European sub-culture & gender clichés

Just amazing. A European film about sub-culture that might also destroy some gender clichés. Girl Power!



Can't wait for 2011!

The women who run the Commission

Award-winning journalist-blogger Prune Antoine - who had the guts to show up in jeans for her award ceremony at the Quai d'Orsay (yeah!!!) - is publishing a wonderful series of interviews with female EU Commissioners on her blog.

So far, Connie Hedegaard, Maria Damanaki, Neeli Kroes, Máire Geoghegan and Viviane Reding have answered the same questions about how "macho" they find the EU institutions, how the fact that they are women influences their work and how they would like to change the EU.

If you haven't read the interviews yet - now is the time!

Picture: © european_parliament / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

European Pro-Choice Network

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We are very concerned by the criminalisation of abortion in some member states of the European Union, with the increasing activities of anti-choice groups and politicians within the EU, as well as the problems of access to abortion in countries where abortion is legal.

For these reasons, we think it is very necessary to join together and share our knowledge and experiences and establish a pro-choice network using the blog http://www.europeanprochoicenetwork.wordpress.com. 

[...]

This is a call by Sarah Diel on the Genderblog.

(via Maedchenmannschaft.)

20 women who run the EU (blogosphere) - updated

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Update: This blog post on the female euroblogosphere has been taken up by EuroparlTV.

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In the German blogosphere, we have recently seen a controversial debate (started by annalist) about the question why only men were among the so-called "alpha bloggers" in a video series about important bloggers, a debate that has led to the inclusion of female bloggers in the third part of the series (see the comment of the feminist blog Maedchenmannschaft).

It is much easier to find brilliant women in the political Euroblogosphere, a blogosphere that is still developing but that has definitely left its infancy over the past year. Female bloggers are an integral part of this blogosphere, and here I'd like to present 20 of them.

Inside the institutions, Cecilia Malmström has taken the place of Margot Wallström as the blogging Commissioner. And in the London representation of the Commission, public relations official Antonia Mochan is Talking about the EU. Another EU official, Halmai Katalin who is a press officer at the European Parliament, is blogging in Hungarian at Európában. And even within the member states, civil servants like Jo from Bitmorecomplicate have an eye on Europe.

Surprisingly, there are not so many good MEP and Europarty blogs, and even fewer written written by women. One of the few female MEPs blogging regularly is socialist MEP Corina Cretu. There are some more, but most are not very regular and with strong tendencies towards press release-like texts. But with political activist Eurosocialiste (who writes in English and French) there is a clearly affiliated woman who has shown the way and set standards since the European Parliament election campaign.

Another group of female bloggers are the journalist bloggers and bloggers on journalistic platforms. There are decorated Spanish euroblogger Macarena Ruiz Garcia from La Oreja de Europa, Honor Mahony who is looking Behind the Scenes at the news platform EUobserver or Romanian journalist Anne-Marie Blajan with her frequent and insightful posts at Menaru. In that category, we also shouldn't forget French blogger Prune of L'Europe en Blogs whose laconic comments on European politics and the euroblogosphere are among the best you can get. And you also don't want to miss out the two Danish voices from Rikke Brøndum and Anne Albinus.

Then there is another gang of professionals in the Brussels arena that is worth mentioning - the public affairs consultants, lobbyists and PR professionals. Lobbyist Caroline De Cock is the blue rhino making us laugh and think at the Lobbyplanet. Public Affairs consultant Kattebel just started her blog after realising that Twitter is not enough to say everything that needs to be said. Social media consultant Antonella Napolitano writing in Italian at Vassar Storie(s) and has recently joined the PDF Europe team. And scientific consultant Eva Peña is Eva en Europa, contributing with well-thought posts to the debates in the euroblogosphere.

And last but not least there is the academia. There are the students Alex Athanasopoulou of Europeanization and the very active Mia Välimäki of Cosmetic Uprise. European Law expert Magdalena Tulibacka of ECJ Watch shines with analyses of judgements of the European Court of Justice. And hopefully the newly started blog European Polis by EU affairs scholar Stefanie Sifft who has already contributed on the European Citizen Initiative on the most important German blog netzpolitik.org will continue euroblogging and become part of the family from now on.

