The Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, kindly agreed to speak at FEW’s inaugural lunch event on 24 April. 

The Commissioner told FEW members about the Commission’s recent work to promote gender equality. For example, the Commission is encouraging the social partners to develop more flexible working arrangements through the European employment guidelines and is also focusing on equal pay. The Commission has entered into dialogue at a number of levels: alongside discussions with the social partners and NGOs, the Commission is also working with senior management in businesses. Each year there will be an award for the business which has done the most to develop good practice in a given area relating to gender equality.

Commissioner Diamantopoulou also talked about the relatively low proportion of women in politics in the EU. The Commission is currently encouraging more women to seek election at European, national, regional and local levels. It also wants to see more women in government with portfolios that are still traditionally reserved for men, such as justice, finance, home and foreign affairs. As regards women in business, there is no doubt that the “glass ceiling” is still keeping women out of senior positions. The Commissioner explained that there is currently a lack of reliable data in this sector and the Commission wants to establish a full set of statistics on women in decision-making positions in the economy, to enable it to develop the right policy responses.

Finally, Commissioner Diamantopoulou emphasised that formal and informal networks of women play a vital role in the promotion of gender equality and wished FEW every success. The Commissioner’s speech was both inspiring and a great start to FEW.

For more detailed information on the European Commission's work on gender equality please click here

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