Strasbourg, 25 April 2016

GEC(2016)3 rev

GENDER EQUALITY COMMISSION

(GEC)

______________

Summary information about events attended by

GEC members, Experts or Secretariat members


Event:                         Council of Europe Side Event: Raising awareness to prevent violence against                                    women and domestic violence –Istanbul Convention’s contribution to UN                                      Sustainable Development

Date and place:         23-26 November 2015, New York, United States of America

Participants:              Marja Ruotanen and Liri Kopaçi-Di Michele

Oral report

Link to event flyer

Event:                         Regional conference on gender equality in electoral in electoral processes                                                 organised by the Venice Commission in co-operation with the Central                                               Election Commission of Georgia

Date and place:         26-27 November, Tbilisi, Georgia

Participants:              Raluca Popa

Report

The Gender Equality Unit participated and delivered a presentation on The standards and work of the Council of Europe on balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making at the regional conference on Gender Equality in Electoral Processes organised by the Venice Commission in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of Georgia. The conclusions of the conference, reflected in its Synopsis, underline the interlinks between women’s under-representation in political life and other areas of gender inequality, such as gender stereotyping, under-representation of women in media, violence against women, and challenges reconciling families and elected offices. For these reasons, the participants agreed on the need for a holistic approach to facilitate women’s access to elected offices and emphasized the continuing relevance of Council of Europe gender equality standards in this field, in particular Recommendation Rec(2003)3 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision making. This activity involved the central election commissions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. More information is available also on the Venice Commission website.

See Appendix 1 for intervention


Event:                         International Conference “Domestic Violence: what remains behind                                           the door”

Date and place:         30 November 2015, Prague Czech Republic

Participant:                Raluca Popa

Report

The conference "Domestic violence: what stays behind closed doors?" was organised as part of the 16 days of activism against violence against women and it was financed by the Norway Grants. It provided a good opportunity to signal to the authorities of the Czech Republic the readiness of the Council of Europe to support them in the process of signature and ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Raluca Popa made two presentations: one during the plenary panel, on Istanbul Convention: Measures and Challenges; and one on Co-ordinated approaches as required by the Istanbul Convention, delivered at one of the parallel workshops of the conference. Thus, the IC was further promoted among 40 participants, representatives of Czech authorities, in particular Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as researchers and civil society experts from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The authorities present at the conference (Jiři Dienstbier, Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities) confirmed reports that the Czech Republic will sign the Istanbul Convention in 2016 and that ratification by the Parliament is envisaged by mid-2018. The growing mobilisation of men’s rights groups against gender equality, in the context of domestic violence interventions, is to be noted. An example is the Union of Fathers of the Czech Republic, whose representatives attended the entire conference.

Event:                         Global Alliance on Media and Gender:  International                                                                    Development Cooperation meeting on gender and media                                                                         including online

Date and place:         7-8 December, Geneva, Switzerland

Participant:                Liri Kopaçi-Di Michele

Oral report

See Appendix 2 for intervention.

Event:                         Meeting with International Olympic Committee

Date and place:         25 January 2016, Lausanne Switzerland

Participants:              Marja Ruotanen and Liri Kopaçi-Di Michele

Oral report

Event:                         Workshop on Electoral system design and increased women participation in                                 politics as part of the Electoral System Week Ukraine

Date and place:         3 February 2016, Kyiv, Ukraine

Participant:                Sergiy Kyslytsya

Oral report

Event:                         A Side Event at the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women                                   co-organised by the Council of Europe and the Permanent Mission of                                             Bulgaria to the United Nations: Protecting human rights of women refugees                                  and asylum seekers

Date and place:         14 March 2016, New York, United States of America

Participants:              Marja Ruotanen and Liri Kopaçi-Di Michele

Oral report

Link to webpage of event

Event:                         A Side Event at the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women                                   co-organised by the Council of Europe, the Office of the UN High                                                             Commissioner for Human Rights and the Republic of Malta: Multiple                                              Discrimination – A Single Response - Combating stereotypes and                                                      discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity LBT                           women

Date and place:         16 March 2016, New York, United States of America

Participants:              Marja Ruotanen and Liri Kopaçi-Di Michele

Oral report

Link to webpage of event


Event:                         Annual Course on Human Rights (“An active combat for equal rights                                        between men and women”) organised by the Catalonian Institute of Human                                   Rights

Date and place:         14 April, Barcelona, Spain   

Participant:                Carolina Lasén Diaz 

My class was part of this 2-week course organised by the Catalonian Institute of Human Rights. It gathered together around 80 participants, including civil servants from Latin American countries. My presentation focused on women in politics, and in particular the Council of Europe’s work to improve women’s balanced participation in political and public decision-making.


