European & International News

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European & International News
UN agrees on mechanism for eliminating discrimination against women in law and practice

Posted on 2 October 2010 |

The UN Human Rights Council adopted on 1 October 2010 a resolution in which it established for a period of three years a Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice. In the resolution on discrimination against women, the Council called upon States to fulfil their obligations and commitments to revoke any remaining laws that discriminate on the basis of sex and remove gender bias in the administration of justice, taking into account that those laws violate (...) Read more
European & International News
Women on Boards of private companies

Posted on 1 October 2010 |

Pioneer Norwegian quota legislation helped reaching a share of 44% women in boards of public joint companies in 2008. The picture however looks gloomier for the rest of Europe: according to a Egon Zehnder study, the top 300 European companies had 9.7% of women on their boards in 2008, a painstakingly slow progress compared to 8% in 2004. Excluding Norway, women held only 9.1% of total board seats in 2008 and a quarter of European companies still have an entirely male board! (...) Read more
European & International News
European Court of Justice likely to rule discrimination in insurances illegal

Posted on 1 October 2010 |

[Strasbourg, 30 September 2010] The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has declared that that insurance companies shouldn’t be able to charge men and women different rates for products – Article 5 of the European directive on gender equality in goods and services (2004/113) is declared incompatible with the principle of equality!
This opinion is in line with the constant position of the EWL since the adoption process of the directive, saying that basing the pricing of (...) Read more
European & International News
European Parliament to vote on report on the role of minimum income in combating poverty and promoting an inclusive society in Europe

Posted on 29 September 2010 |

Following approvals in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, the Members of the European Parliament are now set to vote on Ilda Figueiredo’s report on the role of minimum income in combating poverty and promoting an inclusive society in Europe (2010/2039(INI)). The vote is scheduled for the Plenary Session in Strasbourg of 6-7 October, ahead of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October 2010.
Download the full report (...) Read more
European & International News
Gender Pay Gap is holding Europe Back

Analysis for Oxford Analytica

Posted on 20 September 2010 |

Summary By: Elizabeth Cox, Regional Program Director, UNIFEM, Part of UN WOMEN in the Pacific
SIGNIFICANCE
Women across Europe continue to earn less than their male counterparts, despite legislation at the EU and member-state levels that makes it illegal to pay women less than men for equal work. Research shows that this is likely remain the case for at least several decades. Yet by failing to close the gender pay gap, European businesses and countries are exposing themselves to serious (...) Read more
European & International News
EC releases new data on women and men in decision-making

Posted on 8 September 2010 |

Women and men in decision-making: highlights (third quarter 2010) 23/08/2010
An update of the European Commission’s database on women and men in decision-making has recently been completed and includes: A quarterly update of data on political decision-making at European and national level and also at regional level for those regions where there have been elections. Data were collected in the first three weeks of July 2010 and reflect changes since the last update in mid-May. An annual (...) Read more
European & International News
European Parliament FEMM Committee passes Resolution on the role of women in an ageing society

Report

Posted on 2 September 2010 |

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION on the role of women in an ageing society
(2009/2205(INI))
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Rapporteur: Sirpa Pietikäinen
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the Commission Communication of 29 April 2009 on ‘Dealing with the impact of an ageing population in the EU (2009 Ageing Report)’ (COM(2009)0180),
– having regard to the Commission staff working document of 11 May 2007 on ‘Europe’s demographic future: facts and (...) Read more
European & International News
EU diplomay: An Old Boys Club?

Posted on 25 August 2010 |

EUObserver today published an article on how the new EU External Action Service is struggling against gender and nationality biases.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Belgian, Dutch, Italian, French and German men make up the lion’s share of EU ambassadors abroad, a new study timed to coincide with a major recruitment round for the European External Action Service (EEAS), has said.
The five founding members of the EU together have 66 heads of delegation out of the EU’s 115 foreign missions which are (...) Read more
European & International News
UN Civil Society Advisory Group on Women, Peace, and Security

Preparation of Working Papers

Posted on 20 August 2010 |

In March 2010, the United Nations established the Civil Society Advisory Group on Women, Peace, and Security (CSAG) to advise the Secretary-General and the High-Level Steering Committee of UN agencies and entities on ensuring a coherent and coordinated approach to protecting women’s rights during armed conflict and ensuring their full participation in all conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction processes.
In addition to recommending concrete, time-bound and (...) Read more
European & International News
Petition on womens’ pensions in France

Posted on 20 August 2010 |

The French organisation Le Laboratoire de l’Egalité, co-founded by Olga Trostiansky who is the president of the French coordination of the European Women’s Lobby, has launched a petition on women’s pensions as a law on pensions reform will be discussed in the French parliament in September. Read more