The ‘union of equality’ requires leadership

If gender equality is not to fall down the European Commission’s priorities, its president must take the lead.

At the beginning of Ursula von der Leyen’s first term as president of the European Commission, she stressed her deep personal commitment to a ‘union of equality’ (UoE) and insisted on European Union member states making such nominations to the college of commissioners as would allow her to appoint a gender-balanced commission.

In von der Leyen’s political guidelines of 2019 a UoE was part of ‘an economy that works for people’—one of the six headline ambitions for Europe—and ‘equality for all and equality in all its senses’ was one of the priorities of the commission. In the 2024 successor document, a UoE is part of ‘supporting people, strengthening our societies and social model’, recognising that historic progress has been made but yet ‘for too many people, equality is not yet a reality’.

The political climate has however changed in the intervening five years, with more anti gender governments or factions in governments which did not care to comply with the president’s request to nominate two candidates for commissioner—a woman and a man. The president certainly fought back, using perseverance and all the powers of her role to reach a less-unbalanced college, of which 60 per cent are men.

Her efforts met some success and she must be praised for them. But has her commitment stopped at numbers?

The wave of expressions of disappointment concerns the place of gender equality in von der Leyen’s proposed distribution of portofolios in the 2024-29 commission. The dissatisfaction has been spelt out by G5+, the European feminist think-tank, and a large number of human-rights organisations—but also by politicians, policy-makers and academics throughout Europe and beyond who consider EU gender-equality policy to be dynamic and progressive.

Ambitious agenda

Having a designated commissioner for equality, Helena Dalli, during the last mandate, along with an equality-oriented vice-president, Vera Jourova, allowed the commission to set forth an ambitious agenda and overcome some longstanding blockages in the Council of the EU on major directives: pay transparency, women on boards, work-life balance and violence against women. Moreover, a new internal structure was established, the Task Force on Equality, chaired by the deputy secretary-general responsible for policy co-ordination, with equality co-ordinators in all directorates-general and the European External Action Service.

This provided the necessary architecture to implement ‘gender mainstreaming and intersectionality’ in all policy domains. Allied to the commitment of the president, frequently repeated, to ‘equality for all and equality in all its senses’, it gave a definite impulse to the ambitious Gender Equality Strategy 2020-25 in March 2020, which was followed by four more strategies: the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan 2020-2025, the EU Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation, the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030.

Academics and progressive activists praised the actions of the first female commission president as an advocate for democracy based on a UoE, against an increasingly regressive backdrop vis-à-vis women’s rights and human rights generally. From a series of interviews with commission officials, it is evident that the president’s personal investment in the UoE brought legitimacy and dynamism (though not new resources) to the various services concerned.

Minor activity

Although a commissioner for equality is mentioned on page 20 of the new political guidelines, equality has been reduced to a minor activity in the multi-task portfolio of the Belgian commissioner. Equality was not even mentioned in the press statement of September 17th announcing the next college of commissioners. And while the 2024 political guidelines do commit to continuing ‘to do more for everyone to live, thrive and lead, regardless of who they are’, gender mainstreaming and intersectionality are absent from the mission letters sent to the candidate commissioners.

More than ever, a democratic and prosperous Europe depends on full participation of women and men of all nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations and so on. Anti-gender movements, associated with rising gender-based violence, are flourishing online, in political arenas and in society, as are efforts to push women back out of politics and the economy. Blocking women’s participation in this way can only diminish social wellbeing.

To pursue the progressive course initiated by the outgoing commission, a dedicated commissioner should be appointed. Not only that: equality should also be a direct responsibility of the president—the best way to signal to every other commissioner that the mainstreaming of equality falls within her or his field of competence too. The wealth of commitment and expertise on equality in the commission directorates-general (Justice, Employment, Research, Human Resources and even Budget), as well as the Secretariat General, could assist the president very effectively in this endeavour.

This is important to consolidate the progress made on ‘gender budgeting’ through the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the European Semester. In times where women but also the LGBT+ and other disadvantaged communities in the member states suffer from austerity policies, anti-gender movements and the shrinking or their rights, the commission must elevate and foreground the value of equality embedded in the treaties.

It should inter alia invest in the participation of women in artificial intelligence and in the caring agenda as the cornerstone of our economic, social and environmental development. And it should sustain gender-balanced EU policies which eradicate violence against women, as well as initiatives against all forms of discrimination—so that all may benefit from their full participation in society.