The European Women's Lobby

There are many ingredients that will make 2009 an, important year for gender equality in the European Union. Three proposal for EU legislation (directives) are currently being negotiated by the Member States and the European institutions – one Directive proposes significant improvements in the right to maternity leave throughout the EU, the second should introduce improvements to the situation of self-employed workers and assisting spouses/lifepartners and another Directive will introduce an EU wide ban on discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in media, education, social protection, and in access to goods and services. Another negotiation process between social partners aims at revising the existing European legislation on parental leave. The European Women’s Lobby is committed to follow these legislative processes to make sure their outcome will have a significant positive impact on the lives of women throughout Europe, in particular in relation to giving real opportunities to reconcile work and private life for both women and men.

The EWL will input to the activities and initiatives of the Czech EU presidency during this first part of 2009, and the Swedish EU presidency during the second part of the year, raising the core issues of our member organisations in areas such as women’ employment and economic independence, violence against women, women’s sexual and reproductive rights, women and media, and women and migration.

This year, women’s group throughout the world will continue to work towards the strengthening of the United Nations mechanisms for gender equality in the framework of the Gender Equality Architecture Reform Campaign (GEAR Campaign). 2009 will also be the year when women’s groups and movements all over the world prepare for the 15- year follow up to the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women’s Rights. The EWL will be preparing an alternative report assessing the performance of the EU in achieving the objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action, and will be calling on policy-makers to use the BPFA follow-up process as an opportunity to define a new and ambitious agenda for gender equality at EU level.

We look forward to work in solidarity with policy-makers, partners, and allies to make 2009 an thriving year for gender equality in Europe and beyond!

EWL lunch meeting on gender budgeting – The European Women’s Lobby coordinated the lunch meeting of the Civil Society Contact Group on “Gender Budgeting, an Instrument for Good Governance” in Brussels on 19.01.2008. The meeting comprised the presentation of 3 experts and 30 participants from civil society organisations and European institutions and addressed the following questions: 1) What is gender budgeting? 2) What can be practical examples of gender budgeting? 3) How can gender budgeting be implemented in a European setting.

EWL participated to a European Commission expert meeting on the revision of two directives related to asylum: the asylum procedure directive and (some parts of) the qualification directive. EWL stressed at this meeting on 08.01.09 the need to introduce amendments that will make both directives more favourable to women asylum seekers. One of the key tools that EWL has been highlighting for many years is the need to have gender guidelines (based on UNHCR guidelines). For more information on EWL work on asylum, click here.

EWL met with the EP Rapporteur on the maternity leave directive – On 08.01.09, EWL representatives met with MEP Edite Estrela (PSE, Portugal), European Parliament Rapporteur on the revision of the European maternity directive. The EWL in particular stressed the need for a longer (24 weeks) and paid maternity leave throughout Europe. The EWL also put forward the idea of making the 6 weeks mandatory maternity leave available and paid for all women in Europe. The European maternity directive from 1992 is currently being revised by the European institutions.

EWL participated to different meetings on the new anti-discrimination directive. Since the proposal of the European Commission of the 2^nd of July 2008 of a new anti-discrimination directive covering the grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation, age and disability, in the area outside employment, EWL has been following very closely the developments of this directive in coordination with the five anti-discrimination networks and the Social Platform. EWL met in this framework the European Commission on 15.01.09 and participated to lobbying actions in the month of January targeting the European Parliament who is currently drafting reports on the directive.

Preparing for the Swedish EU Presidency. On 19 January EWL had a meeting at the Swedish Government offices to discuss priorities and activities for the upcoming Swedish EU Presidency. In the fall 2009, two important conferences on will be organised: on economic growth and gender equality, and on men’s violence against women. The Equality summit and the 8^th European roundtable on poverty and social exclusion will also be held under the Swedish presidency.

Update on the EWL 50/50 Campaign - www.5050democracy.eu

The EWL 50/50 Campaign “No Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality” was launched on 16.09.08. The European wide Campaign aims to increase the presence of women at the highest level of European politics and to encourage women to cast their votes in the next European elections. The Campaign is already personally endorsed by a number of well known personalities from across Europe (see 50/50 website here).