I suppose I have forgotten some of the female bloggers. (Sorry!!) I suppose I don't even know some of those existing. There are also a number of women contributing on multi-author blogs that are not listed here. But all this only proves the point that a video series on important eurobloggers could not ignore those women who run the EU.

And to be honest: I wouldn't want to miss them. Because they are great, impressive, and fascinating. If they were the only eurobloggers, the euroblogosphere would still be a great place to be - and so I thank you for blogging!

PS.: When I saw Linda's comment, I knew I had missed one of the longest running euroblogs written by a women - EU for US. Since I am sure I have missed several others, don't hesitate to add them in the comments, that would be a good opportunity to get a more comprehensive list than the 20 I had assembled in the initial post.

Update (22 April): In the meantime, there are more must-read euroblogs written by women, like the political science blog by Jaanika Erne or the blog by written by EU Commissioner Georgieva.

Gender balance in the European Union: Tiny steps

After the final nominations for the European Commission are in (see EurActiv), it is clear that the new Commission will be exactly 1/3 female.

That is far from balanced, but closer to balanced than last time. Important to notice is that the goal of the campaign for "Gender Balanced Commission" has been reached, altough it's just the minimum goal. We are glad this is the case, and we are now looking whether all woman will pass the European Parliament hearings.

It's also important to remind that the two important demands I and others have formulated over the last months - at least one woman in one of the three EU top posts and at at least 1/3 of the Commission posts filled with women - are only met because Cathy Ashton counts twice, once as a top post holder and second as future Commission vice president (if she is confirmed by the European Parliament).

So we are advancing in tiny steps - if we continue at this speed (each time one female Commissioner more) the Commission will be gender-balanced in 20-25 years (depending on enlargement).

And we shouldn't also forget that Ashton got one of the 3 top posts, but that all the other major posts of the Union are filled with men:

• Commission President,
• European Council President,
• European Parliament President,
• Rotating Council President,
• General Secretary of the Council,
• European Central Bank President,
• President of the European Court of Justice,
• European Court of Auditors President,
• European Economic and Social Committee President,
• Committee of the Regions President,
• Eurogroup Chairman,
• EU Ombudsman,
• European Data Protection Supervisor,
• Fundamental Rights Agency Director,
• ...

So if anyone in the EU continues talking about gender balance in the member states - an important topic to talk about - he or she should first care most intensively about the Unions institution, because on third of the Commission and one top post among so many others filled with a woman cannot be satisfactory at all!

Chasing Brussels Podcast Episode 008: Rompuy, Ashton & Gender Politics

We have been recording the eighth "Chasing Brussels Podcast" this evening.

I have been able to join again after long absence - and obviously it is focusing on the two major issues of the past week, the nomination of van Rompuy & Baroness Ashton and the Gender Balanced Commission campaign:

In this episode, three men sit around and talk about gender politics in the EU.

Joe Litobarski hosts this week, and he’s joined by Julien Frisch and Conor Slowey to talk about the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy as European Council President and Baroness Catherine Ashton as High Representative for foreign affairs.

Is the appointment of Baroness Ashton a good thing for women in EU politics? Or will it hurt the chances of the Gender Balanced Commission campaign to push for a more equal Commission? All these things and more in this week’s podcast.

Chasing Brussels 08 – Gender Politics

If you have comments on the podcast, please comment directly on the page of this episode so that we have everything in one place - have fun!

PS.: For more on the mascot of "Chasing Brussels" go to "http://mattressy.blogspot.com!

Gender balance & "Females in Front"

There is quite a lot going on around the campaign for a "Gender Balanced Commission" that started just yesterday - including a mentioning of the campaign on European Voice.

We finally get to a point where this issue is not just something for the "feminists", we are arriving at the point where even national news start to recogise the topic (right now it's on the top of the front webpage of the Austrian newspaper "Die Presse" and the campaign is mentioned by El Pais).