Appendix 1

Regional Conference on Gender Equality in Electoral Processes

Presentation by Raluca Popa, Gender Equality Unit

25 November

Council of Europe’s

Standards and work on balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making

Suffragette videoclip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Puvc3L_yo

“We are in every home, we are half the human race, you cannot stop us all. We will win!”

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear colleagues,

It is a pleasure to speak at this event. On behalf of the Gender Equality Unit of the Council of Europe we thank our colleagues in the Venice Commission for this invitation and this opportunity to introduce to you all our standards and work on balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making.

[Democracy, gender equality and women’s political representation]

Dear colleagues,

We all agree that gender equality is at the core of democracy. The Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy (2014 – 2017) makes it clear that “Achieving gender equality is central to the protection of human rights, the functioning of democracy, respect for the rule of law and economic growth and sustainability.” It is, in other words, central to everything we do at the Council of Europe.

Indeed, the Council of Europe has been concerned with the promotion of equality of women and men for more than three decades. And perhaps for even longer, as one can argue that the foundational treaty of the Council of Europe, the European Convention on Human Rights (formally, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) was an expression of that commitment. The ECHR indeed guarantees the enjoyment of all rights enshrined in the Convention without discrimination based on sex.

Women’s political representation and participationin political decision-making is central to both democracy and gender equality. Polities that allow access to political power for some groups but not others are not fully democratic. It may not sound so now, but this is a radical idea. If we take a closer look at the history of our continent, we need to accept that democracy is fairly new from women’s perspective. The ‘simplest’ of rights in this sense, the right of women to vote, was considered a threat to social and political structures until less than a century ago in most European countries. In some of our member states, women’s right to vote was considered dangerous until much later. The timing of democracy changes significantly, if we look at it from women’s perspective and take their inclusion and participation in political decision-making as the benchmark. In that case, democracy certainly does not start with the Greek polis, it does not even start with the French Revolution, but only centuries later, when women finally got the right to vote and, thus, a say in the decisions that govern their lives. The Grand Duchy of Finland (part of the Russian Empire) was the first in Europe to grant women suffrage, in 1906, while thelast country in Europe to achieve women’s universal suffrage was Switzerland, much later, in 1971.

The need for women’s representation in elected political institutions stems from basic considerations of democracy and justice. The most powerful argument contends that it is simply unfair for men to dominate political representation, since women are half of humanity.

[Developments in the Council of Europe]

For the Council of Europe, women's political participation was a priority concern within the framework of equality initiatives. From the very beginning the "close relationship between women's political participation on equal terms with men and the reinforcement of the democratic process and democratic institutions" was stressed. The adoption of positive action and special temporary measures was strongly advocated and it remains to this day one of the main pillars of Council of Europe standards and work to promote balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making. We believe that gender quotas, whether they are legislated or adopted by political parties as internal policies, are necessary to reverse the historical gender imbalance in political participation. And we also know that they work to increase women’s political participation.

Already towards the end of the 1980s, the Council of Europe firmly established equality between women and men as a principle of human rights, while until then it had been considered mainly as a social question. This pioneering way of thinking was recognized by the international community a few years later, at the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, in 1993. Consequently, it became clear that women's political participation on equal terms with men was a matter of human rights.

The concept and framework for actions aiming at gender balance in political life and decision- making was further developed in the 1990s. The concept of parity democracy ("La Démocratie Paritaire") emerged in conjunction with the re-examining of the very concept of democracy. New enthusiasm for democracy swept across Europe, following the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of state socialism. In that context, the dimension of women's full and equal political participation was seen as fundamental for the establishment of real, genuine democracy.

In this historical development, the year 1995 is, of course, particularly significant. The IV World Conference on Women in Beijing adopted the Beijing Platform for Action, which included the sharing of power and decision-making as one of the critical areas to achieve gender equality in the world. In the Council of Europe, the “Declaration on Equality between Women and Men as a fundamental criterion of Democracy” was adopted in 1997. It spoke of gender balanced representation as a requirement of justice and a necessity for attaining genuine democracy. It also put forward a program of action, including measures for equality in political and public life.

