The Spring 2008 Session of the European Centre of The International Council of Women attended by Doreen Micallef and Doris Bingley


The Spring 2008 session of the general assembly of the European Centre of the International Council of Women (ECICW) was held in Maidenhead, U.K. between the 25th and the 27th of April. The meeting commenced officially with a seminar entitled ‘Women of Europe – Towards equality’ during which NCW president, Doreen Micallef, who is also ECICW vice-president, was one of the guest speakers. The seminar was opened by the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The seminar started with a brief introduction by Ms Monica Hall, NCWGB President, who was then followed by Ms Ann Keeling, head of gender equality policy in the Government Equalities office, U.K. and previously a director in the Commonwealth Secretariat, leading on gender, education and health. She said that we are now living in a world of multilateralism with many challenges. The interest in women’s rights is not new; CEDAW e.g. is now 30 years old. In Europe, negotiation with 27 states is complex and challenging but produces rewards in the end. Compromises may be needed because of the diversity of the states, e.g. the gender pay gap in the different states varies considerably and is influenced by how far women are expected to shoulder the responsibilities of raising their family.

The next speaker was meant to be Dr Mushuq Ally who unfortunately could not attend but Ms Monica Hall spoke about Dr Ally’s work in Birmingham as head of equality and diversity for the Birmingham City Council. Dr Ally’s task has been to build links and achieve cohesion within a multiethnic society where gun and knife crimes and gang rivalry are problems.

Grace Wedekind, ECICW president, spoke next on the role of women in decision-making. Overall, in the U.K., women have, in theory, access to all decision-making positions. However, the extent of their representation in senior positions and in parliament is still limited. There are still many stereotypes which prevent more successful entry of women into decision-making positions. A Council of Europe study has recently placed emphasis on the importance of immigrants’ learning to speak the language of their host country and this would be of benefit to many women today.

The perspective of the seminar was then changed as the next two speakers were parliamentarians. The first speaker was the Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP for Maidenhead since 1997 and a shadow leader of the House of Commons and shadow Minister for women. She emphasized the importance of women being represented in political life. She said that two issues related to gender equality, domestic violence and the gender pay gap, had risen up in the political agenda because there were now more women in parliament then there previously were. She believes that better decisions are made when there is more diversity of experience amongst decision makers.

The second women parliamentarian was Ms Jean Lambert, MEP for London since 1999 and representing the Green Party. Ms Lambert commented on the proportion of women amongst members of the European Parliament: the Christian Democrats have 1 woman for every 4 men; the Socialists have 1 woman for every 3 men; the Green Party, 1 woman for every 2 men and the Independent and Democracy parties have 1 woman for every 10 men. The balance of female MEPs also varies between the different European states and depends on which political party is in power in a particular country and also on their voting system.

The third part of the seminar was entitled ‘The View from Europe’. The first speaker was Dr. Laura Finne-Elonen, former ECICW resident. She mentioned how in 1906 Finish women were the first women in Europe to receive political rights and by 1911, 10% of the MPs were women. Today 42% of Finnish MPs are women. An amendment to the law on sexual crime had been achieved through the female MPs of all parties working together. The quota system has proved useful to men because at present there are more women than men in cabinet but under the quota system, they must hold a certain number of seats.

The second speaker was Marie Jeanne Vidallet, President of CNFF. She said that France has lagged behind in achieving equal numbers of female and male MPs. Measures to achieve parity have been optional for the individual political parties and they have been resistant to parity but in 2007 new laws imposed the requirement for the Deputy Mayor to be of the opposite gender to the Mayor.
NCW Malta President, Doreen Micallef, spoke of the percentage of women graduates in Malta and the difference in the number of women holding decision-making positions. She also spoke about the position of women in the political field and the initiatives taken by NCW Malta to encourage more women to attain political decision-making positions such as the 2007 survey and seminar on women in decision-making positions and the course on women in political decision-making positions together with other courses intended to empower women and give them more skills to attain decisions-making positions.

During the general assembly, presentations on several important reports were given such as the report on the ICW Executive Meeting held a few days earlier in Jakarta, Council of Europe, EWL, Un commission on the Status of women and the RECON project.
One important piece of news for our Maltese members is that the ECICW general assembly of Spring 2009 shall be held in Malta. This is an honour for our council to be hosting such an important event and we hope that many of our members will participate.