Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-18-Speech-4-039"
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"en.20010118.2.4-039"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, even today we cannot assume that men and women can work alongside each other with equal rights in all areas. That much we all agree upon. But we also know very well that participation in decision making, be it by men or women, is not an automatic right. The situation varies widely, depending on the field, the specialism and the area of responsibility. This is bound to be a factor when reaching a decision about any man or woman seeking to hold a particular office, applying for a job or wishing to join a particular committee.
However, we can legitimately ask if this always applies. Is it not true to say that there are still certain prejudices in our society which militate against a person or a sex from the outset? The male nursery school teacher or woman fire-fighter are still exceptions to the rule – as are women who make it to the very top on management boards, as directors or on political committees. As a rule, this under-representation is not because of any lack of skill or expertise. A woman always has to do something extra to prove herself – expertise on its own is not enough, her entire circumstances play a part. Her children, her family and even the simple idea of the weaker sex are barriers to progress.
For far too long we have been telling women that they have to be better than the men they are competing against. For that reason alone we need things like the report before us to wake society up from time to time and keep up the momentum. I believe that the double burden of family duties and a career should not be used as grounds for discrimination, nor are they a double disadvantage as stated in Recital D. Combining a family and a career in fact demonstrates a high degree of organisational skill and life experience that should not be underestimated, and should be regarded as a particularly useful skill for those in leading positions. It should also be assumed that men have the same family commitments as women, and all we women debating here this morning who have a family would be unable to do all this if our partners were not also committed to their families as fathers.
Unfortunately, we have not quite reached that point yet, and it can still be said that whereas a family provides support for a man, it is a millstone for a woman. So, right from the outset, when we are educating young people, we need to counteract these entrenched social images. I doubt whether simply demanding quotas and percentages is the right way to achieve greater representation, and it should surely not be this Parliament’s job to call for 40% representation in all political fields at national and international level.
For awareness to grow we need balanced reports and discussion papers that emphasise equal representation, and I therefore urge you to support the PPE Group’s amendments."@en1
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