Friday, 13 November 2009
A European Blog Action against a Commission without gender balance (UPDATED)
UPDATE: This post has become reality with the Campaign For A Gender Balanced Commission!
Dear fellow bloggers,
in case Barroso proposes a Commission with less women than in the last one, we should call for a European Blog Action addressing as many MEPs as possible asking to reject the proposed Commission.
This is not just about gender balance within the college, this is about the credibility of EU policies in promoting gender equality and anti-discrimination in general. This matter is thus also about the credibility of the EU as a whole, and the former is as important to me as the latter.
We could already start with this European Blog Action as soon as it would be clear that non of the top posts - Commission President, European Council President, and "Foreign Minister" (the High Representative) - would be a woman, since rejecting the Commission also means rejecting the High Representative.
Anyone ready to join?
Julien
PS.: This post is encouraged by the latest bad news in the media, but also by this interview Macarena did with Commissioner Wallström.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I'm in! And we should do it even if one of the two top EU jobs goes to a woman.
I'd be happy to lend my support - and I'm sure the Chasing Brussels podcast could do an episode on it.
What do you suggest we do?
OK - but where would the fault lie? Candidates are put forward by member nations. Would a European Blog Action have any effect on their governments?
Sorry to sound a bit 'wet' about this - but we could waste a lot of energy chasing the wrong target.
I'm in too, happy to help in whatever way on this...
However as I said in reply to @kattebel on Twitter - anything like this needs to have a concrete, positive solution. So that means if there need to be - for example - 3 less men then we should have ideas who those will be.
I'm in.
Would be interesting to know if Barroso himself is applying pressure for a better gender balance - any of your Commission-based readers know and willing to share?
I think the MEPs should vote against the Commission if the governments all in all send unqualified, incompetent men, without regard to gender balance. I fear that there is an even more important reason to reject the way the Commission is being formed. Although Barroso himself can do little if the member states do not co-operate, probably giving a fail for the first list would force at least some governments to be more sensible with their nominations.
Post a Comment