Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-08-Speech-1-028"
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"en.20100308.13.1-028"2
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"Mr President, International Women’s Day gives us a united opportunity to focus on issues and challenges women face today – to focus on the various forms of inequality that many women experience, but also to celebrate achievements by women throughout the century.
We in the United Kingdom are especially proud to celebrate figures that have helped our nation progress in the field of women’s rights: women such as Emily Pankhurst, leader of the British Suffragettes, which won women the right to vote, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for her efforts in promoting human rights, especially for women, and Margaret Thatcher, the first British woman Prime Minister, elected in 1979.
The issue of women reaching high positions and being given equal opportunities to men is just as relevant today as it was in the UK when the first female prime minister was elected.
We can provide educational opportunities and employment, but the pay gap still remains. We can legislate against discrimination in the workplace, but we cannot legislate against the pressures of juggling work, family life and managing a home.
As a parliament, we should be working towards assisting women to have a choice in what they do. If they choose to go into a career, they must be supported to do so on an equal playing field. If they chose to stay at home and bring up their family, they must not be undervalued. The phrase ‘just a housewife’ needs to be outlawed. No woman is ‘just’ anything. Each is valued for her contribution.
So, if we talk about great women achievers, I believe one group of women must head the list and in the UK, we celebrate their contribution on 14 March, that is, the mothers of the world: the women who voluntarily give up their own ambitions and contribute their life to bringing up their children. For, by doing so correctly, they contribute towards a goal we all have – a society based on equality and tolerance, where human rights are respected, whatever your gender."@en1
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