EQUALITY -GENDER- EUROPEAN : MASTER GLOBAL ESSAY

 

The European Union has presented itself as a champion for promoting gender equality, adopting rules requiring companies to increase the number of women on their boards and pushing employers to address the gender pay gap.

So when Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, asked recently for member countries to nominate both male and female candidates for leadership positions within the 27-member block's executive arm, it was seen as an attempt to apply that vision to its own halls. The problem is, few have listened.

Within days, only five countries - Sweden, Finland, Spain, Portugal and Croatia - had put forward female candidates. Seventeen countries had nominated only men for their commissioner posts, Each country gets one leadership slot.

It's possible that some countries could still change their nominees, but the current slate of nominees suggests that the European Commission's leadership team will most likely be composed :

Mostly of men for the next five years - and the analysts said the public snub of Ms von der Leyen's request signals her leadership could be weakened.

'' It's not a small thing, asking for gender balance and clearly not getting it,'' said a senior European official. '' It's not just one, two countries.''

Speaking on conditions of anonymity because the process was ongoing, the official said that indicated Ms. von der Leyen's relations with a member states would be more difficult.

Ms. von der Leyen, a conservative German politician, secured a second five-year term in a vote in July.

'' National political leaders are certainly less willing, this time around, to adhere to this type of request,'' said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

He said that Ms. von der Leyen was able to get more cooperation in her first term because the E.U. was dealing with Covid and other crises, but would probably now need to become a more traditional '' wheeling-and-dealing commission president."

The commission's leadership team creates and implements policies affecting 450 million  European citizens.

'' The E.U. as an international organization and as a political body often makes claims to being a trailblazer in the area of gender equality,'' said Roberta Guerrina, a professor and researcher at Bristol University in England.

'' Therefore, walking the talk becomes really important, and having equal representation in decision-making bodies is the starting point.''

'' Gender equality push in E.U. looks set to fail. ''

This Master Essay Publishing continues into the future. The World Students Society thanks Jenny Gross.