1965: In France, women, finally, were
allowed to open a bank account or get a job without their husbands’ permission.
1976: In Portugal, women, finally, got the
vote.
2002: In Spain, France, Italy and Belgium,
fathers AND mothers (not just fathers) could, finally, both exercise authority over their children.
I could give you other dates to illustrate
the steady, though terribly slow, progress towards greater equality between men
and women in Europe. Shocking differences still remain however, despite Article
23 of the CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (ratified in
2000) which declares: “Equality between men and women must be ensured in all
areas, including employment, work and pay”.
Let me quote some recent figures regarding
the EU (these are taken from the 2018 “Report on equality between women and men in the EU”):
Women’s wages are still 16% lower than
men’s wages (in Estonia, women’s wages are even 25% lower than men’s wages!).
72 % of men are employed, compared to 61%
of women.
Only 5% of Chief Executive Officers are
women.
Women account for just 25% of board
members of the largest publicly-listed companies registered in EU
countries (France has the best figure with 43%, Estonia the worst with just 7.7%).
Only one third of senior executive jobs
are held by women (41% in Poland but only 18% in Luxembourg).
Women’s retirement pensions are worth 37%
less than men’s.
Only 17% of the leaders of the major
political parties are women.
Only 28% of senior ministers in national
governments are women (52% in Sweden, 0% in Hungary), and women are more likely
to be given portfolios such as Health, Education or Social affairs.
At least 35% of Europeans believe men are
more ambitious than women, and 34% think that women are less interested than men
in positions of responsibility in politics.
These figures show we are far from equal
in the work place and in the political sphere. So what is the EU doing about
it?
The European Commission has a
“strategic engagement for gender equality, 2016-2019”. For women, this means:
more jobs, better pay and pensions (so less poverty and economic dependence on
men), a greater say in decision-making, and better protection from men’s
violence. In other words, the European Commission is seriously trying to promote
gender equality and women's rights. The European Commission also wants EU-wide paternity leave and better
parental leave conditions to improve the work-life balance for working parents.
Are the European Commission’s
initiatives succeeding? Future statistics will tell…
Now, I believe, the EU must do more: only
strictly enforced legislation will improve women’s working conditions and close
the pay gap through greater pay transparency and more equal distribution of
responsibilities between women and men. Why do businesses and states get away
with discriminating against women? The EU needs to impose quotas and to inflict
massive penalties! Also, the EU needs to do more to promote women’s life-long
learning: better trained women, with real skills and knowledge will inevitably
lead to greater parity.
Progress in achieving gender balance has
been made in just a few member states, principally as a result of legislative
measures; much more still needs to be done in
most EU countries. I think that people need to be made aware that women are
equal to men, including in the work place, and deserve the same rights and
opportunities as men. In Sweden, 11% of those interviewed agreed that, I quote:
“the most important role of a woman is to take care of her home and family”. 44%
of EU citizens surveyed agreed with this statement. In Bulgaria, 81% agreed!
Ladies and gentlemen, we are still not equal enough…
A final thought: there should be some kind
of European-wide education programme (sponsored by the EU perhaps) to make kids
aware of the equal value of every human being, whether they are a man or a
woman…
Am I a feminist? Yes, because I’m for equality between women and men (and not for women’s pre-eminence).
RépondreSupprimerArticle 23 stipulates that women shall have the same rights as men, but women’s median wage is 256 euros lower than men’s; why this disparity? Because, they claim, we women have to be paid less ALL our lives because we fall pregnant so we will have to take time off. So why does society expect us to raise the birth rate? Surely this is totally contradictory?
The EU passes laws for greater women’s freedom but laws do not prevent women being pestered or even raped! For example, in Finland in 2017, 50,000 women suffered sexual violence and only 209 saw their aggressor condemned. In France there are on average 75,000 rapes every year.
Men largely contribute to women’s exclusion and men cannot realize exactly what we feel, what it feels like to be harassed. To change society, the laws in favour of women need to be made by women not mostly by men as is the case today.
