European Parliament’s gender equality drive thwarted by the right-wing

The new European Parliament hasn’t only tilted right-wing, it’s also even more male-dominated.

Only 277 of the new Parliament’s 719 confirmed EU lawmakers are women: 38.5 percent, down from about 40 percent in the previous hemicycle. It’s the first-ever decline in the proportion of women in the Parliament, which had been on a consistent upward trajectory since 1979.

A cursory comparison with the Parliament’s previous terms suggests that political groups’ gender ratio has actually remained fairly stable — with one exception: the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, led by a prominent female politician in Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, slipped from a 30 percent proportion of female MEPs across the previous term to under 22 percent: Just 17 of its 78 MEPs are women today.

Women’s rights campaigners have reacted with disappointment at the decreased representation.

“This is worrying, especially considering that quite a significant proportion of MEPs sit within political groupings that are known to be hostile toward women’s rights and gender equality,” Jéromine Andolfatto, policy and campaign officer for the European Women’s Lobby, said in written comments.

An analysis of the gender balance within Parliament’s groups reveals a clear divide.

Liberal and left-leaning groups boast shares of women lawmakers above the Parliament’s average, ranging from 43 percent in the Socialists and Democrats group to 51 percent of the Greens.

But the proportion of women in the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and most of the groups sitting to the right of it dipped below the average. Women make up 37 percent of the EPP’s team and only 32 percent of the new, far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group.

In an exception to the small female representation in hard-right groups, the ratio of women in the Patriots for Europe — the new anti-immigration far-right group led by French politician Marine Le Pen’s National Rally — is above the Parliament’s average.

In ECR’s defense, its spokesperson pointed to “very high-profile female politicians” in the group and its parties, presumably referring to Meloni.

“In the ECR, we favor equal rights and freedom of choice over equity. Therefore, we oppose quotas in elections,” said Michael Strauss, group spokesperson.

“The focus should be on merit and the best possible representation of the electorate. We believe that MEPs of both sexes can represent the interests of the other sex very well.”

Still, Meloni’s own party is responsible for part of the imbalance in ECR: Just five of the 24 MEPs in her own aptly named Brothers of Italy party are women. The second-largest party in the ECR, Poland’s Law and Justice, also sent five female lawmakers to the Parliament, out of 18 in total.

A familiar issue

The Parliament’s gender gap is a familiar issue.

Its gender imbalance has filtered through to leadership positions in Parliament’s committees, where major and persistent gender imbalances had already raised concerns about the quality of EU lawmaking.

“As of now, we have only nine chairwomen out of 24, which is only 37.5 percent of the total,” Spanish S&D MEP Lina Gálvez, the gender equality committee’s newly elected chair, said in emailed comments.

“Big gender disparities in the composition of the European Parliament’s bodies can lead to blind spots,” said Austrian MEP Evelyn Regner. | EP

In the previous Parliament, committees covering constitutional affairs, foreign affairs, budgets, tax and security were dominated by men, leading Robert Biedroń, the former chair of the women’s rights committee, to conclude that “where there is money and power you have male domination.”

POLITICO analysis confirmed that lead negotiating roles followed a similar pattern, with women taking up leading roles in talks on gender equality, employment and social affairs while men took charge of more files on foreign affairs and budgetary control.

“Big gender disparities in the composition of the European Parliament’s bodies can lead to blind spots,” said Austrian MEP Evelyn Regner, who pushed for reform in the previous term as a part of a senior gender equality group.

In the male-dominated constitutional affairs committee, for instance — which had 85 percent male MEPs in 2022, and nearly 87 percent now — “many daily life questions for MEPs, who for example are pregnant or parents of young children, have been dismissed as irrelevant so far by a majority,” Regner warned in an emailed reaction.

Tired old patterns

In November, MEPs took steps to address those disparities, suggesting that committees’ gender balance should reflect the ratio in the Parliament as a whole.

That matters, Regner argued, because the “continuous striking disparities” had “the effect that some questions were dismissed or overlooked.”

But the suggestion hasn’t been cemented in the rules of procedure yet, she added.

The latest update of Parliament’s set of rules only states that committees’ composition should “as far as possible, reflect the composition of Parliament” and that political groups should “strive for a fair gender representation” as they settle on the committees’ make-up  — and the composition of the new Parliament’s committees, confirmed last week, fell into familiar old patterns.

Counting only full members, 13 committees and subcommittees have a share of women lawmakers below the Parliament’s average. In the committees on constitutional affairs, budgetary control, taxes, and foreign affairs, the proportion is below 20 percent; in the Constitutional Affairs Committee, it dropped to just 13 percent.

Women, meanwhile, are overrepresented in committees working on the internal market; culture and education; employment and social affairs — and women’s rights.

That proves that gender equality rules, up for revision, need to be bolstered, Regner said. “So far the existing rules have not shown enough effect.”

Galvez agreed that “There is indeed segregation.”

At the same time, she stressed that “education, health care and social services are what sustain people’s lives, and we have to stop calling them soft.”

Doing so implicitly reinforces gender stereotypes, she added. “We need to reevaluate what we consider important and valuable to move towards a more equal society,” she said.

Spanish S&D MEP Lina Gálvez agreed that “There is indeed segregation.” | EP

Parliament’s gender rules have already kicked up dust since the start of the new term in July.

Last week, political group leaders agreed to drop rules that prevent committees’ leadership roles from being filled by people of the same gender, arguing the rules blocked political agreement. In several committees, the election of a fourth vice-chair was postponed over continued disagreements.

The gender balance derogation has further aggravated segregation in the Parliament, Galvez lamented.

While the postponed elections have caused unease, “we must also consider the unease that arises from establishing rules and not adhering to them,” she stressed.

The women’s rights committee, itself highly segregated with only four men among its 39 members, has elected two of them as vice-president.

“If the rule can be fulfilled even [in] the most segregated committee, it could be achieved in others as well,” she argued.

Kathryn Carlson contributed reporting