European Women’s Lobby
International Women’s Day 2020: 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration
In 1995, the UN’s 4th World Conference on women adopted Beijing Declaration, a resolution regarding the empowerment and advancement of women around the world. It set out strategic objectives to achieve gender equality in 12 areas, including the economy, violence against women, women in power and women and the environment.
In light of increasing global concerns of the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a conference to mark the anniversary of the Beijing Declaration planned by European Parliament’s women’s rights committee for 5 March was cancelled, the 64th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW64) was significantly sized down to a one-day procedural meeting with Member States’ New York-based representatives. Although the political statement and multi-annual work programme has been approved at this meeting, women’s civil society organisations from around the world missed this unique moment to bring the collective voices of women and girls, in all their diversity, to the international political table.
Sadly so far, the UN and UN Member States have not been forthcoming to reassure us or propose other ways in which Women’s Civil Society voices will still be brought to the . This lack of commitment is part of the broader concern of the increasingly shrinking space of women’s civil society. The UN system and the Member States must take proactive steps to support feminist women’s organisations, to ensure they are included and financially supported within upcoming UN processes for 2020, including the Generation Equality Forums in Mexico and Paris, and the UN General Assembly in New York.
“In times like this, we must remain vigilant and stand strong in the face of uncertainty, adversity, and instability. We continue to recognize the incredible work of women’s activists and feminists everywhere, and their ongoing efforts to ensure a feminist world where women and girls live free, equal and dignified lives. While we are physically divided, we are united in our vision for a feminist world.” Gwendoline Lefebvre, President, European Women’s Lobby
Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, EWL has published its report “25 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995-2020): THE TIME TO DELIVER IS NOW!” The report looks back at progress made in the EU in the last five years in relation to some of the BPfA’s critical areas of concern, highlights key actions of EWL and its members, and identifies remaining obstacles, to which we present our demands.
Read more on the definition and causes of the gender pay gap
More on Parliament’s work regarding women’s rights:
Call for facilitators and participants for young women’s engagement workshop
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Reflection on EWL GA Brussels 7-9 June
Two of our board members attended the General Assembly for the European Women’s Lobby in Brussels 7-8 June: Annelies Pierrot – Bults, executive member of the assembly, Treasurer and Aisha Alshawaf as an Observer.
Unequal Pay Day – call for improved gender equality in the workplace
31 October marks the Equal Pay Day, the day from which women effectively work for free until the end of the year compared to their male counterparts. The gender pay gap currently stands at 16,2% in the European Union, exceeding 20% in countries like Estonia and Czech Republic. This adds to the gender inequalities women face across their life-cycle and affects each one of them differently, depending on their race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, level of education, location and other social or personal circumstances.
European Women’s Lobby and University Women of Europe are calling for increased efforts to end the gender pay gap. Even though the principle of equal pay for equal work was enshrined in the 1957 founding Treaty of the EU, European women continue to face discrimination in the job market and to earn less than men.
In addition, because women are paid less, they contribute less to their pensions and this translates into a wide pension gap and higher risk of poverty for older women. Their pension income is negatively influenced both by the gender pay gap and by the time spent out of the labor-market to care for children and other dependent family members, together with women’s over representation in part-time work and in low paid sectors of the economy.
To effectively tackle the gender pay gap, it is necessary to address its multiple and complex root causes, starting from the lack of high quality, accessible and affordable care services. As we have seen, women are penalized throughout their lives for the things they do to keep society functioning, that is care responsibilities. There are a number of important mechanisms already in place or in the pipe-line at the EU-level to lift this weight from women’s shoulders, and the EU Institutions need to demonstrate political will in putting them to use without delay.
One such measure is the so-called “Work-life Balance Directive”, for which the Council agreed its negotiating position (general approach) in June. The Proposal entails the strengthening of parental leave by making the 2 months period non-transferable, the introduction of a carers’ leave and the extension of flexible working arrangement for carers. While the scope of these measures has been sensibly reduced in comparison with the original Commission’s proposal, their adoption would enable women to retain their economic independence while having children and to return swiftly to payed work.