I am really glad seeing this, in particular since the issue of gender balance has been one of the guiding lines of this blog. I just looked back and found that my fourth post ever, 1 1/2 years ago, was on "Females in Front", an initiative that demanded that at least one of the three top EU posts would be for a woman and that has almost 200,000 signatories by now.

In two or three days we will know whether this initiative had any success, whether following up was worth the time, or whether the political and social struggle will have to continue - maybe through a rejection of the proposed Commission college in the near future.

On thing is clear for me:

We - men and women - need to stick to this matter, we need to keep it on the agenda until the moment when European leaders will recognise that gender balance as a policy issue has left the back rooms and has become a priority issue for more than just the hard core, an issue strong enough for a campaign like this and strong enough for the European Parliament to act decisively...

Campaign For A Gender-Balanced Commission

Gender balance is not just a matter of women fighting for women, it is a matter for all of us to work together to get politics that represent the full human diversity instead of just promoting old white males.


On Friday, I called for a European Blog Action in case the next Commission would not be gender-balanced.

Over the weekend, Jon Worth, together with others, has set up a campaign for a gender-balanced Commission, that I am thus supporting with great pleasure.

As usual, Jon doesn't just talk, he acts.

And since we are not just fighting for an abstract number of women in the next Commission, you will also find a list of possible candidates from all 27 member states on the website - and feel free to propose more qualified but politically realistic women candidates. The more we have, the easier it will be to address MEPs and national governments on this issue.

Please go to the website and sign the petition - and let's thus not wait until it is too late to get a new European Commission with at least one more woman than last time!

A European Blog Action against a Commission without gender balance (UPDATED)

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UPDATE: This post has become reality with the Campaign For A Gender Balanced Commission!

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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.

A critique of "Women's Political Representation in the European Union" by Johanna Kantola

Those of you who follow this blog and my tweets know how much importance I put in women's representation in EU institutions - the latest article on Tarja Halonen or an earlier post on the gender gap in the Commission staff are just two examples.

So with interest I noticed the recent issue (December 2009) of the "Journal of Legislative Studies" and in particular the article "Women's Political Representation in the European Union" by Johanna Kantola.

I was hoping for new insights that go beyond the obvious - women are underrepresented both in the member states and in the EU institutions - something that explains more in detail the dynamics that keep women out of the relevant EU jobs.

But the article is about nothing but the obvious: It mostly presents already existing descriptive statistics, it summarises some of the existing scientific literature on why women are underrepresented in political institutions and it lists some possible reasons why one might be interested in changing this.

This article has no added value in a debate, its just telling what we all already know. It doesn't explain anything, it strings together figures that aren't really new, just newly assembled. And it doesn't even have the intent to do more:

"The contributions of the article are empirical and consist of an account of the EU policy on gender-balanced decision-making and numerical presentation of new data on women in political decision-making in different EU institutions."

Looking at where we are in the debates today - bloggers and Twitterers lobbying for women in top EU jobs while Barroso asks governments to nominate women Commissioners - this article sounds light-years behind.

It should have answered why, despite the impression that there is pressure for more women candidates, in the end there are no women brought forward at the crucial stages of selection processes (like Milliband and Van Rompuy now looking to be the only two real candidates for EU "Foreign Minister" and European Council President).

A scientific analyses would be of added value if it could show why women who are official or unofficial candidates for some time disappear from the shortlists later on. Is it because in complex political and regional balances of posts the male majority is not able to fit in qualified women candidates or is it because they think the women candidates are not qualified? Is it because women in power - apart from Margot Wallström - don't support women candidates or because women candidates are never presented by man?

Kantola even takes a short look at women's representation in COREPER I and II, but finding out that women are underrepresented there just tells us that there are probably too few women climbing up to the top diplomatic ranks. By knowing this we haven't learnt anything about the mechanisms that lead to this imbalance. So why aren't women in the upper diplomatic ranks or, if they are there, why aren't they promoted to COREPER I or COREPER II?

