"European Elections 2009: It's Your Choice"
Citizens demand a European Parliament with equal participation of women and men in all the procedures and all the positions

By Rodi Kratsa, 1st Vice-President of the European Parliament

The European elections 4-7 June in 27 European Union Member States is near and the election campaigns all over Europe are up and going. Thus, gender equality in the national elections lists and in the European Parliament (EP) itself arises prominently during this period.

This year, we celebrated 30 years since the first directly elected European Parliament with the participation of 9 countries and 410 elected members of the EP (MEPs), where only 17% of the MEPs were women. From those 1979 elections, we have now accomplished to directly elect 785 members, 31% of whom are now women. Thus the representation of women has almost doubled during these years and the progress is still rapidly ongoing, although there is still margin for improvement. This year’s elections lists seem to be more gender-balanced since, according to a Gender Audit Report published by the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) in light of the European elections 2009, in 17 countries there are more women on the lists than the current % of women MEPs. However, we still need to constantly enforce the placement of women as heads of lists or at least in “winnable” or “safe seats”, since, as the report points out, there are only approximately 7 countries where this occurs.

In this respect it is worth reiterating herein the conclusions of the special Eurobarometer Flash survey on “women and european elections”. This survey was presented to the media, the MEPs and to social actors from different European countries, by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Mrs. Margot Wallström, and myself on the occasion of the International Women’s Day - 8 March 2009 and the upcoming european elections.

This is the first time that such a pan-european research - with 35,000 women and 5,000 men surveyed from all 27 member-states - has been realised with a focus on the electoral attitude and opinion of women for Europe, on their priorities for european politics and their role therein. Particularly, according to the research: a) the differences in the responses are proven to be much larger among women that belong to different economic and social groups (ie. in terms of age, education) rather than between women and men, b) a high percentage of women prefers to respond “I do not know”, while men have the tension to respond to everything and c) women are much more selective than men in relation to the answers they give.

The results demonstrate important differences among member-states but they bring out the common prevailing view that politics is indeed male-dominated. The large majority of women (83%) and men (76%) believes that women will offer a different perspective and an added value in politics. One woman in two would like to see a European Parliament composed by 50% men and 50% women members while only a limited minority (10%) considers mandatory quotas valuable. As for the choice of candidates, the most influential factor for women voters is the experience in european issues and the candidate’s personality rather than his/hers political orientation.

According to the survey, the basic issues that women would like to see included in the european elections’ campaign are the following, in order of preference: a) unemployment, b) economic development and c) inflation – market power, ie. issues relevant to their daily life. In relation to the EP policy for family life, women consider as a priority: a) recognising the years devoted to the raising of their children as part of their pension rights, b) ensuring the provision of services and childcare facilities, c) ensuring common custody of children in case of divorce and d) institutionalising parental leave for the father.

These conclusions are valuable for the political parties and the politicians, men and women, because they assist us in communicating with the citizens, in preparing the content of our campaign and in presenting relevant viable solutions. They are valuable for the european institutional organs as well in their efforts to contribute to the construction of a true Europe of citizens. They are valuable for citizens, men and women, partners in the family, social and political affairs. They are valuable for the information and sensitisation of the media. Despite some common results, there are major differences among member-states. For this reason, the results of the research need to be widely disseminated and discussed at international, european and national level. In this respect and in view of the current european elections, the role of “iKNOW politics” network with its international, easily accessible, interactive and lively character, could be a most vital tool for the exchange of best practices in relation to the need to promote women’s participation in politics as well as the need to promote the needs of women voters, as a priority.