The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) is the largest coalition of women’s NGOs in Europe representing more than 3,000 member organizations. Through its petition campaign “Put your weight behind equality in Europe”, EWL has been constantly lobbying for a gender-balanced composition of the Convention on the Future of Europe since October 2001. In spite of their warnings and efforts to promote an equal representation of women and men in the Convention, the reality that we face today is one of a stark gender imbalance, with only 16% of women in the Convention (19 women out of 118 full members; 19% of women if we count the alternates) and only two women members of the Presidium (Ana de Palacio from Spain and Gisela Stuart from the United Kingdom, out of 12 members, the President and the two vice-presidents being men).

The Convention on the Future of Europe has the very important task of preparing the ground for the European Union of tomorrow and it seems unthinkable that women will participate only marginally in the shaping of Europe’s future, while they make up more than half of the population of the EU. This is not only a symbolic statement, since the under-representation of women in decision-making means that their views and special concerns are not taken into account. The EWL believes that equality of women and men is a prerequisite for the building of a democratic Europe. Whereas the establishment of the Convention was meant to be a response to a growing need for transparency and democracy at EU level, the lack of inclusion of women in the nomination process seriously questions the democratic legitimacy of the Convention. If the idea is to bring the EU closer to the citizens, we need an assembly that is truly representative of the European population.

Even at this late stage, EWL, together with women decision-makers, is determined to influence the results of the Convention by pushing for the introduction of mechanisms that will ensure the rights and interests of women are taken into consideration.
The EWL demands in particular:

Gender mainstreaming (i.e. the introduction of women’s perspective) within the work of the Convention, and particularly within the working groups (only one group is currently chaired by a woman);
A coherent and extensive Title “Equality of Women and Men” to be introduced in the future treaty in order to provide a legal framework for a pro-active policy in this field;
Parity democracy (the equal representation of women and men in decision-making positions) in the institutions and bodies of the European Union through a mandatory provision in the treaty;
A gender-balanced composition of the Youth Convention that will meet in July 2002. Because each young representative will be appointed by a Convention member, EWL encourages all people involved in the nominations to the Youth Convention to ensure that it is equally representative of women and men.

Take action!

To take part in the campaign “Put your weight behind equality in Europe”, you can print the on-line petition from EWL’s website :
http://www.womenlobby.org/Document.asp?DocID=399&tod=16134
Lobby for a gender-balanced composition of the Youth Convention by sending a letter to members of the Convention now!
http://www.womenlobby.org/Document.asp?DocID=426&tod=111949
To know more about our proposals and views on the future of Europe, you can also read the EWL first contribution to the Convention on the Civil Society Forum website: http://europa.eu.int/futurum/forum_convention/doc_fr.htm#cont

Soraya BELGHAZI,
24/05/2002

European Women's Lobby
18 rue Hydraulique
B-1210 Bruxelles
Tel+32 2 2179020 - Fax +32 2 2198451
Website: www.womenlobby.org