What are the real mechanisms? How do they differ between the different institutional settings? Can the same institutional design lead to different representation of women in EU institutions? Do positive dynamics in one member state influence the dynamics in a second member state through personal relations developed in the Council? So many questions, so few answers given by fellow political scientists. Nothing about real mechanisms, just numbers and wild guesses.

This would be my pleading:

Social scientists, political scientists, students of feminist and gender studies, tell us more about the real mechanisms, show in comparative perspective how one could advance gender balance within EU institutions, reprocess unlikely success stories and stories where likely female candidates are dropped. Because those of us in favour of gender balanced power distribution need to know where to "attack", which small or large wheels we need to turn, which level of the hierarchy we need to go to to get the results we want.

But writing descriptive articles about known facts - no matter if the data is presented as "new" - doesn't help at all, it just lowers the interest in the subject, and the next time I will see at title like "Women's Political Representation in the European Union" I might think twice before spending time reading it.

Do electoral systems influence women's representation in politics?

It is a fact that women are generally less represented in politics, and discussions around Mary Robinson are just one result of this deficit.

The Council of Europe has been dealing with questions of electoral systems at this year's Forum for the Future of Democracy (ending today), and one of the issues was the effect of electoral systems on women's representation in politics.

In a now declassified document from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe titled "Impact of electoral systems on women’s representation in politics" the rapporteur Lydie Err comes to the following conclusions:

• women are still grievously underrepresented in politics in most Council of Europe member states;

• the lack of equal representation of women and men in political and public decision-making is a threat to the legitimacy of democracies and a violation of the human right of gender equality which must be rectified as a priority;

• the most important factor leading to the current underrepresentation of women in politics is linked to attitudes, customs and behaviours widespread in society which disempower women, discriminate against them, and hold them hostage to prescribed role-models and stereotypes according to which women are “not suited” to decision-making and politics;

• these attitudes, customs and behaviours also influence a country’s institutional, party and electoral landscape; but conversely, a change in that landscape can also impact on society’s attitudes;

• changing the electoral system to one more favourable to women’s representation in politics, including by introducing gender quotas, can lead to more gender balanced, and thus more legitimate, political and public decision-making;

• in theory, the following electoral system should be most favourable to women’s representation in parliament: a proportional representation list system in a large constituency and/or a nation-wide district, with legal threshold, closed lists and a mandatory quota which provides not only for a high portion of female candidates, but also for strict rank-order rule (e.g. a zipper system), and effective sanctions (preferably not financial, but rather the non-acceptance of candidatures/ candidate lists) for non-compliance.

I think I agree with the conclusions, but I am not sure whether this is of any value...

I suppose that the study itself will not have a big impact, because all it does is to reflect the complexity with which general attitudes and institutional design are intertwined. I don't see any good argumentation on how one could put the measures proposed into practice, and I don't see the actors willing to do this.

What we have here is thus yet another account of inequalities in our societies - but what we learn again leaves us at loss how to actually change the situation.

But why not repeating it, here and elsewhere, as long as the situation is as it is?

Mrs. Robinson, women, and the low profile of the European Council President

A name of woman appears on the media sky, a former president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - Mary Robinson - and this name becomes connected to the future President of the European Council. But mind the gap!



There is a Facebook group in her support. Her name appears in blog posts: here, here, here, here, here, here, here or here. Simon & Garfunkel have already written a song for her campaign.

And you know that I am in favour of gender equality and powerful women, that I read the Lisbon Treaty in a way that one woman has to get one of the top EU jobs.

However, I am against women in symbolic positions for the sake of the symbol - I want them in powerful positions for the sake of change!

So if you carefully read the EurActiv article on the pro-Robinson campaign you will find the following lines:

"Instead, Warsaw foresees the new president as a secretary general-type figure who will chair EU summits and coordinate the daily work of the Council, without taking any strategic decisions.

