COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

 

CHAIRPERSON


Meeting, Wednesday, 9 July 2003

 

Presentation of the conclusions of the Greek Presidency
in the field of Gender Equality



by the Greek General Secretary for Equality, Ms Efi Bekou


Introductory speech by
Anna Karamanou 

 

 

The Greek Presidency has been particularly active in the field of gender equality during the last six months.

 

I would like to highlight only some of the initiatives which were undertaken and which I consider as very important :

 

–        the establishment of an annual progress report by the Commission, in collaboration with the Member States, to be presented to every Spring European Council.  This report would deal with the developments concerning gender mainstreaming of policy areas.  This is a very important achievement, since such a reporting mechanism will improve the visibility of gender equality policies, both in the Member States and at European level;

 

–        the adoption of a resolution by the Council on 2-3 June 2003 on building social and human capital in knowledge society : "learning, work, social cohesion and gender", in which the Council demands, in particular :

 

–        to favour the empowerment of women in the knowledge society and ensure equal opportunies of access to decision-making positions in economic and public life,

–        to address the current gender gaps in access to ICT-related education, jobs and the use of ICT, and to develop policies in support of women's economic initiatives in the ICT sector, and

–        to enable full participation by women in professional life by making it easier to reconcile working and family life.

 

       I would like also to highlight, as very important:

 

a)      a proposal of the Greek Presidency to the General Affairs Council on 19-20 May 2003 for the integration of a gender dimension in the European Union external relations policies,

 

b)      a proposal to the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs for Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation on 18-19 May 2003 for strengthening the gender dimension in Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation and

 

c)      in its conclusions of 19-20 June 2003, in Thessaloniki, the European Council underlined on the subject of peace in the Middle East that peace will never be attainable if it is not supported by the people.  The necessary initiatives to be taken by the EU for the creation of the bridges among representatives of the civil society of the two sides "should include the role of women, whose contribution has been often shown to be an important factor in building peace in war-torn areas".

 

Last but not least, it is worth noting to mention the organisation of a serie of events, in the framework of Greek Presidency's activities, in the area of gender mainstreaming, like as :

 

–        European Conference on equal pay, "Mind the Gap", 30-31 January 2003, in Athens,

 

–        Conference on "Women and Sports : Old and New Stereotypes" on 7-8 March 2003, in Thessaloniki,

 

–        European Conference and Informal Meeting of Ministers for Equality on "Gender and the Information Society" on 5-6 May 2003, in Athens,

 

–        Athens Forum on "Gender, Peace and Foreign Policy : The European Perspective" on 20-30 May 2003,

 

European Meeting of experts on dealing with violence within the family and illegal trafficking in women on 30-31 May 2003, in Athens.