[Brussels, 29 November 2013] The last three days, Policy Officer Karima Zahi and Fundraising Coordinator and Policy Officer, Serap Altinisik, took part in the summit on “Women in Parliaments Global Forum” in the European Parliament.
The high level conference, bringing together female politicians and activists, was held in order to celebrate the introduction of women’s right to vote in New Zealand 120 years ago. The participants came together to discuss issues like the current crisis and its trigger, as well as how women’s leadership could be different from men’s and how to increase the only slowly changing number of women in political decision-making.
The EWL policy officers did not only actively participate in the discussions, they also used this opportunity to present our 50/50 campaign and Mentoring Programme and collected signatures to support our Joint Declaration, asking for Parity Democracy in the next European parliament.
One of the first to sign the Joint Declaration and to give support to the 50/50 campaign was Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, former Prime Minister of Iceland who was invited as a speaker to the summit. The EWL gathered an extensive support from Members of Parliaments from all over the world. This is a strong message to the EU from MP’s across the boundaries who joined forces and showed their solidarity for Parity Democracy and equal representation of men and women in all EU institutions. The EWL also wants to express its gratitude to MEP Zita Gurmai and MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin for their tireless commitment of the 50/50 campaign for an equal and just Europe. Please find more features and more pictures from the conference in our newsletter next week and on our EWL social media!
