Still too big a disparity” “

Action at the legal and political levels to achieve real equality of opportunities between men and women, and combating all forms of violence against women, in particular violence in the home: all this is on the EU equal opportunities agenda, without renouncing urgent campaigns, in response to events in the news, such as the liberation of Giuliana Sgrena and Florence Aubenas, the Italian and French journalists kidnapped in Iraq. Meanwhile Josep Borell has expressed his indignation about the brutality of the Turkish police against hundreds of women demonstrators who were celebrating International Women’s Day one day in advance on 7 March. “The demonstrators were claiming the right they ought to enjoy, that of equality between men and women”, was the comment of the President of the European Parliament. Campaign to obtain the release of the kidnapped woman journalist. It was the President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell himself who launched a campaign for the liberation of the hostages in Iraq on Thursday, 3 March. “The Parliament – he declared – will support all those actions that may lead to the liberation of the hostages”. The initiatives proposed for the session of the EP in Strasbourg from 7 to 11 March include a poster campaign, with the hanging of gigantic portraits of Florence Aubenas and her colleague Hussein Hanoun in the headquarters of the European Parliament, and a resolution “calling for the liberation of all the hostages”. The campaign, placed on the agenda of the Parliament’s work, has met with the interest and support of the political forces and the applause of Meps of all 25 member states. The liberation of the Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena on the following day, Friday 4 March, was greeted with satisfaction by all the Eu authorities, though at the same time mourning the self-sacrifice of the Italian secret-service agent, Nicola Calipari, killed by mistake by American troops at a Us checkpoint. Borrell’s proposal met with the support of the political forces and the applause of Meps of the 25 member states. Violence against women: Strasbourg mobilises. The special appeal for the liberation of the two women journalists is just one of a whole series of initiatives already planned by the EU institutions, the Council of Europe and the UNO to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March. A discussion on the problem of violence committed against women both within the European Union and throughout the world had thus been placed on the agenda of the session of the EP in Strasbourg, especially in response to developments following the fourth UN World Conference dedicated to women, known as “Beijing + 10”, in other words the commitment “without frontiers”, ten years after the meeting in China, to the recognition of women’s rights in the 189 countries that signed up to the specific “action platform”. Guarantees for women’s health and education. The debate in the chamber had also been prompted by two interrogations addressed to the European Commission and Council and signed by eight deputies from eight different countries. First, the MEPs asked the Executive “what actions are planned to tackle the disparities between the sexes in the field of employment and remuneration and in terms of unemployment, and whether it intends to present legislative measures to reconcile private life with professional life”. Second, the MEPs requested that 2006 be declared “European Year of violence against women”, given that the problem directly concerns at least a quarter of women in the old continent. The other issues touched on during the debate: guarantees for women’s health; new investments “to reinforce the contribution of education throughout life and professional training to facilitate female access to skilled jobs”; and the measures that the Council wishes to adopt “with the Daphne programme, to eradicate the sexual exploitation of children (sex tourism)”. STILL TOO MUCH DISCRIMINATION IN THE EU. The publication of the report entitled “Equality between women and men – 2005”, announced by the European Commission in February, had, in addition, brought to light numerous disparities in conditions and treatment between the two sexes in Europe. The document, produced by the General Directorate of Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, headed by the Czech Commissioner Vladimir Spidla, premises that “equality between men and women is sanctioned by the new Constitutional Treaty” and is interpreted as “a value of the Union, to be promoted not only within the EU but also in the relations it maintains with the rest of the world”. The document shows that women are closing the gap in terms of access to education and “now represent 41% of graduates”. The percentage of working women has also increased in recent years, even though they still have difficulty in gaining access to senior executive posts. But what still remains is the clear disparity in earnings between men and women for the same jobs and with the same educational qualifications. Here men still have a decided advantage (+16%). Moreover, the average rate of unemployment in the EU for women is 10%, whereas it is just over 8% for men. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1369 N.ro relativo : 18 Data pubblicazione : 09/03/2005