The majority of countries are patriarchal. Some ethnic groups are matriarchal like the Mosuo in China: the children are attached to the mother’s lineage. The mother not only raises the children but gives them her name and inheritance. The groups are matrilocal (women are at the centre of their families and do not leave them to join their spouses after a union) and avuncular (children's paternity is exercised by their maternal uncle). According to some, men have no responsibility in Mosuo society. They have no jobs and rest all day. However, Mosuo men do have roles in their society. They educate the children, build houses and fish. They have been living this way for centuries. There are other examples of non-patriarchal societies (in Mexico, India, Estonia, Ghana, Indonesia, Paraguay, Thailand and Guinea).
In my opinion, a society needs to have both men and women in positions of power. Women need to achieve greater power, to follow the example of Angela Merkel.
Ladies and gentlemen, how equal are we?
RépondreSupprimerI find this talk very interesting because it shows us the evolution of equality between men and women in the EU.
We also learn more about what people think about this equality. We can see that we are still very far from gender parity. But there are still positive points with new and better laws, and some progress in some countries as regards equal pay.
Despite all this, change for the better is very slow and I think there are still many things to improve such as the disparity between member states.
The lack of equality between men and women is a major problem of our society. The EU has launched various worthy initiatives to try and solve the problem, but I think it’s mostly a generational problem: mentalities must change; it is especially the new generation of women who want change and greater equality between men and women. Many people, mostly men, still think that men are superior to women.
RépondreSupprimerI think that women must be equal to men. Men and women have the same capacities for a job or an activity, but also to take care of our homes and families. I don’t understand why domestic chores are given mostly to women; can a man not cook or clean or change a nappy?!
According to the Gender Gap Report, which measures gender equality, the most equal country in Europe is Iceland, second is Norway, and third is Sweden (the first country on the list which is a member state of the EU). The EU countries that have a strong wage gap between men and women and few women in management positions must follow Iceland’s example.
Mattéo Mourrat writes: Through this speech, we can trace the evolution of European women’s rights and gender disparities at work and even in everyday life. However, we can also see that during these decades humans were able to find alternatives in order to restore power to women. They deserve all these rights as much as men and also to have financial equality at work. I am for this eradication of prejudice against women so that future generations are raised with this perspective of life where everyone is finally equal.
RépondreSupprimerElise writes (about her own speech): This speech shows us, with precise information that there are still inequalities between women and men today. The progress made regarding women’s rights has been slow, in some countries especially. The European Commission is taking steps to increase gender equality and promote women’s rights. We must seriously move forward on this issue because we are in 2019 and it is simply no longer acceptable for people not to be equal.
RépondreSupprimerYann writes: Elise introduced her speech by listing progress made in recent history regarding equality between men and women. For example, in 2002, in France and Spain, fathers and mothers were finally allowed to both, equally, exercise authority over their children. Then, she gave the percentage of women at work: 72% of men are employed, compared to 61% of women, and also only 5% of chief executive officers are women. Thereafter, she mentioned that the EU has taken a number of initiatives that could lead to more jobs for women, better pay and pensions, and better protection from men’s violence. Elise then mentioned the need for quotas, harsher punishment against sexism, and women's lifelong learning initiatives. She concluded by saying that children should be taught about the need for gender equality. Elise’s emotional speech has strong arguments for greater equality between men and women. I agree change is needed for a better world.
RépondreSupprimerThomas writes: The first three facts are like a punch in the stomach. I mean, in 2001, mothers couldn’t exercise authority over their own children?! That’s rough to learn. And then, after this punch in the stomach, we get another one right in the face. The statistics are more than just questioning. They are alarming. The worst is, to me, the fact that wages are still not equal! That’s incredible, we are all human beings, so why should we make a difference between men and women? Why do we undervalue half of humanity. It’s outrageous and unfair.
RépondreSupprimerNoellia writes: This speech talks about the evolution of women's rights within the EU and the inequalities that exist in daily life. I am grateful for all those women who have fought for us to have the same living conditions as men, the right to education, the right to vote and more recently the right to abortion and especially to an equali salary between men and women.
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