The Czech Women´s Lobby (CWL) organized a Press Conference on the 50/50 Campaign in Prague on the 8^th of January 2009. Amongst the speakers were Commissioner Margot Wallström, Director of the Fórum 50% Lenka Bennerová, Minister of the Government of the Czech Republic for Human Rights and National Minorities Džamila Stehlíková and Alexandra Jachanová Doleželová from the CWL. Commissioner Wallström held a speech on the importance of equality between women and men in leading political roles and on how to act for the achievement of this goal. Read her full speech here.

The Cyprus Women’s Lobby, in cooperation with the European Parliament in Cyprus and the EC Representation in Cyprus, is hosting an open seminar entitled “Women in Decision Making: Overcoming Obstacles, Creating Change” on the 25th February 2009. The event will take place at the premises of the EC Representation in Cyprus. The main aim of the event is to promote the EWL 50/50 Campaign: No European Democracy without Gender Equality (www.5050democracy.eu) and to lobby for equal representation of women and men in the electoral lists of national political parties and to secure their commitment to achieving gender equality. Furthermore, the event aims to raise awareness and gain support for the 50/50 Campaign through the media.

Supporter of the Month

Mary Robinson, former President, Ireland: “A modest number of women in Parliament is no longer acceptable in European countries. I have just come from Rwanda where the elections on September will increase further the participation of women- already the highest in the world. Let us follow Rwanda’s lead and achieve gender equality for the benefit of all people in Europe.”

Last chance to contact the national political parties and to influence the making of the candidate lists for the European elections 2009. The number of women elected at the European elections will reflect the number and ranking of women on the candidate lists: the lesser the proportion of women on the list, the lesser women will be elected; if all women are put at the bottom of the list, they won’t have a chance at being elected either! Therefore we need your help to put pressure on all national political parties and ask them to ensure the equal representation and ranking of women and men on their electoral lists and to include gender equality as a priority in their programs. You can use the model lobbying letter that we have prepared.

Don’t forget to sign the 50/50 Campaign petition! As part of the 50/50 Campaign we are collecting signatures to show that the equal representation of women and men in the highest levels of EU politics is an important issue for European citizens. The signatures will be used to enforce our messages to political decision-makers, and to show that the 50/50 Campaign has a large public support. In addition to the online petition, we have also prepared a paper petition in English and in French. Please print some copies, circulate them widely, and send them back to us!

Other initiatives

Report from the iKNOW Politics Experts workshop on Women in Politics: Overcoming Barriers to Participation held in Oslo, Norway from 4-5 November 2008. To read the report in English, click here - To read the report in French, click here - To read the report in Spanish, click here

EU Civil Society Contact Group European elections toolkit- 2009 will see the European Parliament's seventh elections. They will take place from 4 to 7 June 2009. It will be the first time since the accession of Romania and Bulgaria that all 27 EU Member States vote on the same dates. In order to support NGOs/citizens groups at local level in raising awareness about the European elections and to engage in discussion with candidates, the Civil Society Contact Group has updated its election toolkit 2004.The toolkit 2009 consists of four easy to use action and fact sheets:

EWL Representation

Myria Vassiliadou, EWL General Secretary participated to the BEPA (Bureau of European Policy Advisers) workshop on Social Innovation at the European Commission in Brussels on 9 January 2009.

Eva Fager, Member of the EWL Executive Committee represented the EWL at MenEngage European Consultation in Stockholm on 14-16 January 2009.

Colette de Troy, Director of EPAC VAW, and Malin Björk, EWL Policy coordinator participated in the European Commission consultation on activities in view of the EU Anti-trafficking day (18 October 2009) in Brussels on 18 January 2009.

Brigitte Triems, EWL President, and Malin Björk, EWL Policy coordinator, met with the Swedish Government offices on the Swedish EU Presidency, on the Nordic Baltic pilot project, and on work against trafficking in women, in Stockholm 19 January 2009.

Mary Collins, EWL Policy Coordinator participate to a Public Hearing on “Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leaves” in the EU Parliament in Brussels on 19 January 2009.

Amandine Bach, EWL Policy Officer / Project Coordinator participated to an International Conference “Celebrating Intersectionality?” in Frankfurt on 22-23 January 2009

Cécile Gréboval, EWL Policy Director represented the EWL at the Congress of the German Greens in Dortmund on 24.01.2008.

