About EWL

• Who we are
• When, by whom and why the EWL was created
• Mission, vision and values
• Aims
• Membership and structures
• Budget
• Statutes
• EWL Liaison
• What we do
• Areas of work
• Strategic Plan 
  
  

Who we are

---

Founded in 1990, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) is the largest alliance of women’s non-governmental organisations in the European Union and works for the advancement of equality between women and men as well as the mainstreaming and monitoring of a feminist gender equality perspective in all areas of European Union policy and for the achievement of parity democracy at all levels.

The European Women's Lobby is committed to taking into account the needs and perspectives of different groups of women and the multiple experiences of women at all stages of their life cycle. This concern relates both to internal policy development as well as to developing partnerships with organisations that represent the many women that face multiple discrimination in our societies.

Today the EWL’s work covers 30 countries (27 EU Member States and 3 candidate countries) and includes 21 European-wide organisations.

The EWL Secretariat is based in Brussels.  

When, by whom and why the EWL was created

---

It all started in London in November 1987 when 120 women, member of 85 organisations representing 50 millions individual members, came together and adopted two resolutions. The first called for the ‘creation of a structure for influence, open to all interested women’s organisations, to exert pressure on European and national institutions to ensure better defence and representation of women’s interest’. In a second resolution, the delegates called on the European Commission to ‘lend its support for the organisation in early 1988 of a meeting with a view to the implementation of such a structure’.

Support was granted and the European Women’s Lobby and its secretariat in Brussels were formally established in 1990. The EWL's founding members were the national coordinating organisations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as 17 large European-wide women’s organisations.

The European Women’s Lobby was created in response to a growing awareness of the need to defend women’s interests at European level since:

·    The scope of the European Union’s activities are extending and affect areas with a direct impact on women’s daily lives, particularly with the arrival of the internal market.

·      It became urgent for women and their organisations to participate in the programmes established by the Union and to get acquainted with European legislation affecting them.

·      The creation of such an organisation and its designation of lobbying also corresponds to the particular character of European-level decision-making process, which allows space for the creation of many organisations, founded to represent all sorts of interest groups and categories of civil society (including various economic sectors as well as trade unions, professional and social grouping).

·      These organisations were responding to a real need on the part of the European institutions. Contrary to received ideas, the number of European officials is comparatively low. The institutions therefore often call on experts in the course of their work, due in particular to the diversity of the Member States’ populations and legislations.

·      As decision-makers within the European institutions are not directly elected by the citizens (with the exception of the European Parliament) the creation of an organisation such as the EWL also corresponds to the need to brige the democratic gap between the EU institutions and European citizens.  

The creation of EWL was therefore linked to the creation of a new form of public space at European level and a new form of interaction between citizens and political officials. The EWL’s activities meet two types of needs:

·    To lobby at European level and to provide information to decision-makers to ensure that a gender perspective, women’s points of view and their needs are taken into account in the preparation of legislation and programmes

·      To provide women’s organisations with the information they lack and promote their participation at EU level.

The EWL thus plays a dual role as a link between women's organisations and institutions. The EWL facilitates dialogue and exchanges between citizens and European decision-makers. Because of its advisory status in both the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the Council of Europe, the EWL plays an instrumental role at the international level.

Mission, Vision and Values

---

The mission of the EWL is to work to achieve equality between women and men, to promote women’s empowerment in all spheres of public and private life and to eliminate all forms of violence against women.

The EWL works towards a vision of a peaceful and democratic European Union built on a culture of respect for human rights, equality, peace and solidarity, in Europe and globally. The EWL works towards equal rights for women and men to gain equal access to social, cultural and economic resources to strengthen their personal integrity and choice. The EWL brings together women’s non-governmental organisations across Europe and works through democratic processes with its members for the mainstreaming and monitoring of a feminist gender equality perspective in all areas of European Union policy and for the achievement of parity democracy at all levels.

