By Martin Banks - 15th September 2009
Europe’s leaders should seize this excellent opportunity to make the EU more equal and democratic
Caroline Lucas
European leaders have been urged to ensure that more women are nominated for top EU posts.
If the Irish ratify the stalled Lisbon treaty next month, a new post of council president will be created.
This is in addition to the existing post of EU high representative for common foreign and security policy.
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair and Chris Patten, a former EU commissioner, have been touted as possible candidates for the posts. However, no female candidates have so far been suggested for either job.
Member states will also put forward their candidates for the new 27-strong commission when the current executive comes to an end on 31 October.
UK Greens MEP Caroline Lucas has written to British PM Gordon Brown calling on him to ensure that women and men in the EU are "represented equally in decision-making processes at the very highest levels of European government".
The move comes ahead of a summit in Brussels in October at which Brown and other EU leaders will handle nominations for the EU’s so-called "top jobs".
Lucas wants Brown "to do his utmost to ensure the equal representation of women and men in the important nominations to be made".
She said, "Together with the European women's lobby 50/50 campaign for democracy, I urge Europe's leaders to seize this excellent opportunity to make the EU more equal and democratic.
"It is the shared responsibility of European governments to ensure that the outcome of this selection reflects the fact that women represent half of the European population - and that European policies at the highest level need to unequivocally reflect the needs and aspirations of all Europeans.
"The new face of the EU must reflect the fundamental European values of justice and equality."
Earlier this week, the British equality and human rights commission published the results of an official inquiry into gender discrimination in the British workplace, which found that women earn around 80 per cent less than men in performance-related pay at some of the UK's leading finance companies.
It was also found that more than eight out of 10 women starting new jobs are paid lower average salaries than men.
The Greens support "boardroom" quotas to improve the representation of women and address the pay gap in the business world.
Lucas pointed out that quotas are already a reality in some countries.
"When Norway called on firms to have 40 per cent women on their boards - a percentage adopted by the Greens - it was found that, contrary to expectations of a shortage of suitable candidates, there was a wealth of high quality female applicants."
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