Gender equality: "We not only need legislation but also societal change"

When it comes to gender equality, much remains to be done, be it at home, in the office, at school or in politics, according to MEPs Constance Le Grip and Anna Hedh. We talked to the two member of Parliament's gender equality committee on the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March, which this year focuses on economic empowerment. Watch our video to find out what they had to say on the subject.

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Empowering women: a challenge for Europe

Hedh is drafting a report assessing women's economic empowerment in the EU's private and public sectors. Le Grip has prepared a report  in which she calls for an EU strategy to tackle the diffference in pensions between men and women. MEPs are expected to vote on her report during June's plenary session.


Hedh said: “If we want to reach economic equality, we need to make sure that we have a labour market for women, a division in household chores and that men and women have equal opportunities for staying at home with their children." She also pointed out that the situation has improved in the Parliament now that 37% of MEPs are women. “But still there need to be more women,” she said.

 

Meanwhile  Le Grip stressed that the difference in pay and pensions between men and women needed to be urgently dealt with: "To achieve gender equality, we not only need legislation, but also societal change. It’s true that if you do not make a certain number of strong statements through legislative instruments to anchor equality between men and women, not much happens. Beyond legislation, I think our society needs to mobilise.”

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