The EWL carries out its work within a feminist analysis and based on the following values:

·     Equality between women and men in all areas of public and private life

·     Solidarity with all women and men experiencing exclusion, discrimination and oppression

·      Respect for all difference and diversity

·      Parity, especially in relation to decision making

·      Peace, by the promotion of a culture of peace

·      Justice for all

·      Empowerment of all women

·      Cooperation and consensus-building, as our approach to difference and conflicts

·      Accountability to each other, to those we represent and to our funders

·      Openness and transparency in relation to communication and working methods

·      Independence from any religious or party political affiliation

Aims

---

The Association, through its member organisations, aims: 

·      To support the active involvement of women in working to achieve equality between women and men, while ensuring the representation of women form different parts of the European region

·      To support national members through information, lobbying resources and training to actively engage with EU policy shaping and implementation of legislation at national level         

·      Through analysis, evaluation and monitoring, to provide regular input on all areas of EU policy development and implementation that have an impact on women’s lives and on the promotion of equality between women and men, with specific reference to the Roadmap for equality between women and men, the United Nation Beijing Platform for Action on Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

·      To monitor and raise awareness about the development and implementation of gender mainstreaming in order to ensure the full integration of women’s rights, interests and perspective in all areas of EU policy

·      To take into account the needs and perspective of different groups of women, and the diverse experiences of women at all stages of their life cycle       

These actions take place both in the EWL's internal policy and organisational development as well as in developing partnerships and joint working relationships with organisations that represent the many women that face multiple discrimination in the European Union and globally.

Membership and Structure

---

The EWL is an umbrella organisation which co-ordinates the activities of its member organisations throughout the EU.

The organisations benefiting from full membership consist primarily of national co-ordinations (1 per Member State) that organise activities at national level and transmit information to their member organisations. Currently, the EWL has national co-ordination organisations in 30 countries within the EU and in candidate countries. The EWL also has European and International member organisations, which are active in specific fields at European and International level. Today the EWL has 21 European and International Non-Governmental member organisations. There are more than 2500 member organisations directly represented by EWL.

As these organisations are very diverse, the EWL does not follow any particular political, economic, religious or philosophical doctrine. In all areas, member organisations must reach a consensus if they wish to implement joint actions.

The EWL also has at the moment 39 Associate Member Organisations, which are mixed or women’s organisations from across the world and which accept the mission, aims and objectives of the Lobby. These have access to all the information disseminated to EWL full members and may take part in lobbying actions. Although they can attend the EWL’s General Assembly as observers, they have no voting rights.

Internal organisation

• General Assembly: The General Assembly of the EWL meets once a year, bringing together some 100 delegates from national and European member organisations, as well as Associate Members, who decide on a programme of activities, vote on financial matters and emergency motions, participate in Issue Groups and elect a Board of Administration every second year.
• Board of Administration: The Board of Administration is composed of 40 elected members, 30 representing national co-ordinations and 10 from European NGOs. The Board meets 3 times a year to take decisions concerning actions to be conducted, political priorities and so forth. The Board is also regularly consulted for the adoption of position papers and with regards to the EWL’s day-to-day activities.
• Executive Committee: The Board of Administration elects every second year the EWL Executive Committee, which consists of 7 Committee members: a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer and 3 members. The Executive meets regularly, is consulted on urgent decisions and represents and lobbies actively on behalf of the EWL at meetings and conference.
• Secretariat: The organization’s activities are co-coordinated by a Secretariat based in Brussels which is headed by a Secretary General. The Secretariat links with decision-makers, prepares documents and position statements, provides information and briefing to members, organises statutory meetings, conducts projects and produces publications.
• European Policy Action Centre Against Violence Against Women: The European Policy Action Centre Against Violence Against Women (EPAC on VAW) is a branch of the EWL, established as an independent organisation in 2007. It aims to achieve equality between women and men through the elimination of violence against women, which is an obstacle to the empowerment of women; to promote and improve policies to prevent and combat all forms of discrimination and violence against women and to ensure full access for all women to their human rights. EPAC on VAW aims to facilitate and develop the work of the European Women’s Lobby Obstervatory on VAW.
  
  

Budget

---

For the year of 2009, the EWL's core budget is 977,052 €. EWL receives 82.65% of this amount as a grant fromt the European Commission under the PROGRESS programme. The remaining 16.35% is made up of membership fees and other independent sources of funding.

Statutes

---

Please click here to read the EWL Statutes.

EWL Liaison

---

EWL External Liaison with EU Institutions:

• European Commission: The EWL is in contact with many of the Directorates-General making up the European Commission, and with the European Commissioners with whom EWL representatives regularly meet. Within the Commission, the EWL has the most frequent contact with the Directorate on Employment and Social Affairs, and increasingly with the Directorate General on Justice, Liberty and Freedom.