Finally, in the year 2000, it was decided to create a Group of Specialists with the main task of drafting a specific Recommendation on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making. After long negotiations, the Committee of Ministers adopted the recommendation in March 2003. It is still the most significant standard of the Council of Europe in this field. I will come back to the main provisions of this Recommendation at the end of my presentation.

Which representation?

As a political scientist, the concept of political representation is very important and very dear to me. In her seminal book The Concept of Representation (1967), Hanna Pitkin described four types of representation:

(1) authorized, where a representative is legally empowered to act for another;

(2) descriptive representation, where the representative stands for a group by virtue of sharing similar characteristics such as race, sex, ethnicity, or residence;

(3) symbolic representation, where a leader stands for national ideas; and

(4) substantive representation, where the representative seeks to advance a group's policy preferences and interests.

While Pitkin did not use the concept of gender, subsequent feminist scholarship (because, yes, I am also a feminist) did use the taxonomy proposed by Pitkin, with a focus on the three last types of representation, as each of these types sheds light on essential aspects of women’s political representation.

Descriptive representation refers to the nominal representation of women in parliaments and other elected bodies. While this does not cover the full extent of women’s political participation in decision-making, it is an important element and precondition for other aspects of representation.

Let’s take a look around Europe.

Despite some progress and large country differences, the equal representation of women and men in political life remains a challenge in Europe. In our member states, the proportion of women in national parliaments stands at a regional average of 26% women in national parliaments[1]. This represents a slowly increasing trend over the past decade, since 2005, when we started monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Recommendation Rec (2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making.

Legislative power. Women’s representation in national parliaments, 2005, 2008, 2015[2]

Region

Lower House, 2005

Lower House, 2008

Lower House, 2015

Europe – CoE member states

21.8%

23.7%

26.03%

This average obscures large differences among countries. While some countries fare better than others, the majority of our member states are below and some are significantly below the 40% threshold, which has been defined as the threshold for balanced participation in Rec(2003)3. In 2008, only three countries reached the prescribed 40 % threshold: Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. In 2005, it was only Sweden that reached this number. We will have new data from our member states in the second half of next year, as we are planning  to commence the third round of monitoring Rec(2003)3 in January 2016. Until then, the IPU data shows that Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Spain are the only member states that reach the threshold in 2015.

The situation of countries in Central and Eastern Europemerits some discussion. As you see from this figure, which I have borrowed from a very good OSCE study on Gender Equality in Elected Office, the trends in women’s representation in this region are very uneven. Most CEE countries granted women the right to vote under state socialist governments and throughout state socialism the representation of women in parliaments steadily increased. In the early 1990s, after the collapse of communism, the number of women in parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe sharply declined, in some countries to all-time lows of 2-3%. Since then, and throughout the years 2000s, the situation has improved, but most CEE countries, including those of the Eastern Partnership, are merely halfway through or even further behind the Council of Europe minimum standard of 40% participation in elected bodies.

Local government (Parity Democracy, 2009)

Region

Mayors, 2005

Mayors, 2008

Mayors, 2015

Europe – CoE member states

10,2%

10.2%

?

From our comparative study looking at the findings from the first and second rounds of monitoring Recommendation Rec(2003)3, we know that, at the local level, it seems even more difficult for women to gain political power and to be elected. In 2008, the countries that had relatively high numbers of women mayors were, again, Sweden, and the Netherlands, but also Iceland and Norway. But the numbers never exceeded a quarter. Other European countries like Austria, Greece or Slovenia had around 3 % women mayors, while Armenia, Monaco and Liechtenstein had none. 

Another dimension of gender equality in relation to political representation is that of substantive representation – the question here is rather that of the impact of women’s political representation on (other) women’s lives. When women are represented in the parliaments and other decision making bodies, does that entail positive outcomes for the group of women? Or, to put it differently, what changes when more women participate in political decision-making?According to the World Bank (2014). Voice and Agency. Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity, greater representation of women in local and national government can influence both policy considerations and budget allocations. In higher-income countries greater female representation has increased the prominence of issues more relevant to women’s lives, including child mortality, maternity leave, child care, and violence against women (Caiazza 2002; Kittilson 2008; Miller 2008). In a poll of members of parliament from 110 countries conducted between 2006 and 2008, female parliamentarians were more likely to prioritize social issues such as child care, equal pay, parental leave, and pensions; physical concerns such as reproductive rights, physical safety, and gender-based violence; and development matters such as poverty reduction and service delivery (IPU 2008). Data from 19 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that having more women legislators resulted in higher total educational spending (Chen 2008). In Sweden, an increase in the number of women in parliament led to a rise in budget allocations to education (Markham 2013).

