where they are
under-represented, if this rule is likely to reduce actual, existing
inequalities.
The Committee on
Women's Rights has also been mobilised on several fronts to urge the EU
to commit itself to specific measures and incorporate the 'gender
perspective' into all policies. It has organised hearings on this topic,
to review the circumstances of a particular situation or to monitor
policy implementation in the Member States, particularly concerning
combating violence against women and children and trafficking in women,
as evidenced by the number of resolutions adopted on this topic and the
written declaration on violence, signed by 350 Members of Parliament.
The EU attended the Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 which
recognised that women's rights were an integral and indivisible part of
all human rights and fundamental freedoms. This is symptomatic of the
EU's willingness to include the women's rights issue as a fundamental
factor in its relations with third countries. The Lomé Convention
currently contains several clauses relating to equality between women
and men. The opinions of the Committee on Women's Rights on reports by
the Committee on Development and Cooperation have played an important
part in incorporating the gender perspective into development
cooperation policy.
Parliament in
general (14)
and its Committee on Women's Rights in particular, have expressed
satisfaction with Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty (former Article
6a). This provides that the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal
from the Commission and after consulting Parliament, may take
appropriate action 'to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or
ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual
orientation'.
The Committee on
Women's Rights stressed that discrimination was particularly prevalent
on the job market and that labour policy should take account of the
difficulties faced by women. The Amsterdam Treaty has responded to these
concerns as it includes a new title which incorporates the women's
perspective (Title VIII - Articles 125 to 130).
At the
extraordinary European Council on employment held in Luxembourg on 20
and 21 November 1997, the Member States agreed on the guidelines
for national employment policies, and these commitments led to the
national employment plans submitted to the European Employment Council
in Cardiff in June 1998. Part of the employment strategy was devoted to
measures which the Member States should implement to promote equality
between men and women. The Vienna Summit of 11 and 12 December 1998
called for stronger national action plans and an employment pact to be
submitted to the summits during the German Presidency. In 1999,
mainstreaming must be included in the employment guidelines to the
extent that a horizontal policy of equality between men and women must
be applied to all four other chapters (15).
III. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTIONS ON THE BASIS OF REPORTS BY THE
COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Parliament
evaluates the three previous equal opportunities action programmes. In
the light of the objectives set out by the Commission in its White Paper
on European social policy - a way forward for the Union
(16)
(need to combine paid and unpaid work, to end segregation on the labour
market and bring more women into the decision-making process), it lays
the foundations of the fourth medium-term action programme 1996-2000.
This should be implemented by a binding procedure and provided with
sufficient financial means, with precise evaluation criteria. Parliament
welcomes the idea put forward by the Commission of an annual report on
equality between women and men and stresses the need for information and
awareness campaigns at national level with regard to the acquis
communautaire and its implementation.
With a view to EU
participation in the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
held in Beijing in September 1995, Parliament, aware of the future
importance of this event, states that the rights of women and children
are an integral part of universal human rights. It also draws attention
to the various forms of discrimination and violence suffered by women
throughout the world. As the World Conference took place in China, a
country where a coercive policy is in force against women wishing to
have more than one child, Parliament took the opportunity to emphasise
respect for human rights, the situation of women from minority groups,
particularly from Taiwan and Tibet, and the importance of a strong NGO
participation in the conference. Parliament also highlights the problems
of poverty, the situation of women's health in the world and women's
participation in the development process and advocates information and
training campaigns, particularly with regard to trafficking in women and
girls, the situation of women in armed conflicts and rape.
Parliament is in
favour of the Commission proposal but includes amendments aiming to
achieve better monitoring of the implementation of equal opportunities
directives and the preparation of new directives on atypical working,
reversal of the burden of proof and combining work with family life. It
proposes that the principle of equal treatment and opportunities be
included in the Treaty so that positive measures can be taken in the
area of economic, political, social and cultural rights with the aim of
achieving parity between men and women.
