Council of Europe Transversal Programme

on Gender Equality

Gender equality rapporteurs

Information note prepared by the Gender Equality rapporteur of the Joint Council on Youth

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Introduction – the transversal programme

1.                 The Transversal Programme on Gender Equality has been launched by the Secretary General to improve the visibility and  impact of the Council of Europe’s work on gender equality in the member states ; to move from legal equality to real equality as member states were called upon to do by the Committee of Ministers in its Declaration, « Making Gender Equality a Reality »[1].

2.                 The programme has several objectives, including the mainstreaming of gender equality at the level of policy and practice in the member states and within the Council of Europe. In this context, the programme will seek to mobilise all Council of Europe bodies (including the intergovernmental structures) and its external partners.

3.                 To this end, the programme is composed of several inter-dependent elements, namely :

-     A Gender Equality Commission, composed of 16 members appointed by member states[2]

-     A network of national focal points in each member State,

-     Gender equality rapporteurs appointed within the membership of the steering committees and other intergovernmental structures of the Council of Europe,

-     The Committee of Ministers Thematic Co-ordinator on Equality and Trafficking,

-     An Inter Secretariat gender equality mainstreaming team/network.

Since the beginning of 2012, steps have been taken to progressively put in place these various elements.  The process is still on-going. The Gender equality team within the Gender Equality and Human Dignity Department of DGI provides the secretariat for the programme.

Contributing to gender equality by integrating a gender perspective into a committee’s activities

4.                 Most, if not all, Council of Europe committees can contribute to gender equality in member states by ensuring that their activities integrate a gender perspective.  This does not imply additional tasks or a requirement to embark on new additional activities. It does, however, imply a change of working methods. Essentially, it requires committees to consider proposals for new activities from a gender perspective before finalising them and to adapt or formulate activities as a result of such an analysis ;  i.e. by taking account of the likely impact of a proposed activity on women and men.

5.                 Some committees are explicity required to integrate a gender perspective into their activities. Even, if it is not specified, this is the implication of the requirement to appoint a gender equality rapporteur. Integrating a gender perspective into a committee’s activities is a practical follow-up to the Madrid Declaration.[3]

6.                 The majority of intergovernmental structures are required in their current terms of reference to appoint a gender equality rapporteur from amongst their members. Of course, other committees and structures are free to appoint a gender equality rapporteur should they so wish and they are encouraged to do so.

Role of the gender equality rapporteur

7.                 The person appointed as a gender equality rapporteur will not be required to make reports. Although s/he will be invited, along with the committee secretary, to liaise with the Gender Equality Commission (see below) and will be in contact with gender equality rapporteurs from other committees.

8.                 Essentially, the gender equality rapporteur should watch over the programming process of his or her committee (i.e. the process of identifying priorities, preparing activity proposals, setting-up and implementing the activities, and evaluating the results) in order to ensure that a gender perspective is properly integrated. The person appointed as the committee’s gender equality rapporteur should not be expected to do this alone. It should be the responsibility of the committee as a whole. In this sense, the appointment of a gender equality rapporteur is a minimum, to ensure that there is a least one member taking responsibility ; but ideally this should be shared by all the members.

9.                 It is recognised that committees have increasingly heavy agendas and, in some cases, meet less frequently than in the past. Consequently, the bureaux have an increasingly important role in identifying activities and preparing, reviewing and evaluating their implementation. For this reason, it is recommended that the gender equality rapporteur be appointed from amongst the members of the bureau ; although this is not essential, provided s/he is involved in the Bureau’s discussions on the programme of activities.

10.             Finally, it should be noted that this is a new initiative and necessarily the precise tasks of the gender equality rapporteur will be further refined with time and in the light of experience.

Support to gender equality rapporteurs

11.             A training programme has been put in place to ensure that all committee secretaries have the necessary knowledge and skills to assist the gender equality rapporter and the committee as a whole in integrating a gender perspective into their programme of activities. An information session for gender equality rapporteurs will also be organised in Strasbourg during the second half of 2012 in order to familarise them with their role and the basic notions of gender mainstreaming.

12.             Also, with a view to providing support to the committees in integrating a gender perspective, the Gender Equality Commission is required to maintain close links with the other elements of the transversal programme and, in particular, engage in regular exchanges of views with the gender equality rapporteurs. These exchanges will most likely be organised on either a collective or thematic basis. In any event, members of the Gender Equality Commission will attend the information session for gender equality rapporteurs mentioned above.

13.             The Gender Equality team of the Secretariat in DGI is available to provide advice and information to committees and their gender equality rapporteurs if required. Moreover, the team welcomes feedback on the experience of appointing the rapporteurs and their functioning in order that this initiative can be improved and developed.