Further research from Sweden, the UK and USA found that women MPs and candidate MPs are more likely than men to uphold the value of gender equality, and more likely to support women’s rights on abortion, criminalizing rape in marriage and domestic violence.

There may be indirect effects or a long term societal impact also. Sylvia Walby, for example, found, based on global level data from all countries where such data was available, that: “The homicide of women inversely correlates with the percentage of women in parliament. The homicide of women is lower when women are better represented in parliament, indicative of an association between forms of female empowerment and reduced violence against women.”[3]

Finally, symbolic representation of women is an area often overlooked, but it is equally important as the other two types already discussed.[4] It usually takes one of three forms. First, and most common, is the media representation of women politicians. We know from many studies in our member states that women politicians receive much less coverage relative to men, and that stereotypical representations of women politicians are dominant. Increasingly in our member states we also witness the proliferation of sexist hate speech against women politicians, with the help of online communication and social media.  For example, a violent harassment campaign including emails of threats of rape, torture and murder was directed at Laura Boldrini, Italian speaker of the Parliament’s lower house.

Symbolic representation, however, can also be conceived in terms of the role model effect of women politicians. Empirical studies to date offer mixed findings. Some research has found that the presence of high profile and viable women politicians positively affects younger women’s expectations that they will participate in politics, not least through girls’ enhanced discussion of politics (Campbell and Wolbrecht 2006; Wolbrecht and Campbell 2007). Other research, on Latin America, for example, finds little relationship between gender quotas and women’s levels of political interest, trust in politicians or political parties, and perceptions of political knowledge (Zetterberg 2008).

Finally, symbolic representation also refers to the ways in which women and men are symbolically represented through metaphors, stereotypes, frames, and underlying norms and values in constitutions, laws, judicial decisions, treaties, administrative regulations and public policies. From this perspective, the prevalence of sexism and gender stereotypes is a measure of the symbolic devaluation of women, including women as politicians.

From the figures and studies I mentioned, and there are still many more with the same message, there is only one conclusion to draw: In Europe, parity democracy is a far cry from reality. What are the reasons? Research has shown that obstacles to such participation can be related to electoral systems, but also to the functioning of political life and to its rites and rhythms, that still follow a dominant male pattern of social organisation. They can also be related to the unwritten, traditional rules of political parties which, still too often, tend to function as “old boys networks”. There are also many deeper-rooted obstacles to women’s participation, obstacles that are linked to educational, social and cultural factors that still tend to privilege the public/political domain as being a mainly male domain. And a very simple reason is that: women don’t have time. Between bringing up children, doing housework and working, there is little time to spend on political committees.

How can the situation be improved?

International standards offer a very solid basis for devising measures to improve balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making.

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right:

(a) To vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies;

(b) To participate in the formulation of government policy and the implementation thereof and to hold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government;

And Article 4:

“Temporary special measures are measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women. They shall not be considered discrimination (…) and shall be discontinued when the objectives of equality of opportunity and treatment have been achieved”

As all European States have ratified CEDAW, it is clear they have an obligation to ensure equal participation of women and men in political decision-making at all levels, including by adopting temporary special measures, such as quotas.

Recommendation Rec(2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making aims to facilitate the fulfilment of these obligations. This recommendation is a comprehensive instrument, which encompasses a variety of measures, of areas and of actors. It puts together a wide array of measures that can be taken to promote women’s equal participation in political and public life and decision-making.

This recommendation contains the following definition of balanced participation: “…representation of either women or men in any decision-making body in political or public life should not fall below 40%.”

Then it goes on to propose legislative and administrative measures, as well as supportive measures.

