WOMEN’S EUROPEAN COUNCIL
European Parliament, PHS6B001
6 March 2019 - from 18:00 to 20:00
In view of the upcoming European elections, promoting
women’s leadership is
key to bring the EU closer
to citizens.
Equal gender representation on the electoral lists for the European elections and
appointment of women to top EU positions are essential to make substantial progress towards
gender equality
with a view to the next legislative term.
Women have limited access to politics and institutions as well as to the economy and the labour market.
The under-use of
women’s
skills constitutes a loss of economic growth potential and causes gender
discrimination. To recover the loss in terms of human capital and economic output, the European Union
urgently needs to ensure equal opportunities for women and their full access to the economy. To this
purpose, one of the most crucial actions to be taken in the forth-coming months is to
prevent gender pay
gap by ensuring that the principle of equal pay for equal work is fully enforced throughout the EU.
Moreover, women are still a minority in company boards. The lack of women representation at the top of
the European firms constitutes gender discrimination and negatively affects companies’
performance on
global markets, based on a lack of diversity.
Taking effective measures with a view to ensuring
women’s participation in company
boards is essential in tackling gender inequality,
while
promoting more competitive and inclusive company management structures.
With a view to upholding
women’s rights and effectively streamline gender equality policies and measures,
WEUCO calls for the setting up of a Gender Equality Council formation and the creation of a
specific gender portfolio within the European Commission.
These will be the topics that will be discussed in the occasion of the third WEUCO edition.
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