EWL Civil Society Representation

Platform of European Social NGOs – EWL is member of the Platform of European social NGOs and has an elected seat within its Management Committee. Mary Collins and Sarah Caquineau participated to the social policy working group on 20.01.09. More information on the Platform: Social Platform

EU Civil Society Contact Group – EWL is member of the EU Civil Society Contact Group that brings together seven large rights and value based NGO sectors - environment, social, development, women, culture, human rights and public health. More information: Act 4 Europe

EESC Liaison Group with Organised Civil Society – EWL is member of the NGO Liaison group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). More information: NGO Liaison

EWL is member of the Migration and Asylum sub-groups initiated by the UNHCR to discuss and exchange information on the development of immigration policies and legislations at European level.

European & International News in Brief

Consultation on the social and economic future of the EU. The European Citizens’ Consultations 2009 is a project coordinated by the King Baudoin Foundation and aims at involving citizens from all 27 Member States to debate the future of the European Union. Between the 3rd of December 2008 and March 2009, you can take part in a Europe-wide debate on the question: “What can the EU do to shape our economic and social future in a globalised world?” Click here to access your national country webpage (27 national websites in all official EU-languages) and see how you can participate in the online debate.

The next steps for the Lisbon Treaty: In December EU Heads of States and Governments agreed to provide legal guarantees to Ireland that the new EU Treaty would not affect Ireland’s neutrality and tax autonomy. The Czech EU presidency now has the task to develop these provisions. Irish lawyers, the Council’s legal services and the European Commission will be working on these provisions. The Irish government has not yet announced a date for the second referendum. It is though expected to take place in autumn. A recent poll showed that a majority of Irish voters may support the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum. UK conservative opposition leader, David Cameron, has promised to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in autumn, if his party wins elections earlier in the year. More on http://euobserver.com/18/27371

United Nations General Assembly addressed sexual orientation and gender identity. In a powerful victory for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 66 nations at the UN General Assembly supported a groundbreaking statement confirming that international human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the first time that a statement condemning rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people has been presented in the General Assembly. Argentina read the statement before the General Assembly. The 66 countries reaffirmed “the principle of non-discrimination, which requires that human rights apply equally to every human being regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” More information is available at the website of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission at: http://www.iglhrc.org

Women Demand Bigger Say in the UN Climate Talks. From 1 to 13 December the 14^th Conference of the Parties (COP14) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Poznan, Poland. Gender equality is neither mentioned in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) nor in the Kyoto Protocol, and UNFCCC’s debates are mostly economically or technologically driven. During the Poznan conference, Gender and Climate Change - Women For Climate Justice (GenderCC), an international network of non-governmental organisations, called on governments to adopt a resolution on gender justice and set up a group that could make formal inputs into the negotiations. For more information on the gender activities, photos and videostreams please see the GenderCC website. gendercc.net

At least 1,502 migrants have died at the gates of EU in 2008. The figures decreased by 23% compared to 2007, but not in Sicily, where the number of the victims rose from 556 in 2007 to 642 in 2008. Heading for Spain, 216 migrants died in the Strait of Gibraltar and 136 off the Canary Islands, while 181 people lost their life in the Aegean sea, sailing from Turkey to Greece. Apart from the 1,235 victims of the Mediterranean, 267 people were found dead in the desert, hidden in trucks or in Greek ferries travelling towards Italy, or died under the fire of border police. Read more here.

Petition against the closing of the Centre for defenders of Human Rights in Iran. On the 21st of December 2008, the Iran secret police decided to close the centre for the defenders of Human Rights in Iran set up by Shirin Ebadi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. Different organizations such as Amnesty International and the International Federation of Leagues of Human Rights and various personalities have launched a petition against the closing. Click here to sign the petition.

News from the European Parliament

Written declaration on the 'Say NO to Violence against Women' campaign. Eva-Britt Svensson, Vice-president of the women’s rights committee in the European Parliament has launched a written declaration asking the Parliament to support the UNIFEM campaign against VAW and to launch a European Year Against VAW. Please contact your MEPs and ask them to sign the declaration! The declaration is available here in all EU languages. Click on your language in the upper right hand corner.

