Event report

On Tuesday the 4th of April, a member of the European Parliament Ms. Noichl (S & D) what our guest on MeetEU and spoke about the EU’s gender equality strategy. Prior to joining politics, Noichl was a teacher of nutrition and design, she has therefore been or still is an Activist. MS. Noichl delivered a fascinating presentation on the EU’s gender equality strategy, with the question; gender equality is the EU doing more? She replied with one strong answer; No. The European Union is doing a lot, but, at first, we should look at what are the biggest problems in today’s EU gender equality policy? According to Ms. Noichl, there are four pillars; 1. Protection, 2. Participation, 3. Pay and 4. Power. In these four pillars, there is always a gap, which means that it is not equal. First, it is a shame that there is still a reasonable gap in pay, income, and pensions for women in Europe. Second, everyday women in Europe are killed by men, it is still not fully safe for women and thus protection has to be retained. Participation, we still have not enough women in ruling positions, especially in the participation for power. But power means that the right to work, still, women in Europe are not allowed to make their own decision and that has to change, power has to shift. We have to confess it is not one country in the world, with a good future without gender equality. Gender equality is always linked with a good future for the Member States and gender equality is always directly linked with democracy. We have actually been to underwrite that if somebody pushed down or halted gender equality it is the same as limiting democracy. We need better legislation but therefore more ‘color in the head’, meaning that it is partly legislation that changes gender equality and therefore comvior. What you learn, how you look at doing is what changes the world around us. To give an examination; Could you tell me where Doctor Smith is? Most people assume that doctor Smith is a male, while it could be a female. Stereotypes have to be exposed, to give another examination that pink is for females and blue for boys, absurd! Advice from a participant: My boyfriend was not trapped to clean, I broke the vacuum cleaner and washing machine and let him fix it. JUST as an examination, even though I knew how to fix it, what I mean to show you that there is this stereotype of woman and technique and that women are doing the standard jobs around the house (cleaning) that could be done by men. This is a huge stereotype, and it has been to stop! To conclude: the European Union is working hard on a better gender equality, but, there is still a lot that needs to be done and change. Gender equality has been end, for a better future, for a better Europe and hopefully the world