Therefore, we call for a swift adoption of the Proposal for a Directive on Work-Life Balance, followed by enforcement and monitoring. While it is not a magic wand, we believe that this would be a first step towards closing the gender pay gap and ensuring a more equal society for everybody.
Read the statement by the European Commission
Find here the action by PES Women for Unequal Pay Day
For More Information
Work Life Balance Eurobarometer
EIGE’s gender equality factsheets based on the results of EIGE’s Gender Equality Index 2017.
European Women’s Forum
European Women’s Forum is a dynamic five days of feminist activities. The events of the week, from EWL General Assembly to the public street event “Loud and united to end violence against women and girls” , will be a chance to come together and celebrate the success of the European’s Women’s Movement.
General Assembly agenda and documents
This year all documents for EWL General Assembly will ONLY be available through EWL members’ forum, the Living Room (and not sent as attachments). The draft agenda, the applications for EWL candidate Board Members, all the documents for the GA are available on the agenda page, except for the 2017 Emergency Motions paper which will be made available this week.
Public event and street action “Loud and United” on 8 June, followed by EWL members’ dinner
This year, the European Women’s Lobby is marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the EWL Observatory on violence against women and girls (VAWG). The Observatory is a unique structure that brings together more than 30 experts, professionals, women’s rights defenders, and front-line NGOs activists, from all over Europe. On 11 May 2017, the EU publicly declared its intention to sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention, the first legally binding treaty in Europe that criminalises different forms of violence against women. With this declaration, the EU sends the world a message about its commitment to fighting the violation of women’s rights.
On 8 June, EWL wants to give visibility from Belgium and around Europe to their tireless work and achievements at the forefront of the fight against VAWG.
A conference with the EWL Observatory on violence against women and girls and globally recognised feminist activist, Gloria Steinem, takes place on 8 June from 14.00 to 16.30, followed by a street demonstration starting at 17:00, Mont des Arts, Place de l’Albertine, 1000 Brussels (Facebook event : https://www.facebook.com/events/1967859493432979/)
All the information you need about the event including the agenda is also available for EWL members on the Living Room: https://womenlobbyforum.org/ viewtopic.php?f=57&t=93
After the demonstration, EWL Members are then getting together with Gloria Steinem for dinner at Brasserie de la Presse from 18.30.
Find the full agenda and other information on EWL website: www.womenlobby.org/Gloria-Steinem-in-Brussels-8-June-2017
Other updates
You might want to sign and share with your networks a call on to a CSO 6th scenario for the Future of Europe from the SDGWatch Europe and Friends of the Earth:
https://womenlobbyforum.org/ viewtopic.php?f=12&t=91
EWL at CSW61
Like every year, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) will take part to the 61st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (13-24 March). EWL membership is very active during CSW61, organising side events and influencing the negotiations on the Conclusions which should be adopted by the UN member states at the end of the session.
This year’s priority theme is “Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work” and the emerging issue is ’The empowerment of Indigenous women”. Ahead of CSW61, the EWL had sent, together with its members, a joint statement highlighting the situation of women domestic workers. We have also made comments on the zero draft of the conclusions.
During CSW, the EWL is organising two events :
- A side event co-organised with Belgium and Iceland, on “The Nordic Model on prostitution: a key step to ensure girls’ and young women’s economic empowerment”, on Wednesday 15 March, 8.15-9.30am, in conference room 8 of the UN.
- A parallel event co-sponsored by NAWO Youth, Unizon, Wagggs, the European YWCA and Rights4Girls, on “#HerFuture: Challenges & opportunities for girls’ and young women’s economic empowerment”, on Wednesday 15 March, 2.30-4pm, at the Salvation Army (downstairs).
Other EWL members’ events:
- NAWO (UK) organises a series of events, to be soon on their dedicated webpage.
