Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union
Directorate for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs
Secretariat of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
To the Chairperson(s) of the Committee(s) concerned
Dear Colleague,
For many years now the European Parliament (EP) has been celebrating International Women's Day
(IWD) with a special event bringing together parliamentarians from across Europe. We decided to
continue this important tradition, this year with extending our reach to the national parliamentarians
outside of the EU and working together with our partner institutions in a broader geographical setting
in order to collaboratively combine our efforts and impact relevant discourses in a more direct
manner.
Women’s participation in economy retains global salience. Though women’s contributions to
economy and science must be recognised and celebrated, the fact remains that in this changing world,
the shift to inclusionary economy is not progressing as planned by the pledges of policy-makers.
Further to the differences in the rate of participation for women and men in the labour market, gender
gaps are sustained in today’s labour markets, most notably in payment and pensions. Other gaps are
also evident in the ability of women and men to balance private and professional lives, undertake
entrepreneurship roles, be appointed in top management positions and on company boards, and
participate in science and engineering professions. Each of our countries has made certain advances
in some of these areas, and therefore we should use this opportunity to discuss what we as policy-
makers can do further to unlock and utilise the potential contributions of the half of our working-age
population to our economies.
Hence, on the occasion of the 2017 International Women's Day, the EP's Committee on Women's
Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) would like to invite Members of the National Parliaments of the
EU Member States, the enlargement countries, the countries in the Eastern and Southern
Neighbourhood and supranational parliamentary assemblies to attend an interparliamentary
committee meeting on the theme:
"Economic Empowerment: Let’s act together!"
The overarching theme of economic empowerment will further be more focused through discussions
and workshops which will be co-hosted by our partner institutions. The theme is furthermore in line
with the 2017 UN Commission on the Status of Women:
Women’s economic empowerment in the
changing world of work,
representatives of which will be present as well, thereby ensuring that the
voice of our participants reaches the highest levels of global decision-making. FEMM IWD 2017 will
provide an international forum to the national gender equality leaders for exchange of experiences
and best practices in advancing women's economic situation, while also accentuating the issue on the
European and global equality agenda.
We are therefore very pleased to invite up to four Members of the corresponding committee(s) of
each National Parliament (two from each chamber in the case of bi-cameral Parliaments) to attend