Male MEPs over-represented in EU committees, warns European Women's Lobby

euronews (in English)

Gender inequality is more pronounced in areas considered "serious," such as foreign affairs or economics, according to an expert from the European Women's Lobby.

Transcript

00:00The European Parliament, elected in June, is the first ever to have less women as MEPs.

00:07But how does it affect the people who lead the different committees and how are women

00:12represented there?

00:14According to the European Women's Lobby, even the committees are mostly made up of men.

00:20Portfolios that matter, like what we call hard portfolios, where you have money, where

00:24you have power, like foreign affairs, for instance, budget, economy, usually go to men

00:29in terms of heading the committees, just like the proportion of members in these committees

00:34also is highly male-dominated.

00:37So that's unfortunately still a reality in terms of having women chairs, vice-chairs, etc.

00:45This difference is not directly linked to the rise of the far right seen in these elections,

00:50but some experts believe that women elected for those parties do not necessarily defend

00:56women's rights.

00:59What is a bit concerning, though, is that the far right parties or groups in the European

01:07Parliament do have quite a substantial representation of women for some of them, but then it's also

01:13groups that are not known to support women's rights.

01:16They're quite hostile to women's rights.

01:18So it's also a new challenge for us in that sense that we are going to have to identify

01:23who is going to support us, who is going to champion women's rights.

01:27The EU has, over the past five years, passed some important legislation.

01:32It includes the first law to prevent violence against women.

01:36Analysts and experts, however, are asking for more.

01:40Something we want to see is also having dedicated budgets to women's rights, maybe having conditionalities

01:47when it comes to, you know, like, tenders and attribution of budget linked to women's

01:51rights and gender equalities.

01:54The European Women's Lobby says it is aiming for parity in the College of Commissioners,

01:59something that the president, Ursula von der Leyen, is also pushing for.

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