According to European Commission sources, Spain and other EU countries are also interested in the idea of the Council president being more of a low-key organiser, and could back Poland in its motion."

One of the rumours I have heard in Brussels last week was indeed that the Council is working on a job profile or terms of reference for the European Council President, which is confirmed by the Polish announcement. And what is said about the possible profile of the post sounds rather low-key.

In fact, my own interpretation of the Treaty is that the new "Foreign Minister" will be much more important in daily work than the European Council President (see for example my tweets here, here, and here).

This is not least because the European Council just meets four times a year and having in mind that its president will only have a small secretariat that will look tiny in comparison to the large diplomatic service of the foreign minister - who will participate in Commission, EU Foreign Affairs Council, and European Council meetings and will thus have direct influence in three major EU institutions.

I thus fear that those pushing for Mary Robinson as European Council President are not doing her and us a favour.

In the end she might get what women are used to get: Positions where they don't hurt the old male elites, where they can play around, get some media attention, but where they are not supposed to induce major changes.

But I know that now that the campaign is running, there might be no way to stop or change it (not to mention that it is absolutely unclear how her real chances are) - that's how life goes.

So I'd just say: Anyone rallying behind Mrs. Robinson should be aware that in the end the very skilful European male politicians will manage to make their favourite man EU Foreign Minister (who is also Commission Vice-President) and create a largely worthless position of the European Council President, which may then be filled by a woman.

Commission staff statistics: The gender gap

I just came across this lovely site with the Commission's staff statistics (via Dan Luca).

The blogger's instinct told to look into the sheets that separated gender and administrative grades, and it was immediately obvious that the institution heavily lobbying for gender equality has a massive gender gap in its upper ranks:

Only 2 out of 37 (5.4%) top administrative ranks (category AD16) in the European Commission are filled with females, and with 49 out of 235 (20.9%) for AD15 or 66 out of 431 (15.3%) for AD14 - these three ranks cover directors and directors-general - the next two ranks do not look very gender-balanced either.

I suppose somebody has some beautiful statistics how much better the situation has become over the last years, and I know that these upper ranks are filled with life-time officials which makes it hard to push for a rapid change, but what about credibility when it comes to the fight for gender equality, e.g. with regard to the new anti-discrimination directive, if the Commission cannot serve as a positive example?

And where are the Swedish Presidency and the European Parliament who should push the Commission on these issues?

Why Jerzy Buzek is the wrong choice for the European Parliament presidency

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After looking at Jerzy Buzek's Votewatch profile and seeing him win over Mario Mauro (EPP) and Graham Watson (ALDE), I still have to briefly say why he is the wrong choice for the European Parliament presidency.

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As a big fan of Central and Eastern Europe I am happy that someone from Poland will become the next president of the European Parliament. I also don't mind that the EPP will get the presidency of the EP. And it is an asset that thanks to his Solidarity background he can claim to be part of the group of people who co-initiated the fall of the wall 20 years ago.

But Jerzy Buzek is still the wrong choice, for three simple reasons:

• He is old.
• He is male.
• He has built his political career on national politics.

The European Parliament is not the big legislator it sometimes thinks it is, no matter whether its importance has been rising steadily over the last 30 years.

So one of the main political instruments the EP has are symbolic decisions, decisions that rise above the standard message of politics. The EP could have made a choice of such symbolic value, but it looks as if it won't.

Party politics and power positions are dominated by old males. With Barroso in place for a second term on top of the European Commission, and with no women in sight for the post of European Council president and High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy (if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified), the post of the European Parliament president could have been the only one where MEPs could have made a point for equal opportunities and equal share of power. But they have missed their chance.

How to engage the younger generation in (European) politics, if only worn-out old male politicians are the example of who can make it in our democracy?

And the third point is equally important:

Jerzy Buzek has no distinct European profile. His career is built on his Solidarity background, and when he left the national stage after his term as prime minister his reputation had been very low.

He has spent only four years in the European Parliament, and now he is chosen as EP president in a series of power deals between the Socialists, the People's Party and the Liberals, while he still says in the EuroparlTV interview (see also Anda's comment on Twitter) that his nomination is a matter of pride for Poland.

