Gender equality in Europe: progress or retreat?

Past event In person

Democracy

28Mar2023

starts 12:30

ends 14:00

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🔴 LIVE: Gender equality in Europe: progress or retreat?

Project overview

This policy debate marked the final event of the EURIGHT project, led by a consortium of five cities (Alba Iulia in Romania, Genoa in Italy, Gijón in Spain, and Nurnberg in Germany). The objectives of the EURIGHT project were to raise awareness about the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU Charter) and engage people in the construction of a strong European Union through the knowledge of the European instruments and their connection with citizenship.

Gender equality should be a legal duty for the EU

Gender equality should be mainstreamed into all EU policies and debates, including through parity between women and men across political parties, agreed experts at the Friends of Europe debate on gender equality in Europe, which also gathered recommendations for a Renewed Social Contract.

The event kicked off with Laura Gonzalez Mendez, Project Coordinator for International Affairs at the Gijón City Council, presenting the EURIGHT project conclusions on connecting citizens with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The panel of experts and audience agreed “it should be a legal duty of elected parliamentarians to take into account women’s and minorities’ interests when designing public policies.” In the development of any policy or activity, there should be “a pause to say: how will this impact women?” contended Pierangelo Celle, Law Professor at the University of Genoa.

Silvana Koch-Mehrin, President and Founder of Women Political Leaders, recommended that “we make it mandatory for each political party competing in upcoming elections at European and national level to have gender parity in their pool of candidates,” in addition to placing the women candidates in constituencies they can actually win.

Karen Melchior, Member of the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, said there was “a very large silent majority supporting women’s rights,” which needs to be “more vocal.” She also urged for proper implementation of the new directive on parental leave, which goes beyond men doing the ‘women’s job’ and taking on the responsibility of running a household.

Moderator and Friends of Europe’s Dharmendra Kanani said increased parity should include a more representative audience at events like the Friends of Europe debate. “It’s a bit unfortunate that 80% of the people here today are women.”

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Schedule

12.30 14.00

Gender equality in Europe: progress or retreat?

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Questions that will guide the discussion include:

How is the Union working to ensure EU Charter provisions related to gender equality and non-discrimination are respected and realised across all member states, and what challenges have been faced in this effort?
How do recent developments and challenges, such as the rise of populism or the cost-of-living crisis, impact gender equality in the EU?
What role do local governance and initiatives play in protecting gender equality and rights and as such, how do they promote the EU project?

Moderator

Dharmendra Kanani

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Spokesperson of Friends of Europe

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Speakers

With nearly two decades of experience at the Gijón City Council, Laura González Méndez currently leads the council department that oversees the city’s international affairs and city branding. Throughout her career at the Gijón City Council, she has worked on more than 30 European projects and led various networks of political representatives. Previously, she also has worked in the fields of finance and international relations.

Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Dharmendra Kanani was director of policy at the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He was the England director at the Big Lottery Fund, the largest independent funder in the UK and fourth largest in the world. Dharmendra has held senior positions in the public and voluntary sectors and advisor to numerous ministerial policy initiatives across the UK.

Laura Kaun is responsible for coordinating and providing strategic direction to EWL’s policy and campaign work. She works to ensure that EWL’s policies are sound, its advocacy sharp and its campaigns loud so that, together with its members all over Europe, EWL brings progress to women’s rights with a specific focus on combating all violence against women and girls, including cyber-violence and gender-mainstreaming of digital policies.

An expert on gender equality, Silvana Koch-Mehrin founded and leads WPL, the worldwide network of women politicians. The independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit foundation aims to increase both the number and the influence of women in political leadership. A member of the European Leadership Network (ELN) and the Global Advisory Network of Apolitical Academy Global, Koch-Mehrin sits on the boards of the Council of Women World Leaders, a network of women presidents and prime ministers, and the advisory board of PINK! She is also a Senior Advisor at Binance and Venture Partner at Conny&Co. Notably, she represented the EU in the Executive Committee of W20, an official engagement group of the G20. Previously, Koch-Mehrin served as a vice-president and member of the European Parliament, prior to which she founded a public affairs consultancy.

Karen Melchior is a Member of the European Parliament and sits on the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, in which she is active in forming the position of the liberal Renew Europe group. She is fighting to ensure that access to safe abortion is treated as part of healthcare and made available to all women across Europe. She is also a Member of the Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup, which works to advance equal rights for LGBTI people across Europe.

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