Equality between women and men

The Council of Europe has taken steps at different levels in order to promote equality between women and men. While the European Convention on Human Rights does not include equality between women and men as a general principle, it does, under Article 14, prohibit any "distinction" based, inter alia, on grounds of sex, in relation to the rights protected. Furthermore, the principle of equality between spouses with regard to their rights and responsibilities in marriage has been added to the Convention in Protocol No. 7. However, the inclusion in the Convention of a fundamental right of women and men to equality continues to be called for, not least by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the matter is under consideration at the intergovernmental level.

The European Social Charter provides a number of specific rights for women, namely equal remuneration, protection of mothers and working women and the social and economic protection of women and children. The Additional Protocol of 1988 included the right to equal opportunities and treatment with regard to employment and careers, without discrimination based on sex. Furthermore, the revised Social Charter contains a specific non-discrimination clause on a variety of grounds, one of which is sex.

Apart from these legal instruments the Council of Europe is committed to a whole range of other measures and activities to promote equality between women and men.

A declaration by the Committee of Ministers in 1988 gave new impetus to this work. It affirmed that equality was an integral part of human rights and that the eradication of sex-related discrimination was a sine qua non of democracy and an imperative of social justice.

From this declaration follows the conviction that a democracy where women are under-represented in the various echelons of decision-making in the political, economic and social areas is not a true democracy. If women and men are not given the possibility of working together on an equal basis, sharing the same rights and same responsibilities, we shall be left with incomplete democracies.

This vital link between equality and democracy was further emphasised in the conclusions to the 1995 Conference Equality and democracy: Utopia or challenge?, the Council of Europe's specific contribution to the preparatory process of the 4th World Conference on Women (Beijing, 4-15 September 1995).

Some further initiatives in the area of equality between women and men:

• action against traffic in women and forced prostitution
• action on violence against women
• organisation of conferences and workshops on the problems of equality in the transitional period in the countries of central and eastern Europe
• examination of the role and responsibility of the media in the protection of human dignity
• examination of the right to free choice in matters of reproduction - the right of women to choose freely if and when to bear children

At the 4^th European Ministerial Conference on Equality between Women and Men held in Turkey from 13-14 November, Ministers and government representatives from 38 member countries urged governments, political parties, employers, unions and non-governmental organisations to follow an action plan designed to help create a fairer, more democratic continent. Without equality, it was agreed, there could be no democracy or social justice.

• The action plan includes calls for:
  
  Governments to:
  
  
• Enact and enforce laws guaranteeing women’s equal right to equal pay;
• Raise public awareness of the problem and the importance of men’s role through campaigns, research, education and training;
• Consider any necessary reforms of the electoral system;
• Support provision of child care; •Adopt adequate paternal and maternal leave schemes;
• Prohibit references to pregnancy in recruitment procedures;
• Promote training courses for top-level officials and judges;
• Adopt laws and incentives to encourage equal sharing of parental responsibilities between women and men such as flexible working patterns;
• Encourage firms to view men’s role as fathers as positive in work terms;
• Promote gender balance in all financial institutions funded by government; encourage and promote an increase in numbers of women in management in the media.
  
  Political parties to:
  
• Consider restricting the number of political posts which can be held simultaneously;
• Consider changes to working conditions to make it easier to balance home and work responsibilities.
  
  Employers to:
  
• Contribute to child care and family facilities for employees.
  
  Trade unions, employers and other organisations to:
  
• Provide systems of benefits for temporary child care;
• Adopt more suitable meeting times to suit families;
• Revise selection and nomination procedures to remove any direct or indirect discrimination against women.