Parliament
welcomes the Commission memorandum on equal pay for work of equal value
as a specific strategy instrument and calls on the Commission to submit
a proposal for a directive to put in place positive measures to
eliminate discrimination against women and as a matter of priority to
evaluate the effect on equal pay of all its proposals in relation to the
job market. It also calls on the Member States, the Commission and both
sides of industry systematically and transparently to gather information
on pay and on segregation in the world of work in order to ascertain in
what way pay is discriminatory. Parliament also calls on the
Intergovernmental Conference to propose a new, more precise, wording of
Article 119 of the EC Treaty with regard to equal pay for work of equal
value, in line with the Court of Justice Case Law referred to in the
Commission memorandum.
Parliament
welcomes the proposal for a recommendation, subject to various
amendments concerning in particular monitoring the effects of various
types of voting system on the political representation of women on
elected bodies, equal participation by women and men in access to and
exercise of judicial functions at local, regional and European level and
the appointment of equal opportunities ombudsmen in particular to
monitor implementation of equal opportunities legislation, to whom women
could apply for information about their rights.
The Commission
adopted a modified proposal on 30 May 1996 (COM(96)0252).
The Conference on
Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994 resulted in an action
programme where women play a central role, both in population
development and in effective demographic stabilisation. Parliament in
its resolution maintains that improving the status of women and their
participation in economic, social and cultural life are among the
essential preconditions for the success of any demographic or
development policy. It also highlights some objectives of the Cairo
programme, particularly universal access to family planning services
before 2000. Lack of information is the reason why female sterilisation
is still the most widely used birth control method. Parliament calls on
the EU and its Member States to promote cofinancing of development
programmes which take account of the differences between men and women,
while promoting the creation of networks and exchanges between NGOs,
governments and the people concerned. It calls on the Commission to
evaluate the effect of development programmes on demography, in
particular with regard to women's health and education.
Parliament
welcomes the Commission proposal, subject to some amendments aiming in
particular to extend the directive's field of application to contracts
for atypical work (including contracts for part-time employment).
The Commission
adopted an amended proposal on 19 November 1996, incorporating the
amendments to include part-time workers in the directive's field of
application (OJ C 379, 14.12.1996 and COM(96)605).
Parliament hopes
that the work of the Intergovernmental Conference will lead to a new
legal basis for equal opportunities in the Treaty and that positive
action will be defined so that it can be included in the amended
Directive 76/207/EEC. It calls on the EU Member States to give priority,
in recruitment or promotion procedures, to candidates of the
under-represented sex in the service where the post is vacant, to
encourage more women to work for public bodies, to evaluate progress and
to provide more opportunity for both sexes to combine work with family
responsibilities. Parliament calls on the Commission to propose
provisions encouraging the Member States to adopt equal opportunities
measures in the public sector. It also calls on all the Community
Institutions to eliminate any form of indirect discrimination against
women in selection procedures and to encourage their access to
responsible positions.
Parliament
deplores the fact that Directive 86/613/EEC
(18)
had not really made it possible to improve the situation of the spouses
of self-employed workers with regard to work or adequate social security
cover, and hopes that the Commission will draw up an amended and more
binding directive which would also apply to unmarried people assisting
their partner. It calls for the proposal to provide for compulsory
registration of 'spouses' to give them a legal position in social law
and social security cover as well as the right to some benefits, to give
them access to vocational training and the right to represent their
company. Parliament also stresses the need to adopt a flexible formula
to avoid excessive costs for small family businesses.
Parliament is in
favour of the Commission proposal, subject to some amendments aiming to
define indirect discrimination more precisely, to extend the directive's
field of application, particularly with regard to parental leave and
social security cover, to include a reference to positive measures and
to oblige the Member States to inform the Commission, from 1 January
2002 and every three years, on progress made in implementing the
directive.
Parliament
retables some of its previous amendments and emphasises procedural
aspects, particularly the parties' access to relevant information held
by the opposing party, except for information relating to private life.
The Commission
submitted a revised proposal (COM(97)0624), and the Council adopted a
directive (97/80/EC) on 15 December 1997 on the burden of proof in cases
of discrimination based on sex (OJ L 14, 20.1.1998, p. 6).
Noting that
violence against women is a persistent and widespread phenomenon
throughout society and deploring the fact that it is still too often
tolerated, being considered essentially a private matter, Parliament
calls on the Commission and the United Nations' member states to convert
the Beijing Declaration into a binding convention and to criminalise
acts of violence against women. It also calls on the EU Member States to
introduce specific legislation to protect victims of sexual violence and
to draw up specific provisions against sexual harassment.