European Parliament supports civil dialogue. The European Parliament adopted in December a document presented by socialist Genowefa Grabowska demanding a more structured dialogue between EU institutions and civil society. The report calls for the adoption of an “inter-institutional agreement on civil dialogue including binding guidelines concerning the appointment of civil society representatives, methods for consultations, funding of civil society”.

Analysing the report in EurActiv, Roshan Di Puppo, director of the Social Platform said “the Lisbon Treaty recognises that involving citizens beyond traditional representative democracy is actually a fundamental principle of modern democracy. The fact that the European Parliament takes this very seriously and wants to strengthen civil dialogue is very positive since MEPs are the ones representing citizens in the European Union". You can find the EP report here. Read the EurActiv article here. Find the Civil Society Contact Group study “Civil Dialogue: making it work better” here.

European Parliament adopts a report on fundamental rights on Monday 14th January. In this document, MEP’s address fundamental rights in its various aspects and make recommendations on diverse issues such as discrimination and immigration. Regarding women’s rights, MEP’s call on member states to raise public awareness about the right for women to fully enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights and to take legislative action to overcome discrimination experienced by same-sex couples. For more information, click here

Update on Violence against Women and Women’s Human Rights

Council of Europe: First step towards a Convention on combating violence against women - During their meeting in Strasbourg in December, the Committee of Minister’s Deputies of the Council of Europe (CoE) agreed to form an Ad-Hoc Committee to prepare one or more legally binding instrument(s) to prevent and combat violence against women, to protect and support the victims of such violence and prosecute the perpetrators. The Committee shall present, by 30 June 2009, an interim report on its position on the subjects and contents of the proposed instrument(s), its working methods and the time table for its work, in order to allow the Committee of Ministers to take a decision. Click here for more information on the terms of reference- and on the CoE Committee of Ministers website:

Spanish government approved a specific plan to fight violence against migrant women for 2009-2012. The plan includes trainings, awareness raising campaigns and flyers in 7 languages. The new residence law will examine the possibility of providing a temporary residence permit for victims of gender-based violence. In Spain, 44,3% of the women victims of homicide were third country nationals in 2008 (compared to 22,3% in 2004). More (in Spanish) here.

Trafficking: Sixth report of the Dutch National Rapporteur - In 2006, 579 victims were newly registered victims of human trafficking in the Netherlands, from which 30 (5.18%) were men and 549 (94,81%) women. 67% were exploited in prostitution, 6% in and outside prostitution. The sixth report of the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings is devoted mainly to statistics covering the period up to and including 2006: data about age, gender and origin of the victims of Human Trafficking; data of suspects, perpetrators convictions and on prosecutions. More information on: http://english.bnrm.nl/reports/index/

Re/integration of trafficked persons. Assistance to victims of human trafficking in Southeast Europe. The King Baudouin Foundation has published two papers as part of a series that shed light on good practices in the area of re/integration as well as important lessons learned from the day to day re/integration work of Foundation’s Trafficking Victims Reintegration Programme partner organisations in five countries of Southeast Europe. Download the publication on handling difficult cases here and the one on how our work can be more effective here.

Petition in Spain “Let’s eradicate Gender Violence by training educational professionals” – The Platform against gender violence (Plataforma Unitària contra les Violències de Gènere) reminds the law against Gender Violence sets out its inclusion into teacher training, as an essential requisite for its eradication. They demand that it be included into the new university training programmes for educational professionals. full document of the petition ; Click here to sign petition

Events

“Ways of Implementing the EU Directives on Violence against Women, Children and Youth: Good Practices and Recommendations” - international conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 20^th–22^nd March 2009. Organised by the University of Ljubljana in the framework of a Daphne project, one of the main goals of the conference is to form recommendations and expose good practices. For more information on the conference, click here

Publications - Web Sites

The European Network of Legal Experts in the non-discrimination field has recently produced the combined 6th and 7th issue of the European Anti-discrimination Law Review, published by the European Commission’s DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The review provides an overview of the developments in European anti-discrimination law and policy in the year prior to publication. In this issue you will find expert

European Commission’ report on ‘Continuing the Diversity Journey – Business Practices, Perspectives and Benefits’ brings together surveys analyzing issues relating to diversity in the workplace, with a particular focus on; the business case for diversity in SMEs, diversity, innovation and productivity in the workplace, diversity charters and diversity and business schools. The overall goal of this publication is to provide guidance and support to companies in different stages of implementing diversity in the workplace.

