Ensuring Gender Equality in the EU - Essay Example

Introduction EU is one of the most important regional alliances in the world which is doing a lot within the Region to make important moves on many grounds from corporate governance to the equality of men and women. Considering the issue of gender equality, EU has developed a roadmap to be implemented from 2006 to 2010 within the region. This roadmap from EU outlines major breakthroughs in terms of its efforts to bring in gender equality and provide a better and more balanced and equal environment in the region for all men and women regardless of their gender. This roadmap has been built upon the experience of EU on Framework Strategy for Equality between men and women. This roadmap for this gender equality has set six top priority areas to be implemented. These six priority areas are:  Equal economic independence for women and men;  Reconciliation of private and professional life;  Equal representation in decision-making;  Eradication of all forms of gender-based violence;  Elimination of gender stereotypes;  Promotion of gender equality in external and development policies. Based on these priority areas, EU set to implement a roadmap to achieve wider means to strike a balance between the roles of women and men within the society. However, though the roadmap carries excellent prospects however there are also opportunities as well as challenges which regulators within EU will face in order to successfully implement the roadmap. One more important issue which may also come up is how successfully EU meets that challenges. The following will discuss the opportunities and obstacles which roadmap for the equality of men and women may face. This essay will look into some of the opportunities and obstacles involved in the process of implementing the roadmap. However, before discussing these issues, it is very important that a historical analysis of the issue must be taken in order to set the stage for discussing the roadmap. Analysis of roadmap While deciding upon rolling in the road map for the gender equality. The purpose of this roadmap was to drive forward the gender equality in the region. Essentially building on the Framework Strategy for equality between women and men, this roadmap takes this framework and further re-enforces the proposed guidelines and recommendations put forward in the Framework Strategy. Building on the Framework, the roadmap for the equality between men and women set six priority areas and set other objectives and goals besides suggesting some key actions for creating gender equality in the region. “The roadmap defines some existing areas and proposes other completely new areas of action. A total of six priority areas have been selected: equal economic independence for women and men, reconciliation of private and professional life, equal representation in decision-making, eradication of all forms of gender-based violence, elimination of gender stereotypes, and promotion of gender equality in external and development policies.”(Europa, 2006). While analyzing the framework, we must also understand and discuss some of the historical facts which resulted into the development of roadmap for gender equality. The historical roots of the framework are in the Lisbon agreement held in March 2000. Under the Lisbon Special European Council of 23-24 March 2000. Under this agreement, Commission set on to decided about taking actions against gender inequality in the region and develop a framework which could provide a legislative background to all member states to follow and implement within their respect countries. We will now be discussing the six priority areas defined by the Commission to work on towards implementing the roadmap for gender equality. This section is necessary in the sense that it provides a good background against which we can assess the opportunities and obstacles towards the implementation of the roadmap. Economic equality Under the Lisbon agreement, the framework decided to decrease the pay gaps between the women and men employees however despite this fact; there still existed a pay gap of almost 15% which gave rise to the structural inequalities and segregation between the employees. Further, it was also observed that on average, women comprise of 30% of the entrepreneurs in the region but still they were facing more difficulties as compared to the men entrepreneurs. These difficulties were mainly faced in raising the finance for their businesses besides facing other administrative hurdles to get a smooth running of their businesses. Further, commission also noted that the risk of poverty is greater in women as compared to the men in the region therefore there are greater chances that the women have interrupted careers therefore fewer rights as for as the work is concerned. Similarly, social protection system does not allow women fully to accumulate their pensions and other retirement benefits therefore women become at a greater risk of having troubled old age. Further, it was also observed by the Commission that the health and health related rules and regulations within the organizations pertained more to the men therefore there was an strong discrepancy between the laws which were more favorable for men as compared to women. Finally there were multiple discriminations against women based on their ethnic and religious backgrounds.”(Europa, 2006). Reconciliation of professional and Personal Life The above mentioned parameters were some of the most critical issues which commission took notice of and aimed at achieving a reconciliation of private and professional lives of the men and women by making flexible working arrangements besides offering better child care facilities so that the skilled workforce in the form of women must not lost to the unproductive activities and region must have its indigenous work force available. Finally, it was also decided that the measures should be taken to encourage men to take up parental jobs also so that a balance must be struck between the roles of men and women not only in their homes but into their professional lives also. Further, this balance between the personal and professional life was necessary because of the fact that the laws were not only in favor of men but also the women were target of discriminatory management practices. Equal representation in Decision Making On the whole, the participation of women in important decision making areas such as their representation into the Parliaments, Civil Society and Politics is in deficit within the region therefore a need was sought to upgrade the situation to include more women participation into the critical decision making areas. This would in the end create a culture which is balanced as well as more productive and innovative in nature not only at the work level but also at the whole society level within the region. Considering this fact, a target of 25% women would be in the leading positions within the universities, and public sector research institutions was set to achieve within the region. The eradication of all kind of gender based violence The Commission considered the gender based violence against the