Parliament
suggests organising special training for judges presiding over this type
of case, combating pornography in particular via the Internet, including
rehabilitation projects for victims in programmes to combat trafficking
in women and promoting research into the costs of violence by men
against women. It hopes that 1999 will be designated the European Year
Against Violence Against Women and that respect for women's rights will
be included in all agreements with third countries.
Parliament regards
the Commission communication on mainstreaming as a step forward in equal
opportunities policy. It proposes setting up an interinstitutional
working party to ensure that the objective of equality is constantly
borne in mind in all Community activities and calls on the Commission to
implement information campaigns leading to equal opportunities and
rights in all the Community's policies and actions.
Parliament
considers that the Commission annual report is not sufficiently
analytical and neglects priority areas such as violence against women,
women's health and the environment. It calls for the report to be more
specific (for example by including a title on mainstreaming and positive
action for women), for lines of action to be defined for the following
year, for greater focus on developments and a glossary of terminology
used in the equal opportunities context. Parliament also proposes
measures to enable working life and family responsibilities to be
combined effectively.
Noting that Member
States' and European legislation to protect women against degrading
images in the media is inadequate, Parliament calls for legislation to
prohibit all forms of pornography in the media and advertising, and a
ban on advertising for pornographic products and sex tourism. It
proposes setting up a committee on ethics which would draw up a code of
conduct.
Parliament
stresses its concern that trafficking in women is increasing, for
various reasons: women's vulnerability, poverty and marginalisation in
their countries of origin; the large profits which this traffic can
generate and low risks run by traffickers; the demand in Europe for
women for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. In order
to combat this problem, Parliament proposes information campaigns
covering the EU and third countries and addressed to women in general,
and establishing a system of assistance to victims of trafficking to
prevent them being socially excluded. Parliament regards this form of
traffic as a violation of the fundamental rights of women, which cannot
be viewed exclusively in terms of the fight against organised crime or
illegal immigration. It calls on the Member States to implement the
joint action adopted by the EU, and the international commitments
derived from it, in particular from the Ministerial Conference on
trafficking in human beings held at The Hague from 24 to 26 April 1997.
Parliament points
out that the social economy covers the economic activities of
enterprises, cooperatives, mutual societies and non-profit-making
organisations. This 'third sector' is growing fast.
Cooperatives,
mutual societies, associations and foundations (CMAFs) combine economic
goals with social provision, encouraging growth based on employment,
fairness and equality. This sector of the social economy therefore
should have a beneficial impact on women's employment; it offers a very
wide range of jobs. Parliament calls for an assessment of the
contribution made by the social economy to combating unemployment and to
raising women's skill levels. It calls for the social economy to be
taken into account in measures concerning SMEs. Parliament highlights a
problem: the existing legal provisions do not fit in with these new
forms of enterprises and Parliament considers that this could mean that
their development is hampered. It therefore calls on the Commission to work closely with the Member States to set up a legal framework to
encourage this new sector of the economy. Parliament also calls on the
Member States to provide greater support, particularly financial, to cooperatives. It considers that the decision to set up a consultative committee on CMAFs (19)
is very positive and calls on the Commission to draw up a white paper on
this subject. Parliament also calls for new impetus for the proposal for
a Council decision on a multiannual programme (1994 to 1996) of action
for cooperatives, mutual societies, associations and foundations in the
Community, as this programme was abandoned when it was not possible to find a consensus in the Council.
Parliament deplores the fact that women are invisible in unemployment
statistics and that women's unemployment is underestimated. It considers
that this is because the International Labour Organisation's definition
of unemployment is used. It suggests adopting a new definition
reflecting the situation of women in the job market and making it
possible to provide better protection for women against unemployment. It
also calls for all statistical information published in all documents concerning employment policy to be broken down by sex. Parliament deplores the fact that women form the majority of a
typical workers. It calls on both sides of industry to conclude a
framework agreement on all these new forms of atypical work, noting in
particular the problems of part-time working. Parliament calls on the
Commission to submit a proposal for a framework directive on services to
care for children and dependants. Similarly, Parliament supports the
idea of 'care years' to be taken into account on the same basis as any
other work. With regard to parental leave, incentives such as reasonable
payment or recognition in statistics of the value of this unpaid work
would seem to be necessary. Parliament once more calls for individual
social security rights, an essential stage to end provisions which
discourage women from entering the job market. Parliament underlines the
lack of a horizontal approach to employment, particularly in national employment plans; this is an essential measure and should be combined
with ad hoc positive action measures. Parliament calls on the Commission
and Member States to evaluate the impact of the social economy on
women's unemployment.
