Post-European elections, PES Women held special Executive and Statutory meetings in Vienna, Austria, this weekend to take stock of the gender equality developments in the last EU mandate and identify the challenges for the upcoming term.
For the gender equality agenda, the last mandate was challenging, busy and full of important achievements, driven forward by PES Women and our progressive family in the European Parliament, Council and Commission.
PES Women celebrated the unblocking and adoption of the Women on Board Directive, as well as the Pay Transparency Directive; a key instrument necessary to eliminate the gender pay gap. We also acknowledge progress in tackling gender-based violence as a great step forward for the EU, with the accession of the EU to the Istanbul Convention, followed by a strong Directive on Combating Violence Against Women. This progress and more was spearheaded in the European Commission by Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli.
PES Women has participated in and organised many events with partners and conducted numerous campaigns, including Safe Place for Women, The Line has been Crossed, End Period Poverty, Consent is Key, and others.
But there is still much to achieve, and our fight must continue during the next 2024-2029 mandate.
Commenting on the elections results, PES Women President Zita Gurmai said:
“The election results show that democratic forces prevailed and this constitutes an encouraging basis to continue working to advance women’s rights. However, the results also confirm the rise of the extreme right and conservatives. It also reminds us that the future is never certain – as women, our hard-won and fundamental rights can always be threatened.”
From today on, PES Women will keep pushing forward feminist priorities from our elections manifesto and we will fight for the adoption and implementation of an EU Charter for Women’s Rights.
With crucial decisions set to be made in the coming weeks, we call on leaders in the EU and Member States to: ensure that women are equally represented among the European institutions’ ‘top jobs’; to appoint a Commissioner for Equality with a portfolio including women’s rights and gender equality; to renew the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025; and, to ensure coherence in implementing various legislative instruments for ending all forms of Violence Against Women and Girls.
