Conference on “Europe, Women, Employment”

Turin, Italy, 6 April 2009

Speech by Ludmila Sfirloaga, President of the Chamber of Regions, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Madam President,

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with great pride that I address you today on the subject of paramount importance to all of us, especially now as we are beginning to face the pressures of the current global economic crisis – the subject of women in employment. This theme is, of course, part and parcel of a much broader issue, the situation of women in Europe in all its aspects. This is one issue to which the Council of Europe and its Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which I represent as President of its Chamber of Regions – the first woman President in the history of this institution, I must add – have been paying particularly close attention for many years.

This is why I am delighted to have this opportunity to share with you our vision and action, and I wish to thank the organisers of this Conference for their invitation to me to take the floor here today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said: “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.”  It is certainly true if we look at the disproportionate number of women in the workforce at the bottom of the ladder, at the implementation level – where the work is actually and physically done; this number drops drastically as we get higher and closer to the decision-making level. Yet, women represent more than half of any society, and tapping into this vast “reserve”, releasing women’s potential can in fact double the society’s output.

The good news is that recognition of this fact is growing, albeit slowly. The Council of Europe has recently published a report on women in politics, based on the data from 42 European countries on national and regional parliaments, national, regional and local governments, supreme and constitutional courts, the diplomatic service and the Council of Europe’s bodies. The report shows, for example, that the average number of women ministers grew to almost 29 % in 2008 from 20 % in 2005 and that two countries – Finland and Spain – exceed 50 % participation of women in the composition of their national governments.

It tells us that some 28 % of judges in supreme courts and 20 % in constitutional courts are women, that 24 % of municipal councillors and 21 % of members of regional parliaments are women, and that six countries have reached or are close to reaching the 40 % benchmark of women in their national parliament. (These are Sweden with 46%, Finland and the Netherlands with 41%, Denmark and Norway with 38% and Belgium with 37%.)

The question is, of course, whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. There has been significant progress if we count from zero, yet these figures are far from the 40% minimum in public decision-making bodies for both men and women, recommended by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2003 – let alone 50 per cent. The average representation of women in national parliaments has been stagnating at some 22% since the previous report in 2005, and at the local level, only 10 % of mayors are women.

For Italy, the host country of our conference, these figures are even below the average. Women account for only 21 % in the Chamber of Deputies and 18 % in the Senate, 10 % in regional parliaments and just above 2 % of municipal councillors, 16 % of ministers, 5% of Supreme Court judges and 7 % of judges in the Constitutional Court. They represent 10 % of heads and 17 % of members of regional governments, and 10 % of mayors.

Why are these figures important? They are important because these are decision-making bodies which set policies and adopt laws and regulations that create the framework for affirmative action for women – be it employment and equal opportunities, access to social rights, support to women’s enterprises, action to ensure gender equality, or overall protection of women’s rights. These figures are important because our citizens expect from their authorities, both elected and appointed, to lead in this action and set an example in political life and in administrative practice. Finally, they are important because, on a personal note, I am convinced that politics cannot simply be a clash of individual ambitions, but must focus on responding to the citizens’ demands. I believe that women contribute a different outlook on these issues, which is also the advantage of involving more women in politics. I am pleased to say that the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities itself has set the requirement that women must represent at least 30% in each national delegation – a requirement with which all delegations comply as from 2008.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For us in the Congress, the question of women’s employment and equal opportunities for women stems from the broader issue of gender mainstreaming in our societies, of changing stereotypical perceptions and attitudes – the process that must be spearheaded and encouraged from the top, but must begin and take root at the grassroots level, in our cities and regions, in our communities. Women’s employment is an integral part of the question of gender equality, which the Congress has been actively pursuing in its work, in the belief that the opposite side of the coin, gender inequality, is detrimental to political, social and economic development. It is also in itself the matter of assertion of women’s rights in everyday life. Last but not least, it is closely linked with the question of integration within our communities, including through employment and access to social rights – which is one of the priorities in the work of the Congress’ Committee on Social Cohesion – but also by encouraging women’s entrepreneurship and promoting women’s businesses, including through micro-credits.