Parliament notes that 10% of households are single parent families
and that 80-90% of single parents are women, a very large majority of
them not having chosen this situation. Referring to a previous study (20),
Parliament points out that these single parents face many difficulties
on the job market, mainly because they are solely responsible for both
work and family duties. Social organisation and the law do not take
account of these new situations, they are based on traditional family
patterns. Parliament therefore considers it essential to adapt laws,
particularly on housing, insurance, taxation and social security. With
regard to the latter two topics, Parliament for many years has been calling for individual social security rights. With regard to welfare
benefits, although Parliament admits that because of the Member States' various budgetary problems, a reduction in the number of recipients of
welfare benefit may be envisaged, this should not be to the detriment of
the poorest, which often include single parents. Parliament criticises
the measures adopted in the United States which deprive single mothers
of welfare benefits if they do not work but are considered able to do so. Parliament also indirectly warns the United Kingdom against heading
in this direction through its intention to place greater responsibility
on single mothers. IV. REPORTS AT THE END OF
THE PARLIAMENTARY TERM
Following a public hearing on European case law on positive measures
and a lengthy debate, the Committee on Women's' Rights rejects the
Commission's proposal for amendment of the directive which reflected the
decision by the Court of Justice in the Kalanke case (1995), referring
to another Court decision in the Marschall case (1997), which took a
more favourable view of positive measures. The Committee points out that
after all the Member States have ratified the new Amsterdam Treaty,
which should take place in the months to come, amendment of Directive
76/207/EEC, as proposed in 1996, would be inadequate. It therefore calls
on the Commission to withdraw its proposal.
The Committee on Women's Rights underlines the importance of a specific health policy for each sex, i.e. to take account of certain diseases which are specific to women, the differences in life expectancy
between the sexes and certain socially-determined health problems, such
as eating disorders, nicotine addiction, Aids, family planning,
reproductive health and abortion, the menopause and violence against
women. The Commission includes these topics in its report, which views
women as a group with specific non-biological health characteristics,
thus recognising that the state of women's health is also largely
determined by various socio-economic factors, which are of great concern
to public opinion. With regard to abortion, Parliament calls for laws to
be harmonised and appeals to the Member States to legalise abortion
under certain conditions, the final decision to be taken by the woman
herself, and to ensure that abortions are carried out in such a way as
to safeguard the health of the woman.
Referring to the action platform adopted by the Fourth World
Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, from which the policy of
mainstreaming originated, the Committee on Women's Rights proposes that
the Commission adopt a methodological approach to take account of the
effect on women of its activities and lists the priority action areas
for the evaluation and effective implementation of an equality policy at
European level. These action areas entail gathering statistics broken
down by sex, balanced participation of men and women in decision making,
analysing the reasons why women are almost always less well paid than
men and taking account of the 'women's dimension' in the Community
Institutions. In this respect it proposes redefining and reinforcing the
role of the Committee on Women's Rights as an independent committee, in
line with the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty.
Underlining the essential role played by Parliament in launching the
DAPHNE initiative by providing a specific budget line (B3-4109) to fund
measures to combat violence against women, young people and children,
the Committee on Women's Rights considers that the Commission's proposed
programme will add value to local, regional and national actions and
contribute to developing a European perspective on the problem of
violence, which affects the whole world. It proposes measures to
coordinate Community action with the role played by NGOs in relation to the target groups concerned, in the context of the Fourth Action
Programme on equal opportunities,. * Equal opportunities between men and women: Fourth Action Programme
1996-2000 (Commission interim report) (draft report in preparation at the time of going to press).
V. OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE
COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
.