• European Parliament: The EWL is in regular contact with Members of the European Parliament as part of its lobbying efforts and in order to keep them updated and informed about EWL activities. The EWL also participates in meetings of Parliamentary Committees, in particular the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

• Council of Ministers of the European Union: Lobbying letters are regularly sent to the Member States’ Ministers, but most action at national level is carried out by the EWL’s member organisations. The EWL also ensures good working relations with the country that holds the Presidency of the Union.

Advisory Bodies:

The EWL works with different EC Advisory Bodies, namely:

• Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men

• High Level Group on Disabilities

• Working Group on Women in rural areas

EWL external liaison with Civil Society:

• European Platform of Social NGOs: The Social Platform is the alliance of representative European federations and networks of non-governmental organisations active in the social sector. The EWL has been for many years an active member of the Platform of European Social NGOs and is currently represented in the Management Committee.

• European Civil Society Contact Group:  This Contact Group brings together 8 large rights and value based NGO sectors: culture, environment, education, development, human rights, public health, social and women. The ETUC, representing European Union workers is an observer to the group.

The EWL is also linked to other informal networks such as the NGO Platform working on Asylum and Migration.

European and International External Liaison:

• Council of Europe: The EWL has a consultative status within the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. 

• United Nations: The EWL has a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and participates regularly in the activities of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and has contact with UN decision-makers as appropriate, notably the UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the UN Rapporteur on Trafficking.

What we do

---

Lobbying

The EWL conducts lobbying activities in all areas of interest to women, taking into consideration the European-level political agenda. The guiding principle behind the EWL’s work is the realisation of equality for all women and men. The EWL also monitors the use of gender mainstreaming, which implies incorporating a women's perspective into all issues. This strategy has broadened the scope of its projects and lobbying activities considerably. The EWL is also active in areas which have not traditionally been considered ‘women’s issues’ and attempts to exert pressure in regards to all texts and programmes with an influence on women’s lives.

Policy and advocacy work

The EWL works every day on content work following the European political agenda and working on specific topics with concern to women’s issues. Thereby, the EWL writes position papers, policy documents agreed by the members, and other kinds of contributions and statements in order to affect policy and legislation in and beyond the EU.

Projects

The EWL conducts, coordinates and supports projects focusing on different areas of concern.

Information-related activities

A large part of the EWL’s work relates to information. The first priority in this area is to provide the necessary information to the member organisations of the EWL, but due to the complexity of the European institutions, the EWL’s information-related activities have had to expand considerably. The main communication tools are:

• The Newsflash, which is a monthly publication giving a quick overview of the EWL’s activities, news from the European institutions and some practical information (calls for tenders, conferences, etc.) about equality between women and men.

• The Website with regularly updated information about the organisation and its activities.

• Calls for lobbying actions. The EWL regularly sends out calls for lobbying actions in its different areas of work to members and interested individuals. Those calls usually consist of a briefing and a model lobbying letter to be sent to relevant decision-makers as indicated.

• Press releases. The EWL regularly issues press releases on important issues related to gender equality or about EWL actions.

• EWL mailing lists. The EWL runs several internal and external electronic mailing lists, to which women and men across Europe and beyond are invited to participate.

• Requests for information and group visits. Many groups and researches from around the world visit the EWL, which also responds to dozens of request for information every month.

Areas of work

---

The EWL aims to influence the work of the European Union, in order to realize equality between women and men. Gender equality concerns all areas of life, but the EWL focuses mainly on the following areas: 

• Women in decision-making /Parity Democracy
• Social Policy and Employment
• European Gender Equality Policies and Legislation
• Women's diversity and Anti-discrimination
• Migration and Asylum
• Fundamental Rights within the European Union
• Revision of European Treaties
• International Action for Women's Rights / United Nations
• Violence Against Women

Strategic Plan

---

During 2006 the European Women's Lobby decided to undertake a review of our work in order to reflect on the EWL's goals, policy priorities and working methods in view of:

·    The increase in membership in recent years from 15 National Coordinations to 26 coordinations with more new national coordinations likely to soon join;

·    The changing political climate in the EU which may lead to possible changing priorities for the EWL in its work within the EU and globally.

Our definition of a strategic review process is that we take the time to review and reflect, after 15 years of operation, in order to help us to look ahead and to plan the future of the organisation with a clear understanding of our goals, priorities, working methods, human and financial resources and new and emerging challenges and opportunities. This new strategy represents the European Women's Lobby's renewed commitment to achieving equality between women and men.