Indeed, local and regional authorities are the largest employers in many European localities today, and as such must be setting an example in improving women’s access to the job market, their working conditions and career opportunities. The Congress’ attention in this regard is focused in particular on employment opportunities for women migrants, as part of our work on the integration of migrants and their families. It is clear that local and regional authorities can and must change the situation in their own communities and raise women’s chances for success – by, for example, offering them vocational training to improve their skills, or courses to improve their knowledge of the local language, or through requalification procedures – and influence, in the long run, national policies and regulations in this regard.

However, such policies and regulations should be underpinned by a strategy to promote equality between women and men in cities and regions, as it was put forward by the Congress in 2004 in its recommendation and resolution on gender mainstreaming at local and regional level. In fact, de facto gender equality has not yet been attained in particular due to the difficulty in implementing the mainstreaming approach which we advocated back then.

The Congress argued that over the past decades, the reconciliation of private and professional lives has become an increasingly important aspect of the organisation of our social time. This is due, in particular, to the general decrease in the amount of time spent at work and the growing diversity of the distribution of working hours throughout the day and the week (night work, Sunday working, for example). We recommend therefore that public services, social and economic activities, the general organisation of urban life and use of collective areas be re-thought from the perspective of achieving sustainable gender equality in local and regional political, administrative and social life, enabling everyone to manage their social time in the way they wish while taking particular account of women’s needs in reconciling employment and family life.

As far as employment is concerned, in municipal workforces in particular, ensuring equality of opportunity often means going beyond procedures to avoid discrimination. Women may face barriers to equality such as the lack of awareness that job vacancies exist for which they are eligible, and any equality policy must seek to identify and address these barriers. While an anti-discrimination policy may treat everyone in the same way (regardless of the inequality in outcomes that may result), an equality policy recognises that people have different needs and may, in some respects, require differentiated treatment in order to provide genuine equality of opportunity, leading to greater equality in outcomes.

This also implies taking positive action – steps to overcome barriers and increase the participation of women. For example, targeted advertising to attract female job applicants falls under this heading. Positive action of this kind is lawful under EU law. It is distinct from positive discrimination in which individuals from an underrepresented sex are given preference at the point of selection over applicants who are equally qualified. Positive discrimination is unlawful in most circumstances.

After the first step of developing equality policy and adopting specific measures for positive action comes the second step of putting them into practice. Here, determining responsibility for implementing equality and diversity policies often depends on the structure of the authority and on the roles of its elected representatives. In some communities there has been scope for individual departments to develop quite distinct approaches. In others, explicit expectations from the central leadership have been more clearly reflected throughout the administration.

Some cities have designated an elected representative (e.g. Deputy Mayor) and a named department to lead on equality issues, albeit responsibility for equality and diversity in employment invariably remains the responsibility of the human resources/personnel department or is devolved to individual departments. This separation can lead to very different approaches, for instance to monitoring or to moving beyond anti-discrimination compliance to a more proactive promotion of equality of opportunity. Where a department is designated to take the lead, a key factor in impact is whether that department is given any leverage over the approach taken in the departments responsible for delivery: whether its role is to advise and encourage, or it has the capacity to ensure that diversity issues are reflected across the administration.

Finally, in cases where equal employment policies for women are a success, working conditions may need to be adapted. The increasing percentage of women employees may require rethinking existing internal structures and creating new work environments, for example by introducing more flexible working hours, sick child leave and maternity leave replacement options, crêche facilities on site, more options for teleworking, etc.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Gender mainstreaming, action for gender equality and equal opportunity policies go hand in hand with the overall assertion and protection of women’s rights, of which the Council of Europe and its Congress have been devout advocates. Over recent years, the Council of Europe has mounted two major public campaigns – “Human Being – Not For Sale!”, against trafficking in human beings, a great deal of which involves women, and “Stop Domestic Violence against Women”.

I am proud to say that the Congress actively participated in both campaigns. We made recommendations for local action against human trafficking, and launched the Declaration committing local and regional authorities to fighting this scourge in their communities – the Declaration which is available for online signature on the Congress website.

The Congress has also taken a strong stand on combating violence against women, and spurred local and regional authorities across Europe to become actively involved in the Council of Europe campaign by taking measures against such violence at their respective levels. A debate on this issue was held by the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress during the 2007 Spring Session, and awareness-raising weeks were organised under the patronage of the Congress to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March 2007.

