Gender mainstreaming in the work of the European Parliament

The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality adopted the report drafted by Mikael GUSTAFSSON (GUE/NGL, SE) on gender mainstreaming in the work of the European Parliament.

Members recall that Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union lays down the principle of gender equality, stating that the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, […] and equality between women and men. They stress that the inclusion of a gender perspective in Parliament’s legislative and policy work can, in some cases, be best achieved through focused amendments to draft reports, tabled in the lead committee in the form of gender-mainstreaming amendments – a strategy that has been actively pursued by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality since 2009.

In this context, Members commit the European Parliament to regularly adopt and implement a policy plan for gender mainstreaming in Parliament with the overall objective of promoting equality between women and men through the genuine and effective incorporation of the gender perspective into all policies and activities.

They affirm that the main aim of its gender mainstreaming policy plan for the coming three-year period should be to achieve more consistent and effective implementation of gender mainstreaming in all Parliament’s work, on the basis of the following priorities:

• a continued commitment at the level of Parliament's Bureau, through the work of the High-Level Group on Gender Equality and Diversity;
• a dual approach – mainstreaming gender in Parliament’s activities through, on the one hand, effective work by the committee responsible, and, on the other, integration of the gender perspective into the work of the other committees and delegations;
• awareness of the need for a gender balance in decision-making processes, to be achieved by increasing the representation of women on Parliament’s governing bodies, on the bureaux of political groups, on the bureaux of committees and delegations, in the composition of delegations and in other missions, such as election observation, and by increasing the representation of men in areas where they are under-represented;
• incorporation of gender analysis into all stages of the budgetary process to ensure that equal consideration is given to women’s and men’s needs and priorities and that the impact of the provision of EU resources on women and men is assessed;
• an effective press and information policy which systematically takes gender equality into account and avoids gender stereotypes;
• continued submission of regular reports to plenary on the progress achieved in gender mainstreaming in the work of Parliament’s committees and delegations;
• a focus on the need for adequate financial and human resources, so that Parliament’s bodies are provided with the necessary tools, including gender analysis and assessment tools;
• attention to the importance of employing specific terminology and definitions which comply with international standards when terms are used in relation to gender mainstreaming;
• methodological and analytical support from the EIGE.

Overall, Members call for its committee responsible to examine how the procedure whereby the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality adopts amendments to a specific report which highlight the gender implications of a policy area, in accordance with the deadlines and procedures laid down by the committee concerned, can be best incorporated into the Rules of Procedure. They also call on the Parliament committees responsible for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the Structural Funds to assess the gender impact of the proposed spending priorities, sources of revenue and governance tools before the MFF is adopted, so as to ensure that the post-2013 MFF is gender-sensitive, and to guarantee that all EU financing programmes set gender-equality targets in their basic regulations and allocate specific funding for measures to achieve those targets.

Lastly, Members ask the Commission to address and prioritise gender inequalities in a more consistent and systematic manner when programming and implementing all policies, and insist that the mainstreaming of gender issues through all policies must be improved in order to achieve the goals of gender equality.