Among the first, suggested measures include:

·        constitutional and/or legal changes, including adoption of positive action; [quotas]

·        For example, in France, since 1999, the Constitution was amended to include an obligation to promote equal access by women and men to elective offices and posts”. Furthermore, in June 2000, a new electoral law was approved, known as the ‘parity law’, mandating that political parties nominate an equal number of male and female candidates in municipal, legislative and European elections. Party lists are declared ineligible if they fail to meet this standard for municipal, Senate and European elections. In contrast, political parties face financial sanctions, if they do not nominate equal numbers of women and men for elections to the National Assembly.

Legislated quotas have been adopted in many more of our member states. Most recently, such reforms were introduced in countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia).

From the countries present here, quotas exist in Georgia and Ukraine and proposals have been made in the Republic of Moldova also. In Ukraine, the Law on Political Parties (2013) provides that at least 30% of candidates on party lists must be women. On July 14, 2015 an amendment was adopted that requires each political party to provide a minimum level of representation of 30% of the total number of candidates for the under-represented sex. However, there are no sanctions for non-compliance with this provision and the Central Electoral Commission has argued that the violation of the gender quota is not a ground to declare a political party ineligible to participate in elections. This decision was contested by a political party (“Samoposh”, Self-Help) in an administrative court. The case was then referred to the Kyiv Court of Appeal, which invoked Article 7 of CEDAW and found that the position of the Central Electoral Commission constitutes a violation of the law (This is a very recent decision, on 30 September 2015, therefore we will need to see what the consequences will be.)

·        use of official non-sexist language;

·        introduction of parity thresholds and, in the case of proportional lists, introduction of zipper systems;

·        For example, in Sweden, since 1991, when the proportion of women in parliament dropped for the first time in a long upward trend, decreasing from 38 to 34 percent, women began to lobby inside political parties, as well as across party lines to pressure political parties to place women in more ‘safe’ positions on party lists. They also considered forming a women’s party.

The demand that they agreed on eventually was a new approach known as “every other one for the ladies”. This expression referred to a custom at countryside dances where every other song it was the women’s turn to invite the men, a tradition also known as ‘democratic dancing’. As more and more parties have endorsed the principle of alternating between women and men on party lists (zipper system), women’s political representation has increased significantly above the 34% where it was in 1991 and it hovers now around the 45 percent (2010).

·        action through public funding of political parties;

·        review and reform of electoral systems when they have a negative impact on the representation of women;

·        restrictions on simultaneously holding of several elected offices;

·        improvement of working conditions of elected representatives;

·        measures to allow for reconciliation of family and public responsibilities;

·        the obligation of gender balance in all public appointments, posts  and functions;

·        strengthening of national equality machinery in actions to bring about balanced representation of women and men;

·        encouragement of parliaments to set up parliamentary committees for women’s rights.

There is also a long list of support measures to be adopted by Member States. Among them are:

·        the setting up of a data bank of women willing to serve in decision-making posts;

·        the establishment of networks of women elected representatives at various levels;

·        training for women candidates, namely in the new information and communication technologies;

·        encouragement and training of young people, especially young women for political participation;

·        information to political parties on strategies used in various countries to promote gender balance;

·        encouragement of social partners, enterprises and associations; promotion of campaigns addressing the general public and targeting specific groups;

·        research on the distribution of votes to determine the voting patterns of men and women;

·        research on obstacles that prevent women’s participation and on their involvement in social and voluntary sector decision-making;

·        gender sensitive research on the roles, functions, status and working conditions of elected representatives;

·        and actions concerning the media, namely awareness raising and ensuring that women and men receive equal visibility in the media especially during election campaigns, etc

The Recommendation also contains very good, practical suggestions for monitoring of such measures. For example, it suggests that Member States consider establishing independent bodies, such as a parity observatory or a mediation body to follow governmental policy in this area or entrust such action to national equality mechanisms; or setting up of indicators for monitoring evolution in this participation. A list of indicators is suggested, including:

o   the percentage of women and men in parliaments, local assemblies, national delegations to nominated assemblies and international fora,

o   the percentage of women in governments at various levels, national, federal or regional,

o   the percentage of women in the highest ranks of civil service, in the judiciary, in bodies appointed by government, in decision-making bodies of political parties and of social partners, etc.

It also recommends submission of reports to national parliaments on measures taken and progress made, as well as the publication of such reports:  the systematic gathering and dissemination of statistics on candidates for political office and elected representatives; and, finally, regular analysis of the visibility and portrayal of women and men in news and current affairs programs, especially during elections campaigns.

