Equality of women and men in local life

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has presented its charter for equality of women and men to the European Parliament, on 12 September 2006 in Brussels.

 

The chair of CEMR's committee of women elected representatives of local and regional authorities, Vicenta Bosch Palanca, and CEMR secretary general, Jeremy Smith, were the guests of the Parliament's committee for women's rights and gender equality. They explained the origin, the content and the aims of the charter to the MEPs.

 

This charter is first and foremost a political document aimed at Europe's local and regional leaders, said Vicenta Bosch Palanca. It includes suggestions of concrete measures that can be implemented at the local level. The charter also shows that the issue of equal opportunities is linked to most local policies, and that municipalities have a role to play towards a genuine equality between women and men in Europe.

 

Jeremy Smith thanked the chair of the committee for women's rights and gender equality, Anna Záborská, on behalf of CEMR: Without your support and that of your vice chair Edite Estrella, this charter would not be what it is today. Yet, we still need the European Parliament's help: for the charter to have its rightful impact, it needs to be known across Europe. The members of the European Parliament can help CEMR in its regard.

 

The chair of the committee for Women's rights and gender equality, Anna Záborská, praised CEMR for the initiative of drafting the charter, as well as for the quality of the charter itself. Her vice-chair, Edite Estrella, expressed her support for the charter and for CEMR's work in the field of equal opportunities.

 

CEMR's charter for equality of

women and men in local life

 

 

CEMR has always worked to eliminate all types of discriminations, including on men/women equality issues.

 

Throughout 2005, CEMR, with the financial support of the European Commission, led a project on The town for equality (also available in French, German, Italian and Spanish). That project aimed mainly at collecting best practice cases of gender equality in European local governments as well as at setting up a methodology to help local representatives achieve true gender equality in their municipalities.

 

At the end of the project, CEMR, still with the support of the European Commission, started a new project to draft a European charter for equality of women and men in local life. Its aim was to encourage local politicians to sign it, thus committing themselves publicly to implement the measures in the charter in their municipalities.

 

The full text of CEMR's European charter for equality of women and men in local life is available in several languages