HEARINGS
In parallel with its work to draw up resolutions and reports and
tackle subjects of topical interest to women, the Committee on Women's Rights has often invited national and international experts,
representatives of political or professional organisations or NGOs or
members of the public to talk about their area of expertise or experiences. For example:
. OPINIONS In its opinions on the EU budget, the Committee on Women's Rights has
systematically advocated an adequate financial basis for implementing
the various Community programmes for women. Moreover, the new
mainstreaming strategy means that the gender perspective must be taken
into account in all European actions and policies; for this reason the
Committee on Women's Rights is more and more frequently consulted by
other parliamentary committees on a large range of issues. The list
below is not exhaustive, but includes some important topics.
. DELEGATION VISITS The Committee on Women's Rights sends at least two delegations on
visits each year. The aim of these missions is to gain first-hand
information about the situation of women in a particular area and on the
results of new initiatives in order to disseminate models of good
practice. During the current parliamentary term, the following visits
were made. * 1995 Sweden (Stockholm) - The situation of women in the Swedish political,
fiscal and social security systems, 3-4 July China (Beijing) - Fourth World Conference on Women, 4-15 September Netherlands - Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation purposes,
4-5 December * 1996 Germany (Potsdam, Brandenburg) - Implementation of the Structural
Funds in Objective 1 regions (agriculture, SMEs), 6-7 May Portugal (Lisbon) - Equal opportunities policy, 3-4 June United Kingdom (Midlands) - Integration of minorities in the United
Kingdom, 23-24 September Spain (Seville) - Women in the rural environment (NOW programme), 2-3 December * 1997 Greece (Thessaloniki) - Women in culture and the media, 23-24 June Finland (Oulu/Helsinki) - The situation of women with regard to employment and implementation of Objective 6 of the Structural Funds,
2-4 September Austria (Vienna) - Accommodation for women in difficulty; battered,
homeless and migrant women, 6-9 October * 1998 Italy - Women and cooperatives, 25-26 May Northern Ireland - Structural Funds/peace initiatives, 23-25 September Portugal (Lisbon) - Second conference of parliamentary committees
responsible for equality between women and men in the EU Member States
and the European Parliament, 29-30 October ( 2)OJ
C 46, 20.2.1984, p.42.4 ( 4)Council
Directive of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the
Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay
for men and women (75/117/EEC), OJ L 45, 19.02.1975, p. 19. ( 5)Council
Directive of 9 February 1976 on the implementation of the principle of
equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment,
vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (76/207/EEC),
OJ L 39, 14.2.1976, p. 40. ( 6)Council
Directive of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the
principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (79/7/EEC), OJ L6, 10.1.1979, p.24 ( 7)Decision
(95/593/EEC) of 22 December 1995, OJ L 335, 30.12.1995, p. 37. ( 8)Council
directive of 11 December 1986 on the application of the principle of
equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity, including
agriculture, in a self-employed capacity and on the protection of self employed women during pregnancy and motherhood (86/13/EEC), OJ L 359.
19.12.1986, p. 56. ( 9)Council
directive of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to
encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant
workers and workers who have recently given birth or who are
breastfeeding (92/85/EEC), OJ L 348, 28 November 1992. p.1. ( 10)Council
Directive 97/80/EC of 15 December 1997, OJ L 14, 20.1.1998, p. 6. ( 11)Council
Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 on the framework agreement on parental leave concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, OJ L 145, 19.6.1996, p. 4. ( 12)Council
Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the framework
agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, OJ
14, 20.1.1998, p. 9. ( 13)Resolution
of 16 September 1997 on the Commission annual report 1996, OJ C 304,
6.10.1997, p. 45. ( 14)Resolution
A4-257/97 of 16 September 1997 on the Commission annual report on equal
opportunities (1996), OJ C 304, 6.10.1997, p. 45. ( 15)Conclusions
of the European Council Presidency, Vienna, 11 and 12 December 1998. ( 16)Some
passages have been taken from the EU Bulletin, ISSN 0377-9181. ( 18)Council
Directive on the application of the principle of equal treatment between
men and women engaged in an activity, including agriculture, in a self-employed capacity and on the protection of self-employed women
during pregnancy and motherhood (OJ L 359, 19.12.1986). ( 20)One
parent families in the Member States of the European Union (European
Parliament, Directorate-General for Research, Women's Rights Series, W9,
3.1996) |