Gender Mainstreaming in European Parliament Committees and Delegations Update

1. DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES GENDER EQUALITY Updating of the Study on Gender Mainstreaming in Committees and Delegations of the European Parliament

2. Presentation by Manuela Samek Lodovici and Daniela Loi IRS – Istituto per la RicercaSociale Policy Department C poldep-citizens@europarl.europa.eu

3. Aim of the study and activities Aim of the study • Update of a 2014 study to assess to what extent the FEMMCommittee and the other main gender mainstreaming (GM) bodies contributed to the effective implementation of GM in the European Parliament activities between July 2017 and July 2018. Activities • Overview of the evolution of GM in the EP with focus on the role of the threemain GM bodies in the EP: the FEMM Committee, the Gender Mainstreaming Network (GMN) and the High Level Group for gender equality and diversity (HLG) • Review of the legislative and non-legislative acts produced by FEMM in the considered period • Evolution of the gender composition of the EP, committees and delegations in the considered period

4. Evolution of the presence of women in the EP • Stable share of women among MEPs (36.1% in 2018, +0.3pp compared to 7th term). • More women in decision making positions: 5 female vice presidents out of 14 (compared to 3 in the 7th term); half of the Committees have a women chair. • Variable gender composition of EP Committees: in CONT and AFET women are less than 20%, while only 3 Committees have 50% or more women. • Women are still poorly represented in EP management positions. Only 2 women out of 12 deputy secretary-general and director-general (goal for 2019 of 30 %). Half of the DG are composed only by males, while only 4 show more women than men. • Women are still poorly represented among speakers in EP hearings.

5. Evolution of GM in the European Parliament • Well developed legal and institutional framework supporting GM in the EP. • Progress in the role of the three dedicated bodies: • FEMM,main body in charge of promoting gender equality and gender mainstreaming in all the EP’s legislative and non legislative processes. • The Gender Mainstreaming Network, in charge of implementing gender mainstreaming in the work of the respective committees/delegations, supported by a network of EP administrators in the committee secretariats. • The High-Level Group on Gender Equality and Diversity promoting gender mainstreaming within the European Parliament’s structures and bodies. It prepared a Road Map (2016) to increase the representation of women in middle and senior management positions to 40% by 2020. • Greater degree of inclusion of FEMM’s suggestions and amendments in other committees’ reports. • However GM in the work of parliamentary committees is still highly variable and there is room for improvement in internal procedures and coordination

6. Main institutional steps in the promotion of gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament

7. FEMM activities between July 2017 and July 2018 • 9 Own Initiative reports (INIs): mainly on women’s economic empowerment, sexual harassment and violence against women, but also on issues not usually associated to gender equality: e.g. climate change, media sector, etc.. • 1 non-legislative report on the Istanbul Convention on preventing and comparing violence against women and domestic violence. • 13 opinions, including 259 suggestions mostly on gender equality in labour market, education, migration policies, preventing and fighting gender-based violence, respect of human rights and gender equality, gender budgeting. 47.5% of FEMM suggestions fully or partially integrated in reports, a higher share compared to 2011-2013 in all the involved Committees. • 213 gender amendments to 6 reports from other Committees. 63% were taken into consideration. Highest rates of inclusion in EMPL, LIBE and PETI. Lowest in ECON.

8. FEMM suggestions by committee for which the opinions were drafted and by level of inclusion (full or partial inclusions)

9. Overview of FEMM Gender Mainstreaming Amendments in the considered period

10. Reasons for inclusion or exclusion of suggestions/amendments of FEMM opinions in the reports of other committees Weak relation capacity and accreditation of rapporteur more importantthanpresence of women in committees Weak relation Inclusion closely related to the topics/issues covered: Higher rate of inclusion on topics/ issues usually considered as “gender related” or not involving particularly sensitive issues • the inclusion of suggestions /amendments is related to the presence of female MEPs in the Committee receiving the opinions • the inclusion of suggestions /amendments is related to political party concordance between the FEMM rapporteur and the rapporteur of the Committee receiving the opinions • the inclusion of suggestions /amendments is related to the specific topics/issues they cover

11. Recommendations - 1 • The status of FEMM as a "horizontal" committee entails extensive intervention capacity. • However FEMM is rarely in charge of the legislative procedure, asmost activities concentrate on influencing the work of other committees with opinions and/or gender mainstreaming amendments. • Successful inclusion of a gender equality perspective in an EP activities depends largely on: • the role attributed to FEMM in the EP decision making process • the reputation and authority of the FEMM rapporteurs • the salience of gender equality issues in the cultural, social and political debate.

12. Recommendations - 2 To improve the salience of gender issues in the agenda of the EP, FEMM needs to continue efforts in stimulating debates on specific aspects of gender equality that are overlooked or underestimated through: • Careful planning of own-initiative reports and rapporteurs, and involving other committees in joint reports addressing issues that are either new or overlooked • Stimulation of public debate, inside and outside the EP, on aspects of GM that are overlooked or underestimated, with public events and debates around the own-initiative reports, to raise awareness on the importance of adopting a gender perspective in all policy fields

13. Recommendations - 3 To increase the role of FEMM in EP decision making: • Strengthen FEMM role in legislative proposals; • Strategic planning of association of other committees with FEMM own-initiative reports, to pave the way toward closer cooperation with other committees as it might trigger a pre-commitment mechanism. • Greater selectivity in drafting opinions: selection should be based on the likelihood of the opinion being positively received by the relevant Committee • Involve MEPs who are not members of FEMM in drawing up GMAs in order to extend the number of MEPs interested in and working on gender issues.

14. Recommendations - 4 To improve the effectiveness of the other GM dedicated bodies: • Strengthen coordination amongthe three bodies in charge of GM • Strengthen the role of the GMN in supporting FEMM in GM in other committees by setting minimum common objectives and topics and providing specialized training and exploring the adoption of a gender perspective in new and under- considered policy fields. • Monitor the implementation of the HLG road map for GE in the EP Secretariat

15. Recommendations - 5 To strengthen the capacity to implement gender mainstreaming in all Committees and EP bodies (including the Secretariat): • Use of internal and external expertise and specialised training to raise awareness in all EP committees on GM in the specific policy fields of different committees • Promote studies, GIA, gender budgeting to build the analytical tools and raise awareness on such instruments, including evidence of situations in which they have worked particularly well in improving gender mainstreaming • Promote gender training for the Secretariat staff (especially for the network of GM administrators and/or the FEMM secretariat).

16. Thank you for your attention! msamek@irsmilano.it dloi@irsmilano.it