The celebration of the International Women's Day is an established tradition withinthe European Parliament and an expression of Parliament's strong commitment toHuman Rights in general.Each year around 8 March, an interparliamentary committee meeting isorganised to which Members of National Parliaments (NP) of the EU Member Statesand candidate countries are invited, as well as Members of the ParliamentaryAssembly of the Council of Europe. Following a decision of the Women's Rights'Committee the event will focus in 2013 on the theme:

"Women's response to the crisis"

Participants of the meeting will discuss the gender dimension of the economicdownturn and the financial crisis and share their experiences and best practices todefine ways out of this crisis.The meeting will take place on Thursday, 7 March 2013, from 9.00 to 12.30hoursin the EP premises in Brussels.The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, will open themeeting which will be chaired by Mikael Gustafsson, Chair of the Women's Rights'Committee. Following a first panel composed of high-level personalities, the secondpanel will be dedicated to the exchange of views with Members of NP. They arekindly requested to reply beforehand to a short questionnaire which serves to preparethe discussion and inform the audience in a comprehensive manner. All contributionsfrom National Parliaments will be included in the meeting dossier and made availableduring the event.Three interventions (of each max.10 minutes) by representatives of NP areforeseen on 7 March. Each intervention will be followed by a short answer-questionsession (max. 2 minutes for the reply), if time allows. Representatives of NP areinvited to inform the FEMM-secretariat should their Members volunteer to hold aspeech.Besides, further interventions (of a maximum of 3 minutes) may be requestedduring all three panels by filling in a"speaking card"which will be handed out duringthe meeting. Speaking time will be limited and observed during the whole meeting bythe Chair.Further practical details regarding the meeting as well as detailed programmewill be forwarded in due course by the Directorate for Relations with NationalParliaments.