It is a long, but inspiring list of measures and a good source for ideas on how to change the present situation, which is one of democratic deficit in all our countries.

[Council of Europe work on balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making]

Our work on balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making is framed by the Gender Equality Strategy (2014-2015). This first-ever Council of Europe Strategy on Gender Equality provides the strategic framework for the implementation of standards, such as Recommendation Rec(2003)3, to bring member states closer to de facto gender equality. “Achieving balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making” is one of the objectives of the Strategy, alongside “combating gender stereotypes and sexism”; “preventing and combating violence against women”; “guaranteeing equal access of women to justice” and “achieving gender mainstreaming in all policies and measures”.

Towards the implementation of Objective 4 of our Strategy, we will launch next year, in January 2016, the third round of monitoring Rec(2003)3 and I warmly invite all the countries present here to participate in this exercise.

I would also like to acknowledge here the extensive work done by our colleagues in the Division for Electoral Assistance, as well as the organisers of this conference, the Venice Commission.

[Conclusions]

In the wake of the 20th century, the suffragettes movement in the UK and elsewhere was convinced that justice was on their side and women would win (the right to vote, but also equality with men in political decision-making). More than a century later, we can ask ourselves,

Have women won? I am afraid the answer is no, not yet. The struggle continues.

Despite progress, opposition to gender equality and women’s rights is on the rise among certain segments of policy makers, parliamentarians and civil society groups. Women and women’s rights are negatively affected by the crises and austerity measures. Now, more than ever, it is important to continue to promote the Council of Europe standards on women’s rights and gender equality and their potential as tools for change both in member and non-member states and to strengthen impact through joint action.

Significant levels of inequality between women and men persist globally. In March 2015, the UN CSW reviewed the progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 20 years after its adoption. The conclusion was that progress has been “slow and uneven”, that “major gaps remain”, and that “obstacles persist, including structural barriers”. In Europe, the regional review carried out by the United Nations 20 years after the Beijing Conference pointed to the “existence of a wide gap between legislation and its implementation in all areas of the Beijing Platform for Action”. The challenges mentioned included “rising conservatism and a pushback on gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment”, which have “slowed and sometimes even reversed progress”.

Two critical areas where improvement is needed in Europe are: the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that women from marginalized groups experience, and the collection of sex-disaggregated statistics, so that progress and setbacks in achieving real gender equality can be identified. These two areas are extremely important for balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making as well.

Which women are represented in political life is a complex question. Elected representatives rarely share social backgrounds with women in the electorate, a pattern that also holds for men, but which is not often problematized. European women elected representatives are more likely to be highly educated, middle class, elite women (Mateo Diaz 2005). Yet, the politically salient differences among women are as substantial as those among men and include class, ethnicity, race, religion, age, group memberships, party affiliations, marital status, children at home, school, other dependents, employment status, right and left wing women, and feminist and anti-feminist women. There is relatively little data on the representation of the various social categories of women, which links then to the second point, that of the need to improve data collection.

These are steps that will get us closer to the aspiration that was formulated twenty years ago, that of parity democracy, which should mean the equal, truly equal, participation of women and men in political decision-making, from all the angles I discussed (descriptive, substantive and symbolic). And when we say women, we mean all women, in their diversity. Even if that makes parity democracy an even farther cry from reality!

Thank you.


Appendix 2

International Development Cooperation Meeting on Gender and Media

Towards a Joint Cooperation Framework for the Global Alliance on Media and Gender

Palais des Nations, Geneva, 7-8 December 2015

Speaking points by Liri Kopaçi-Di Michele, Head of Equality Division, Council of Europe

1.                  The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading human rights organisation.  It promotes democracy, human rights and rule of law through international conventions and other standards. It advocates for freedom of expression, freedom of media, freedom of assembly and equality.  

2.                  For the Council of Europe, achieving gender equality is central to the protection of human rights, the functioning of democracy, respect for the rule of law and economic growth and competitiveness.

3.                  The Council of Europe’s pioneering work in the fields of human rights and gender equality has resulted in a solid legal and policy framework which contributes to national, regional and international efforts to advance women’s rights and bring member states closer to real equality between women and men.