I don't want someone who makes one country proud, I want somebody who makes the European Union proud of itself!

This is the absolutely wrong sign for the European "democracy", especially for my generation, who is desperately looking for people like Alex Stubb or Cecilia Malmström who hold high national offices after having been an MEP, write blogs, and (in Alex's case) can still run an Ironman in their free time.

I want those for high European posts, not their fathers.

Politicians like Buzek - as nice as he may be - or his predecessor Pöttering, the elder statesman puppets, bore me to death - and with them, nobody should be surprised that young people don't go to vote and don't show interest in the EU.

Shocking: Only old white men can be EU Commission President

Have been taking a look at the Commission's website, hoping to discover something interesting.

All I found is this shocking collection of pictures of old men.

Yes, the Commission is on of the promoters of equality on this continent, but it's presidents have been nothing but old white men. And there is no sign that this will change.

Shocking, isn't it!?

(By the way, Commission PR people: This "finding" is also a sign that the Commission website did not have anything interesting to offer so that I had to come across these old white men in the end.)

European Parliament elections 2009 (73): What MEPs face before becoming MEPs

Franziska "Ska" Keller is a young German woman, member of the Green party, and number 7 of the Green Party list for the 2009 EP elections - a place that, with very high probability, will make her become MEP from July.

In her blog she is writing about the problems that an almost secure Member of the European Parliament is facing ahead of her/his entry into office - and appeals to women to apply for EP jobs (own translation):

Staffing decision. MEPs have funds for about three staff members at their disposal, two of them usually working in Brussels and one in the regional office in the boonies. These positions don't need to be advertised. I therefore can hire according to my wishes: only Green Youth; all young women; preferably with an immigration background; only people from Brandenburg [this is the region 'Ska' is coming from], or whatsoever. As always, the mixture will be important: Somebody with EP experience, somebody who knows about my topics (although it will be unclear until June/July whether I will get my preferred committee or if I have to go to the one on Fisheries (whereas this one is important and thrilling!)), speaks Turkish, is green and left-wing etc. Not very easy! In particular because you need to get along well, you should know each other for a while already, etc. How am I handling this? I think about people around me, I am asking these people for ideas, I look around to see who walk about in my field of expertise - and check my mail.

For some time already I get mails from people who can imagine working for me and who tell this to me. What is stunning: They are all men. First of all this runs against my principle that women should take over at least the majority (and the power) in my office (sorry guys) and second it makes me think about why I don't get applications from women. Apparently it is more natural for men to apply for a job at candidate number 7, a job that is nowhere advertised. Maybe women prefer to wait for me to get the idea to contact them. But this doesn't work if I don't know how great they are and that they are looking for a job! Therefore: Women, apply for a job! Not only with me, but also with other candidates! Others are doing this, too, an a little push à la "Hey, I am also here!" wouldn't be amiss. Hence, do it, it is not presumptuous but necessary.

Very interesting insights, and very open words.

And although I am not a fan of quotas, I appreciate any move to improve gender balance and participation of women in the political sphere, not only in Brussels but all over the place.

I'd therefore like to hear similar appeals from man, too!!

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Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.

For the five newest post see also the sidebar.

Females in Front

Have you heard about the initiative "Females in Front"? It is an all-EU initiative that aims at a small but very important goal, namely that at least one of the future top EU-posts will be held by a woman.

You may think that this is irrelevant but even from a very minimalist standpoint, as Foreignpolicyblogs has argued, we have to have at least one woman on top EU-post:

Arguably, though none of the posts in question are truly democratically representative offices, nominating at least one woman would serve as a better reflection of the Union’s actual population (more than half of it are female)

Since the initiators are looking for 1 million signatures, it has still a long way to go, but until today, almost 20,000 people have signed the petition.

And since I hold this an extremely important issue, both in terms of political representation and even more in terms of gender equality, I can only ask you to join!! Go to the website and sign!