By Martin Banks - 5th March 2009
We now need EU-wide quotas
Edite Estrela
Portuguese MEP Edite Estrela has called for mandatory quotas to ensure more women are elected to parliament.
The Socialist deputy, speaking on Wednesday, said there should be a minimum 40 per cent female MEPs. At present, only 31 per cent of the assembly's 732 MEPs are women.
Estrela said that in those countries, such as Spain and Portugal, where there are such quotas, more women had been elected to their national parliaments.
"We now need EU-wide quotas to ensure that women not only appear on electoral lists but that they are placed at or near the top so they have a realistic chance of being elected," she said.
Estrela, parliament's rapporteur for the maternity leave directive, added, "This will not be possible for June's European elections but, hopefully, will be place for future elections."
She was speaking at a conference, entitled, "women and elections to the European parliament."
The event, which continues today, was given the results of a Eurobarometer survey showing that half of the 40,000 people questioned wished to see at least 50 per cent of MEPs being women.
According to the survey, however, only a minority, 10 per cent, considered the use of mandatory quotas to be effective.
But 46 per cent said their interests as women were not well represented in the EU with 39 per cent feeling they were well represented.
The majority of women quizzed said they do not feel discriminated by gender, with 32 per cent reporting the contrary.
When asked how often they discuss politics with friends, the gap between genders is obvious – 34 per cent women never do, compared to 23 per cent of men.
Women feel themselves less listened to in politics than men and are, on average, less interested in European issues.
Commenting on the results,EPP deputy Rodi Kratsa-Tsajaropoulou, a vice president of parliament, said it provided "important insight" into female voters expectations.
Commission vice president Margot Wallstrom said, "The poll shows that a large majority of Europeans agree that men dominate politics and that women can bring a different perspective.
"A democracy which does not make enough room for 52 per cent of the population at the decision-making table is no real democracy at all."
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