women especially early enforced marriages as well as mutilation of women genitals and to combat trafficking of women across the region, the roadmap undertook to bring in new directives to stop all kind of violence which is based on gender. The elimination of gender stereotypes This priority area was set to place males into professions and areas which were traditionally being considered as the women only areas. The aim is to provide opportunity to women to be into areas which are highly valued and highly paid in order to strike a balance between the work roles of women and men within the work places. Having set the above six priority areas, the commission also proposed some key actions required to implement those six priority areas. These key actions included: Review of Legislation The Commission undertook to review the existing legislations in the region and with the assistance of the Commission Inter-Service Group on Gender Mainstreaming; the Commission would ensure that the gender biasness is removed from all the policies, procedures and legal frameworks of the region. Raising Awareness Gender inequality is something which require that the awareness should be provided to all those who are concerned with the process. Thus Commission undertook to raise awareness in order to eliminate the gender biasness especially the gender stereotyping. More Research Finally Commission stressed on the need for having more statistics and researches on the issue so that more and more data and information is collected in order to ensure the fair treatment to genders living within the region. Apart from this there were also other measures which were suggested to strengthen the roadmap. Having discussed and analyzed the framework, the following chapters will discuss about the challenges, opportunities and Obstacles which roadmap for the gender equality may face. Opportunities “The achievement of greater equality between the sexes is crucial if we are to address some of the key challenges facing the European Union today. The achievement of the ambitious Lisbon Targets requires a better integration of women into the labour market and if Europe is to address The demographic challenges facing our economies, it is critical to find ways to increase the Reproductive rate of European societies. In order to achieve this, a better reconciliation between Work and family life has to be found for both men and women”(CEEP,2006). The roadmap present probably a biggest opportunity of creating a more balanced and proper power sharing structure between men and women within EU society. This is because of the fact that if all six priority areas are implemented in their proper sense, the role of women and men within EU society will be redefined giving a proper balance between the roles of both with proper representation into the power structures of the society. Accordingly it will provide a common value and achievement of social cohesion, growth and employment opportunities within EU. (COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 2006). Further if we exploit the each priority area in more detail we will find that the roadmap can provide more and better opportunities. Equal Economic independence of men and women would ensure that the women get into the mainstream economy of the region which would certainly increase the available human resource in the region while reducing the dependence on external sources of human capital from the region. Further, it will also allow the region to curtail the pay gaps between the genders as it is existing present in the region and practiced by employers of Wal-Mart stature. Apart from the other opportunities to be created for the women through the implementation of the roadmap, what EU will probably be able to achieve will be the improvement of its image in the world because of its concerns and efforts taken to remove the gender bias and provide equal rights to the men and women so that not only society get a balanced and constructive members of the society. The global poverty is on the rise and women are the major target of this poverty. Though the EU, as a region is more prosperous than most of the Asian and African countries however, the transition economies which were communist in their orientation in the past are still lagging behind and are considered as developing nations. The implementation of the roadmap will allow the participation of women especially into emerging markets of EU to participate into mainstream economic activities thus decreasing the overall incidence of poverty on women. Moreover the globalization of resources has allowed the shifting of resources therefore the reach of women which have already a lower access to the finance have decreased. With the implementation of the EU roadmap, the misbalancing into already is decreasing regional as well as global resources. It may also be further noted that with the implementation of the roadmap, the women will be having better sexual and reproductive health rights. These rights will allow women especially to have more secured married lives as well as more say into the family affairs regarding the birth of children etc. It is also being argued that the gender equality can only be achieved if there is a strong political support from the various governments of the region. It is because of this reason that the commission is stressing upon the increased role of governments of the region. This will therefore create an opportunity of having a better governance structure within the region if EU Roadmap has the desired political support. The improved governance structure would provide a fair chance to the women to participate more and more into the mainstream economic activities and be more productive. Further the proposed roadmap talks about the need for the more research and statistics on the issue therefore it will provide a better and more opportunities to present factual and true data so that the better decision making can be taken place and more and more accurate and proper decisions can be taken in order to eliminate the gender biasness in the policy measures undertaken by the various governments of the region so far. The implementation of the roadmap will also allow the region to have more favorable pension schemes for the women especially. It has been largely argued that the pension systems of the most of the EU member states are either old and outdated and are also in favor of men thus the implementation of the roadmap would allow the revamping of the pension systems of the region and would allow governments to evolve better and more balanced pension systems in the region. “The EC Treaty also includes provisions against nationality discrimination and guaranteeing the free movement of workers within the EU (art.12, 9 EC Treaty). The ECJ has applied these in a number of cases. The population of the enlarged EU is increasingly diverse. That is why there is a pressing need to improve the opportunities for migrants, people with disabilities, younger and older people as regards education and employment. The Commission plans to set up a high-level advisory group to work on social and labour-market integration of minorities, including the Roma.”