Gender mainstreaming in the work of the European Parliament

The European Parliament adopted by 378 votes to 154 with 40 abstentions, a resolution on gender mainstreaming in the work of the European Parliament.

Parliament recalls 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. It stresses 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.

Accordingly, Parliament commits itself to regularly adopting and implementing 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. It affirms that the main aim of its gender mainstreaming policy plan for the coming three-year period should be based on 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;
• 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 European Institute for Gender Equality EIGE;
• continued submission of regular reports to plenary on the progress achieved gender mainstreaming in the work of Parliament's committees and delegations.

On the question of resources, Parliament emphasises 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, with appropriate gender expertise (research and documentation, trained staff, experts) and with gender-specific data and statistics. It calls on the Secretariat to arrange regular exchanges of best practice and networking as well as gender mainstreaming and gender-budgeting training for Parliament staff.

At the same time, it calls 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.

More generally, Parliament calls 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.

Beyond these internal considerations, Parliament reiterates the need to focus on gender relations between men and women that generate and perpetuate gender inequalities. It takes the view that Parliament's gender mainstreaming work should also encompass gender identity and assess what impact policies and activities have on transgender people.

Parliament calls on the Commission to:

• consider gender identity in all activities and policies in the field of gender equality;
• address and prioritise gender inequalities in a more consistent and systematic manner when programming and implementing all policies.

Lastly, Parliament insists on the fact that the integrated approach to questions related to gender must be improved in all policy areas in order to attain gender equality.