PES Manifesto

PES Women President: Gender equality is a core issue for Europe’s socialists

Published Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 17:26
by Zita_Gurmai (589 views and 0 comments)

I completely agree with PES activist Natalia Reyes when she writes that gender equality should be one of the top priorities of the PES manifesto – as it is a priority for the Spanish government. Having Zapatero and PSOE in government in Spain has demonstrated that when women vote for a socialist party their lives really improve. In many ways we are experiencing the New Social Europe in Spain: Equal pay, childcare and attention to violence against women.

The current Europe is an aging Europe: We live much longer. Long life expectancy is good news, but we have less children and the traditional family and traditional gender roles do not really exist anymore. We need women on the labour market and we need better reconciliation of work and modern family life. Women play an important role in society and should be equally represented in politics.

Like Natalie I was glad to see that the Spanish prime minister presented a new government of equal representation: 9 women and 8 men. Women are 52 percent of the electorate which should be reflected in political representation. There is no doubt that ‘Z con Zapatero’ is a better choice for Spain.

Now I encourage all of Europe’s socialists to place gender equality high on the political agenda.

Post cards from the PES Women President
PES Women brings together women - MP, MEPs and activists - from PES member parties to discuss and promote gender equality. This week Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women, comments on some of the ideas put forward on Yourspace. This is the first of four post cards from the PES Women President.

Tags: citizens, democracy, women