European Parliament’s achievements concerning gender equality

Policy Study

In preparation to the seminar “A gender sensible European Parliament 2014?” – supported by the Fondation Jean Jaurès – Ghislaine Toutain, prepared a background study (only available in French) which takes stock of the EP’s achievements concerning gender equality. The author mainly focuses on the history of the FEMM Committee. It describes the challenges around its establishment and follows its changing role in the diverse political battles until recently. The study takes an analytic look at the work of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality(FEMM) committee in three main areas: employment, the political sphere and violence against women. It also gives a panorama of the development on other fields concerning gender equality.

The paper examines the most recent reports and proposals as well. In order to give a thorough background on the history and current work of he FEMM Committee, the study finishes with an interview where French MEP Sylvie Guillaume shares her experiences.
The seminar was organised with the objective to examine and analyse the role of gender equality in the framework of the upcoming European Parliament elections in 2014.