The Congress and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly organised a photo exhibition against domestic violence, featuring testimonies of victims, parliamentarians, and local and regional elected representatives, and issued a book presenting this exhibition. Many cities and regions in Europe joined in carrying out poster campaigns under the slogan “Cities and regions of Europe take a stand”, displaying the campaign poster in the streets, buses, bus shelters and stations and public buildings, as well as on municipal websites in some cases. Local and regional authorities were further encouraged to organise public debates and take additional action to prevent and combat violence against women.

Confronted with the consequences of violence against women on a daily basis, many municipalities heeded the call for action of the Congress and expressed their willingness to make combating violence against women a political priority. Thus, the local and regional dimension of the campaign benefited from the strength of the municipalities and regions which is their closeness to the citizen. Using the Congress’ network of contacts, its members – locally and regionally elected representatives – united behind a targeted message, which they spread to their own audiences and through their own means.

Furthermore, by integrating national bodies in local and regional activities, important synergies were created between different levels of responsibilities. This has significantly raised the impact of the campaign by generating co-operation between different sectors (education, sport, art, transport, social protection). The local and regional dimension of the campaign provided a forum for concerted actions and allowed valuable partnerships to form between local and regional authorities, specialised bodies and civil society, including the private sector. It also reached out to young people through school, sport and art events.

A report drawn up by the Committee on Social Cohesion on the basis of the Congress’ experience, which was discussed at the Plenary Session this last March, set forth a number of recommendations to local and regional authorities and to governments on possible action to prevent and combat domestic violence. In particular, we called on governments to draft a binding international legal instrument to strengthen the prevention of violence against women, including domestic violence, the protection of victims and the prosecution of those perpetrating such violence. The Congress also expressed its full support for the initiative taken by the Council of Europe in setting up, in December 2008, an ad hoc committee, in which the Congress would be taking part, with the task of drafting this legal instrument.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am particularly pleased to say that in Italy, the campaign was spearheaded by the Province of Brescia, at the instigation of Valerio Prignachi, member of the provincial government and President of the Congress’ Committee on Social Cohesion. The numerous activities included meetings with press and TV representatives, a conference for students in the higher education institutes, sponsorship events for local initiatives, white ribbon and poster campaigns against domestic violence, production of a documentary and a radio feature, and an awareness-raising participation of vintage and classic cars bearing the campaign symbols in the 2007 Winter Marathon in Italy and in the Coppa d’Europa rally across the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

In addition, a theatrical competition was organised for students of the higher schools throughout the province of Brescia, steps were taken to involve theatres in awareness-raising activities, and a CD compilation “Women of the city” was produced, containing 21 excerpts by Italian and international artists. Last but not least, a volleyball team was engaged to wear the uniform publicising the campaign through a championship series.

Needless to say, we are very grateful to the people and authorities of Brescia and personally Mr Prignachi for their tremendous contribution to this campaign which can also be seen as a campaign for women’s rights.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To sum up, I should stress once again our belief that the situation of women in employment – access to vocational training and the job market, equal employment opportunities, equal pay and career opportunities, working and retirement conditions – is only the tip of the iceberg. Of course, local and regional authorities can contribute a great deal in this area and must lead the way by setting an example in their own municipal and regional workforces and in administrative practice, by proposing necessary measures and regulations that can be applied at the national level, and by advocating them in national policies and strategies.

However, underlying the question of employment and self-employment for women are broader issues of the situation of women in modern society, starting with the affirmation of women’s specific rights, leading to gender mainstreaming in our society and advocacy of gender equality and equal opportunities in life, not just at work. Local and regional authorities have a crucial role to play in advancing this cause, first in their communities and then on the national and international level, and I am confident that they can and will rise to the challenge.

Vorrei concludere con un ringraziamento e, consentitemi di farlo in italiano, lingua che amo, lingua di uno Stato che tesse solidi legami di amicizia e collaborazione con il mio Stato di origine.

Vorrei ringraziare la Consigliera Maria Cristina Spinosa, che è la deus ex machina del nostro incontro di oggi. Conosciamo tutti il suo impegno costante sui temi che toccano profondamente le problematiche femminili e gliene siamo riconoscenti.

E’ anche grazie ai suoi membri attivi come Cristina Spinosa, che il Congresso riesce a portare avanti le battaglie degli enti locali e regionali che soni i più sensibili ai bisogni dei cittadini. 

Grazie Cristina e grazie a tutti i presenti per l’attenzione.