Does poverty have a female face? And will more women coming to power can change things in their favor? Yes, is the answer, at least by the Europeans, as the World celebrates International Women’s Day on Friday. Members of the European Parliament, their national counterparts and women professionals appealed on the eve of the Women’s Day for a stronger gender dimension in all policy-making in response to the economic crisis which, they agreed, hits women harder than men.
“The economic crisis has affected women more than men but the crisis is also the opportunity to change the current situation,” said Gianni Pittella, EP Vice-President, who opened the discussion between the women’s rights committee and its guests from the national parliaments on Thursday.
The meeting, held to mark the International Women’s Day, focused on how to strengthen women’s social and economic rights in the crisis. Speakers agreed that women, especially women with children, suffer more than men in times of austerity. They called for investment in life-long learning, better education, female entrepreneurship schemes and opportunities for tele-working.
“If we invest in women, we need to let them go and follow their ambitions,” concluded French MEP Morin-Chartier (EPP). She is the author of the resolution on the impact of the crisis on gender equality and women’s rights, which will be voted by the full House on March 12.
A Europe-wide survey conducted ahead of the International Women’s Day-2013 showed that 78 percent of Europeans think that having more women in positions of political power in developing countries would ‘make things better’.
Over 25,000 citizens of the 27 EU Member-States were consulted for this Eurobarometer survey to reflect the views of European citizens on gender equality and the need to empower women in developing countries.
Over three quarters of respondents said that getting more women into leading roles in developing countries would improve respect for human rights, with 72 percent saying it would also improve living conditions and 65 percent believing it would prevent conflict and war.
Over nine in ten Europeans thought that gender equality improves the way societies in general function and that all aid programs should take specific account of women’s rights.
In terms of how problems in developing countries affect men and women; most respondents thought that women were affected more than men by physical violence (83%), as well as problems in accessing education (63%), basic human rights not being respected and lack of an income/job (both 61%).
EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, commented: “We put women at the heart of everything we do; making sure that our aid programs take women into account in everything from education and healthcare, to agriculture and energy, so I am delighted to see that the majority of Europeans agree with this approach.”
by RTT Staff Writer
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