EU Council: Implementation by the Member States and the EU institutions of the Beijing Platform for Action - Women and Armed Conflict. In this document, published on 17 December 2008, the EU Council outlines the importance of women’s participation in conflict-prevention and resolution and in post-conflict reconstruction. The article 15 of the report "urges the Member States and the Commission to " (a) to include in all peacekeeping operation and ESDP mission mandates clauses on combating sexual violence; (b) to continue to implement fully the Generic Standards of Behaviour, in particular to combat sexual exploitation and prostitution, in all ESDP missions and operations, and in UN peacekeeping operations;(c) to give training on preventing, combating and protecting against sexual and gender-based violence to all diplomatic and defence staff, as well as to all civilian, police and military staff participating in peacekeeping and security operations." You can find the report here

Documentary on Gender Inequality in Family Life in Cyprus by Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies. The documentary was funded by the Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission and the Ministry of Justice and Public Order in Cyprus for the 2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities for all. The purpose is to “challenge gender stereotypes, prejudice, and the unequal power distribution among women and men within family life in Cyprus”. Click here to view the documentary

Austrian Society for Family Planning has published two new fact sheets on "Reproductive health and religion" and "Reproductive health and commodities". Click here to see reports.

‘Diversité des féminismes’ is the new publication of Université des Femmes (Women’s University) based in Brussels. The authors offer a multi-approach on feminist movements in the context of globalization. Contact info@universitedesfemmes.be to get more information.

HIV and Violence against Women. Development Connections, UNIFEM, Pan American Health Organization, Inter-American Commission of Women and the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network have released a publication on "The Multiple Faces of the Intersections between HIV and Violence against Women". Click here to access to the publication.

Women living under Muslim law has just released a publication on “Knowing our Rights. Women, Family, Laws and Customs in the Muslim World”. The handbook looks at critical issues for women’s rights such as marriage requisites and dissolution, marriage contracts and child marriage. Click here to download the publication.

The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery provides project grants for programs of humanitarian, legal and financial assistance to individuals whose human rights have been severely violated as a result of contemporary forms of slavery. The deadline for submission of applications is 31st March 2009. If you need more information on the Fund, click here.

Feminist Summer University on Violence: Feminist analysis of new challenges.
Interdisciplinary symposium. University Laval, Quebec May 31 - June 6, 2009. More info here.

Feminisms in a transnational perspective: Spirituality, religiosity and secular lives. Feminist challenges for theory and practice. Postgraduate course in the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik, Croatia on 25-29 May 2009. Please, click here to get more information.

Call for Papers: IT for Change: Journal of Community Informatics: "Gender and Community Informatics" Invited are submission of original, unpublished articles for a forthcoming special edition of the Journal that will focus on Gender and Community Informatics. Welcome are research articles, case studies and notes from the field. Deadline for Abstracts: February 28, 2009.More info here

"Stories of CEDAW" - Call for Contributions: 30 Years of a Global Bill of Rights for Women: Since the Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adapted by the UN General Assembly in December 1979, it has been ratified by 185 countries. What has CEDAW done for women¹s rights? And how can we use CEDAW to achieve greater justice for women? To mark CEDAW¹s 30th birthday, the initiators of "Stories of CEDAW" want to gather and share stories, testimonies and reflections about CEDAW to inspire women the world over. More here

The European Network Against Racism (ENAR, Brussels) is now looking for a full-time Policy Officer, who will work in close cooperation with the other policy officers and the Campaigning and Networking Officer to implement the ENAR work programme as mandated by the Board. The closing date for applications is 11 February 2009. More information here.

Do you share the vision and commitment of the EWL? Do you want to support the achievement of equality between women and men and promote women’s human rights in Europe? You can make a difference by supporting the EWL financially. Every contribution, however small, is an encouragement to the EWL to continue fulfilling its mission. Please, click here for more information.