European Parliament Elections 2019: towards parity democracy in Europe
Source: Basqueskola
This policy paper aims to reconsider the concept of parity democracy in the current context of the EU and focusing on the elections to the EP in May 2019. As developed in the Athens Declaration, adopted at the European Summit of Women in Power in 1992, parity democracy stands on 5 basic arguments (equality, democracy, good use of human resources, needs and interests of women and quality of policy-making) which are recalled and updated with a view to provide stakeholders, including democrats standing for gender equality and feminist movements, with useful ammunitions to inform and convince EU citizens (women and men) to vote and to vote for women defending equality. This policy paper is, therefore, part of broader Gender Five Plus’ efforts to inform EU citizens and influence stakeholders for greater gender balance in the EU. The analysis in this policy paper is based on desk research, literature review and includes diverse forms of experience in EU policy-making. It is divided into four different parts and a list of recommendations. Part I tries to answer the question of why parity democracy is important to the EU; Part II focuses on why the EU and parity democracy are important to women; Part III analyses gender balance in the EU decision-making (focusing in the EP); Part IV examines the possible challenges and opportunities for fostering parity democracy in the current EU context and the conclusion provides space for a reflection on the EU that we want and need to build. Finally, derived from the analysis of the whole policy paper, a noncomprehensive list of recommendations is provided.
Click here to see the report.
This policy paper aims to reconsider the concept of parity democracy in the current context of the EU and focusing on the elections to the EP in May 2019. As developed in the Athens Declaration, adopted at the European Summit of Women in Power in 1992, parity democracy stands on 5 basic arguments (equality, democracy, good use of human resources, needs and interests of women and quality of policy-making) which are recalled and updated with a view to provide stakeholders, including democrats standing for gender equality and feminist movements, with useful ammunitions to inform and convince EU citizens (women and men) to vote and to vote for women defending equality. This policy paper is, therefore, part of broader Gender Five Plus’ efforts to inform EU citizens and influence stakeholders for greater gender balance in the EU. The analysis in this policy paper is based on desk research, literature review and includes diverse forms of experience in EU policy-making. It is divided into four different parts and a list of recommendations. Part I tries to answer the question of why parity democracy is important to the EU; Part II focuses on why the EU and parity democracy are important to women; Part III analyses gender balance in the EU decision-making (focusing in the EP); Part IV examines the possible challenges and opportunities for fostering parity democracy in the current EU context and the conclusion provides space for a reflection on the EU that we want and need to build. Finally, derived from the analysis of the whole policy paper, a noncomprehensive list of recommendations is provided.
Click here to see the report.