- The Swedish Women’s Lobby organises an event on “Underpaid and Undervalued – What a Way to Make a Living“ on Tuesday 14 March, 6.15-7.45pm
- “Diverse, Resilient and Viable – Empowering Women through the G20“ with the National Council of German Women‘s Organizations, on Monday 13 March, 1.15-2.30pm
- “Women’s Economic Empowerment in Lusophone Countries“ organised by the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights, 16 March, 2.30-4pm, Armenian Center
EWL Secretariat members will also be speaking at:
- “A year of focused actions to combat violence against women and girls“, an event of the European Commission, on Wednesday 15 March, 1.15-2.30pm, Un conference room 2
- “Trading on the Female Body“ on Tuesday 14 March, 1-3pm
* “Supporting feminist movement building for Planet 50-50 by 2030“ on Friday 17 March, 5-8pm - “Women Doctors: Economic Empowerment and Social Determinants of Health”, organised by MWIA, Wednesday 15 March, 12.30-2pm, Hardin room Church Center
EWL will take part to the EU-briefing, and will co-facilitate the meetings of the caucus for Europe and North America:
- Wednesday 15 March, 6.15-7.45pm, Boss room Church Center
- Monday 20 March, 6.15-7.45pm, 2nd floor Church Center
The list of NGO events is here. The list of official side events is here.
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women – Call for Submissions
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Dubravka Šimonović took up function as Special Rapporteur on 1 August 2015 and intends to, inter alia, focus on the legal and policy frameworks of her mandate and the international human rights mechanisms to discuss the gap in incorporating and implementing the international and regional standards related to violence against women.The Special Rapporteur considers that the discussion on the adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women initiated by the former mandate holder should continue and she wishes to secure views from different stakeholders, including States, National Human Rights Institutions, Non-governmental organizations, as well as members of academia.She has launched a consultation on the gap of transposing and implementing international and regional standards on violence against women.Taking into consideration the important role that different stakeholders play in reinforcing universal human rights standards, she would be very interested to receive input and views on the following questions:1. Do you consider that there is a need for a separate legally binding treaty on violence against women with its separate monitoring body?2. Do you consider that there is an incorporation gap of the international or regional human rights norms and standards?3. Do you believe that there is a lack of implementation of the international and regional legislation into the domestic law?4. Do you think that there is a fragmentation of policies and legislation to address gender-based violence?5. Could you also provide your views on measures needed to address this normative and implementation gap and to accelerate prevention and elimination of violence against women?European Women’s Lobby is planning to send a EWL Contribution and, as it is an important consultation, we would like to ask to send your input and views on the questions asked by the UN Special Rapporteur. EWL preliminary comments/clarifications are the following ones:Q1: The EWL does not have a specific position on this issue specific point yet, so it will be very interesting to have your views on this. It can be interesting to highlight the positive aspects of the Istanbul Convention but also what it is missing.Q2: By incorporation gap, we understand if international or regional human rights norms and standards have been signed/ratified. We would appreciate very much if you can give examples of international/regional standards have not been signed/ratified or if there have been major reservations.Q3: By lack of implementation of the international understand into the domestic law we understand gaps in the transposition of the international/regional legislation into the domestic law. Again, it will be great if you can give examples of gaps in transposition into legislation and also gaps in implementation.Q4: We will push for the use of the term “violence against women” in all the contribution. EWL will argue that there is fragmentation of policies and legislation and different levels of protection of women in Europe.Q5: Your ideas will be very welcomed, and it would be good to link this reply to the reply given to the first question.
Please, send your contributions to boarduwe@gmail.com and rosales@womenlobby.org.We would be very grateful to receive your replies by the 20th of September, so that it will be enough time to compile all the replies into the EWL Contribution.
We will send you back the final EWL Contribution by the 28th of September so that you can use it as well if you want to send your own contributions on behalf of your organisations. The final deadline for the UN to receive the contributions is the 1st of October.Thank you very much in advance,many regards from the Board,Roxana Elena PetrescuSecretary General
