What does Brussels, Belgium and Burkina Faso have in common? They start with a B. They are basically officially frenchspeaking (which poses some problems to me). And they have serious problems with underrepresentation of women in public and/or elected offices ( and I consider Brussel in the quality of being a capital city of Europe).
In the European Parliament only 1 in 3 parliament members are female. Only twice has a woman been elected the President of the Parliament - men have been elected 10 times. 9 out of 27 Commissioners in the European Commission are women. In 50 years a woman has never been the President of the Commission. And according to all plans prepared for the case of coming to live of Lisabon Treaty*, 4 major positions within EU that are to exist ( a Council President (permanent President of the European Council), a High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, a Commission President and a President of European Parliament) are going to be occupied by men. "250 million women in the EU. Not a single one good enough?" asks MEP Mrs. Ch. Schaldemose in the newly launched petition. (to see and sign the petition, visit: http://www.femalesinfront.eu/ ). In this dimension of participation of women, single member states are on avarage rather worse than EU than better.
In the European Parliament only 1 in 3 parliament members are female. Only twice has a woman been elected the President of the Parliament - men have been elected 10 times. 9 out of 27 Commissioners in the European Commission are women. In 50 years a woman has never been the President of the Commission. And according to all plans prepared for the case of coming to live of Lisabon Treaty*, 4 major positions within EU that are to exist ( a Council President (permanent President of the European Council), a High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, a Commission President and a President of European Parliament) are going to be occupied by men. "250 million women in the EU. Not a single one good enough?" asks MEP Mrs. Ch. Schaldemose in the newly launched petition. (to see and sign the petition, visit: http://www.femalesinfront.eu/ ). In this dimension of participation of women, single member states are on avarage rather worse than EU than better.
[People were shocked by the prevalence of women at the meeting with Mdme Commissioner Huebner, why is nobody shocked by the gender balance at the European Council meeting??? Contrary to the inofficial meeting with Mdme Hubner, the European Council is a body that takes major decisions for all citizens, both men and women.]
In Burkina, women have also been underrepresented, both in local and central offices. In the Parliament 17 in 111 seats are occupied by women (15,33%). This percentage of women has been twice as high in recent local elections thanks to organised support (trainings etc.) to female candidates. Currently there are attempts to introduce 25% quotas in all political parties. Still, there will be a long way to go to catch up with the international leader - Rwanda where percentage of women in the lower house reached 48,8%, 1,8% higher than in Sweden. This result in Rwanda would not have been possible without quotas. But is it possible to change centuries of "tradition" or laws that forced women to occupy certain positions in society and keep away from politics by waiting and hoping really hard? Empiric observation confirms the need for quotas: at least in 15 top countries in terms of women participation in politics, there are some kind of quotas involved: or by state law or by voluntary committment of political parties.
Apart from the huge diffrences in GDP and economic and human development in general and although Europe has longer experience with democracy and with feminism, at least how we in the West define it, we still share the common problem, which shows that each country is a developing country.
As a woman from the country and from region where women are still underrepresented, I am very excited to explore the perspective of Burkinabe women on their participation in power in July and August.
Apart from the huge diffrences in GDP and economic and human development in general and although Europe has longer experience with democracy and with feminism, at least how we in the West define it, we still share the common problem, which shows that each country is a developing country.As a woman from the country and from region where women are still underrepresented, I am very excited to explore the perspective of Burkinabe women on their participation in power in July and August.
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