PES - Act now for her future, commit to gender equality?
In the framework of our 50/50 Campaign, No modern European Democracy without Gender Equality, the manifestos of the main European parties are assessed, in order to find out which commit themselves to gender equality and women’s rights. We particularly looked at their accordance with the demands of our manifesto for the coming European Parliament and for the European Union in general.
The manifesto has a section on women’s rights and equality and equality and anti-discrimination is seen as one main priorities for the next 5 years.
The principle of equality, from the side of the PES, needs to be at the heart of all policies, in Europe and beyond. The party asks for binding commitments in order to close the gender pay and pension gap, to promote reconciliation for women and men, as well as the equal share of power, work, time and roles. They furthermore fight for a Europe free of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and intolerance. Top PES candidate, Martin Schulz, endorsed the EWL’s Manifesto.
While the fight for gender equality and women’s rights is at the heart of the PES manifesto, they could have put it already into a concrete action by for example nominating a woman and a man as top candidates for the EU elections.
PES is on the right track, but has not yet entirely prioritised and integrated gender equality. We ask the PES to include women from diverse backgrounds into their gender policies and to ensure gender parity and non-gender biased portfolios in the next European Parliament. In order to realise the desired share of power and roles, we ask the PES to mainstream the economic independence of women not only through the promotion of women’s employment but also through the individualisation of social protection and taxation.
We do welcome their demand to end violence against women, and call on to support our demand for an intergroup on sexual violence, as well as an EU Year to end violence against women.
How does PES’s manifesto compare to the EWL’s demands?
I vote.
I change.
I vote for equality.
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