Report from the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union “Beijing + 15: The Platform for Action and the European Union”

Published by S. Mally, December 2009, Barcelona (Spain)

Last December 2009 the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union published the report “Beijing + 15: The Platform for Action and the European Union”. This report is the third review of development at the EU-level in relation to the 12 critical areas of concern of the PfA (the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for Equality, Development and Peace adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995).

The report, which is based on the Council Conclusions on the follow-up of the Beijing PfA since 2005 and on information provided by the Member States in January 2009, realizes important outlines regarding women in power and decision making and women in the economy.

The document highlights that while the last few years have seen a general increase in the number of women in decision-making positions in Europe, women continue to be a minority in the political and economical spheres.

With regard to the different indicators in the area Women in power and decision-making which were adopted by the Council in 1999 and extended during Italy’s Presidency in 2003, the report shows, among others, that:

Gender balance amongst appointed members of national governments in the member states has slowly increased and there are great differences between member states (In 2008 Finland had 60% of female ministers and Spain 50%, but there were also EU-countries with less than 10% women). Women’s trade union membership has increased over recent years but women are not progressing easily to top level positions. Only three national confederations reported having a woman as a president and few labour confederations have female vice presidents. The current President of the European Trade Union Confederation is a woman.

Women are still excluded from the highest decision-making bodies or boards of the largest publicly quoted companies. The proportion amongst presidents of executive boards of the top 50 firms publicly quoted on the national stock exchange is 3% women and 97% men.

Regarding women and the economy, the report highlights that parental leave does not always advance gender equality and that long parental leave periods, used only by mothers, may reduce female labour force participation and affect future career paths and earnings adversely. Furthermore it pointed out that gender gaps in employment and childcare responsibility are still there and that it is necessary to take measures to encourage men to share family and domestic responsibilities with women on an equal footing and to encourage enterprises to adopt family-friendly measures.