Activites  of the gender equality rapporteur of the Joint Council on youth from March 2012

ñ  23 April 2012  Received the backgroung information above mentioned.

ñ  August 2012 on  request of theDeputy Secretary General we prepared a short e-mail summing up the internal and external actions which have been taken by your Directorate/entityt o promote gender equality. Those actions could cover administrative tasks, projects, joint programmes, balanced assignments to missions and similar tasks.

We replied with the following :

Ms Ilaria Esposito, member of the Advisory Council on Youth was appointed Gender Equality Rapporteur by the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ).

Her task is to ensure that a gender perspective is properly integrated in the programming process of both the CCJ and the CDEJ.

She has been carrying out her task to the best of her ability since her nomination, highlighting the importance of a gender perspective in all the activities she has participated in (such as the Campaign to combat hate speech).  She is however concerned that there is no budget allocation for the role of Gender Equality Rapporteur and her input is limited to those activities she participates in as AC representative.

Hopefully her concern will be taken up at the forthcoming first meeting of Gender Equality Rapporteurs and the Gender Equality Commission to be held in Strasbourg on Friday 16 November 2012.

ñ  August 2012 She was asked to lok into the Hate speech online document, because  in the documents  regarding the Young People Combating Hate Speech On-Line project, that women are not included in the lists given of common victims of hate speech.  Most Council of Europe documents on the subject do likewise  (e.g. First section of the Social Charter) . However, we should be clear that even if the intention is  to include women, it is not clear that they are included, which creates a real risk that the biggest group of victims could be over-looked.

Women are and always have been subject to vicious attacks, violence and extraordinary levels of hatred both on and off line. The rise in the number of women (often young women) being targeted through social media and the Internet, and the consequences (including suicide) is frequently cited as a source of deep concern. Issues concerning half the population – which appear to be worsening in the current ecomomic climate – should not be ignored because women are not a minority group. Indeed the fact that women make up half the world’s population should make their situation an even greater cause of concern. Of course, women who are also part of a minority group are in double danger.

ñ  September 2012 She received this  following communication  from Ms Carlien Scheele, Chair of the Gender Equality Commission  that was circualted in the Joint Council mailing list.

«As Chair of the Gender Equality Commission (GEC) I am pleased to inform you that the GEC has discovered with great interest the theme of the 9th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible of Youth which will be held in Saint Petersburg from 23 to 25 September next: "Young people’s access to rights: development of innovative youth policies in Europe”. The Council of Europe’s transversal programme for Gender Equality aims to place equality at the centre of all its policies and we are very pleased that the theme of the conference is devoted to innovative youth policies because we have no doubt that an innovative youth policy should include, at its root, a gender equality perspective.

In this regard we would like to draw your attention to the fact that young women’s access to justice can be more difficult than that of young men and that consequently the question of gender equality in this area is paramount. The GEC is working on the question of women’s access to justice and if you wish, the GEC and it’s Secretariat would be very happy to cooperate with you in this area.

We are sure that as Gender Equality Rapporteur for the Joint Council on Youth, along with your colleagues in the Council, you will exercise the upmost vigilance so that this aspect of gender equality will be integrated into all activities carried out to promote the development of youth policies in Council of Europe member States. Our joint meeting, between gender equality rapporteurs and members of the GEC, on 16 November next will provide us with an opportunity to exchange our experiences and to reflect together on the definition of joint lines of action for the integration of a gender equality perspective in the different programmes of the Council of Europe. This meeting will be, without doubt, rich in exchanges and discoveries and provide all participants with the possibility to discover innovative cooperation opportunities in the area of gender equality in all the sectors of our Organisation.

We would be very grateful if you could inform/distribute to the participants in the 9th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible of Youth of the information in this message.

We look forward to meeting you on the 16 November and in the meantime we would be very happy to reply to any questions you many have concerning gender equality and trust that the 9th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible of Youth will be a success.

We invite you to consult the gender equality website (http://www.coe.int/equality) where you can find all our documentation and publications.

As you already know we highlighted the issue in the draft declaration that was supposed to be adopted in St. Petersburg and personally I highlighted it in the panel on Social Inclusion referring to the important CM Recommendation (2010)5.

18^th September 2012 She received the invitation to participate at the GEC meeting for the exchange of views with the members of the Gender Equality Commission which will take place on Friday 16 November. (please find documents attached)

The member of the Joint Council are invited to address their concerns on the issue which will be put on the table in the meeting the gender equality rapporteur is attending on your behalf.