4.                  From the 1980s onwards the Council of Europe has put forward standards which have resulted in a new approach to the issue of gender equality and have shaped its development in Europe over the past decades. Milestone achievements include the drafting of two legal treaties:  the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197) and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention, CETS No. 210).

5.                  Based on the established link between achieving gender equality and the eradication of violence against women, the Istanbul Convention contains a number of provisions that aim at advancing the status of women in society in law and in fact. Furthermore, the Istanbul Convention calls for measures to address gender relations and the persistence of gender based stereotypes.  It aims at changing attitudes and eliminating stereotypes not only at the level of individuals but also at the level of institutions.

6.                  The Istanbul Convention also address the responsibility of the private sector, in particular the media and information and communication technology sector to work towards an enhanced respect for women’s dignity and to become involved in the prevention of violence against women.  

7.                  The Council of Europe Transversal Programme on Gender Equality, launched in 2012, aims to increase the impact and visibility of gender equality standards, supporting their implementation in member states through a variety of measures.


8.                  The Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017 provides guidance on action to be taken in the current priority areas: Combating Gender Stereotypes and Sexism with particular focus on media, education and sexist hate speech; Preventing and combating violence against women, with a focus on promoting the ratification and implementation of the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention; Guaranteeing the equal access of women to justice; Achieving the balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making including in the media; and Promoting gender mainstreaming in all policies and measures in the Council of Europe. In achieving its aims and objectives, the Council of Europe seeks to further develop and strengthen its co-operation and synergies with partner organisations, in particular the EU, the UN and its different agencies - including UN-Women and UNESCO.

9.                  Council of Europe work in the field of combatting gender stereotypes and sexism fully recognises the important role that the media play in forming social attitudes and values as well as their potential as instruments of social change. 

10.              In 2013, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a Recommendation to its 47 member States on Gender Equality and Media proposing a set of measures to public authorities and the media, including legislation and (self) regulation, to ensure respect for human dignity, prohibit discrimination and combat violence against women.

11.              Highlight of the Recommendation: gender equality and media freedom as two interrelated notions: 

“Media freedom (including editorial freedom) and gender equality are intrinsically inter-related. Gender equality is an integral part of human rights. Freedom of expression, as a fundamental right, goes hand-in-hand with gender equality. Furthermore, the exercise of freedom of expression can advance gender equality

12.              The Recommendation provides specific guidelines and suggests action to ensure gender equality and to combat gender stereotyping.

13.              The recommendation is addressed to member states and media organisations, and contains 16 implementation measures in the following six categories:

-          Review and evaluation of gender equality policy and legislation;

-          Adoption and implementation of national indicators for gender equality in the media;

-          Provision of information and promotion of good practices;

-          Accountability channels;

-          Research and publication;

-          Media literacy and active citizenship.


14.              Member States are encouraged to:

-          Adopt appropriate legal framework to ensure respect for human dignity, and prohibition of discrimination, or incitement to hatred or any form of gender-based violence within the media;

-          Ensure media regulators respect gender equality principles in decision making and practice;

-          Support awareness-raising initiatives to combat gender stereotypes in the media;

15.              Media Organisations are encouraged to:

-          Adopt self-regulatory measures, codes of conduct/ethics and internal supervision, develop standards in media coverage that promotes gender equality, leading to a consistent policy and working conditions aimed at:

-          equal access to and representation in media work for women and men

-          gender balance in management, advisory & regulatory bodies, decision-making

-          non-stereotyped image, role & visibility of women & men, avoidance of sexist advertising, language & content that could lead to discrimination or incitement to hatred or gender-based violence

16.              To support member states in their efforts to implement the 16 measures contained in the recommendation, the Council of Europe has prepared a handbook with practical suggestions and examples of good practices.



[1] Average calculated on the basis of data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in national parliaments, accessed 23.10.2015

[2] Figures for 2005 and 2008 based on CDEG (2009) 17, Parity democracy - A far cry from reality. Comparative study on the results of the first and second rounds of monitoring of Council of Europe Recommendation Rec (2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making.

[3] Sylvia Walby (2009), Globalization and Inequalities. Complexity and Contested Modernities, London: Sage, p. 299.

[4] The ensuing discussion of symbolic representation is based on Childs, Sarah and Joni Lovenduski, “Political Representation”. In Waylen, Georgina, Celis, Karen, Kantola, Johanna and Weldon, Laurel (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2013).