(EurActive.com, 2007). This quote clearly outlines the breadth and scope of the roadmap and the future direction as to which the proposed roadmap can take EU as a region and will probably also prove one of the decisive factors in deciding the fate of EU as a consolidate region in the world. Obstacles Probably the biggest obstacle in the process will be the streamlining of the various regulatory frameworks existing within the various member countries of the EU. Due to diversity of the regulatory structures, Roadmap may face beaurocratic hurdles as well as administrative impediments to remove those bottlenecks from the process. Further, it must also be noted that there may be a social resistance especially from the societies where male dominance is higher as compared to other countries and due to the old cultural as well as social values, the dominance of women or rather a shift from paternal society may take longer to get accepted even within EU societies. These are subtle differences however more powerful on the social and cultural grounds of EU’s rich historical past. Further ensuring the correct and true implementation of the roadmap at the micro level of the society ranging from the typical home to the big commercial organization will be a tough ask to complete since ensuring the equality between men and women employees especially for those organizations may be a costly proposition forced on them through strict regulatory process. Historical results have shown that the implementation of the gender equality legislations in the region have not produced the same results as was expected and were considered as insufficient to create gender equality. Based on this historical fact, many believe that Roadmap may fall prey to the administrative and beuracractic hurdles and the proper legislation may not be implemented in order to strengthen the gender equality in the region. Inefficient governments and weak education systems in the region are considered as one of the greatest obstacle towards the implementation of the roadmap. As discussed above that the implementation of roadmap will require the greater role from the governments however, EU as a region is still facing the government structures which are not as efficient as they should have been and due to their tightening economic situations carry different priorities therefore practically to implement the roadmap into its entirety would be a difficult and cumbersome tasks for those governments therefore a uniformed framework may not be implemented in the true sense at the EU regional level. The Commission’s priority area of promoting the equal participation in the decision making would require that the men and women must be equally competent to decide upon anything however, given the current state of the education in the region where women usually do not go for higher studies would ultimately put them at disadvantage. In order to promote equal participation into the decision making, it is therefore necessary that the EU must approach roadmap in phased arrangement and before putting in the required infrastructure within the region. The inequality between the education standards and education achievements of both women and men therefore would also be one of the biggest obstacles as if forcing women on top positions without considering the merits of the decision would seriously create demoralizing impacts on the existing employees within the work environment in the region. It must therefore be ensured that the educational discrepancies must be removed first and then an attempt be made to increase the promotion of equal and balanced decision making process within the EU society and work environment as a whole. The existing gender gaps within the EU society are another bigger obstacle in the implementation of the EU roadmap. Since the new members to the EU are still emerging markets and shifting towards free market economies therefore their priorities would be different as discussed above. The removal or elimination of the existing gender gaps within these societies especially may not allow commission to properly implement and remove the garbage from the process before fully implementing it in its true spirit. The removal of the pay gaps between men and women in the region may put extra budgetary pressures on the various governments of the region. With the increased payouts, the margins for the companies would decrease as well as the public sector payments would also increase producing a tough challenge for the governments to balance their budgets and still provide higher pays for the work which may not have been that productive. Elimination of gender based violence against the women is a very especially and worthy cause however, it also depend upon the reporting of such incidents to the police. Many women in order to save their family lives tend not to report incidents of violence to the Police so that an appropriate action can be taken. It is therefore very critical that as to how commission raise the awareness in women especially to report such incidents to the Police. Further, whether the existing legal rules and laws against the gender based violence in various countries would be reconciled with the bigger and more focused framework as developed by the Commission is still an open question as to whether the commission will be able to reconcile these laws or not with its main objectives. Though one of the aim of Commission is to review the legislation but to what extent these changes would take place is difficult to assess. Conclusion The roadmap produces excellent prospects for the EU as a region as it will not only improve its image within the world but also will provide it a mechanism to ensure just and equal treatment to all members of the society. The roadmap outlines six priority areas where Commission intends to work on however; still there are many challenges and obstacles towards the implementation of the roadmap. Though the roadmap offers many important opportunities especially for women but the strong obstacles which may hinder the smooth implementation of the EU roadmap. References EU. (2006). A roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010. Available: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/gender_equality/gender_mainstreaming/roadmap_en.html. Last accessed 05 May 2008. COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. (2006). A Roadmap for equality between Men and Women. Available: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2006/mar/com06092_roadmap_en.pdf.. Last accessed 06 May 2008. Europa. (2006). Roadmap for equality between women and men (2006-2010). Available: http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c10404.htm. Last accessed 17 May 2008. EurActiv.com. (2007). Equal Opportunities. Available: http://www.euractiv.com/en/socialeurope/equal-opportunities/article-160979. Last accessed 19 May 2008. CEEP. (2006). CEEP OPINION ON ROADMAP FOR EQUALITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN. Available: http://www.ceep.eu/content/download/864/5330/version/1/file/06avis24EN-RoadMapGenderEquality.pdf.. Last accessed 20 May 2008. Read More