Both were among the speakers at a one day conference at Oslo’s House
of Literature on 5 November, called ‘When gender equality becomes a
European matter’.
“Is the EU good or bad for gender equality? Sometimes the EU is very
good and sometimes very bad. It depends where you come from,” said
Johanna Kantola, who still largely believed there was a lack of vision
within the EU system and that the economic crisis had had a negative
impact on many gender equality projects.
Kirsten Ketscher, who spoke about the importance of the EU Court of
Justice for gender equality, was more optimistic:
“The EU is no more than what 28 countries can do together. The EU
Court of Justice represents a power of enormous importance, however,”
she said.
The EU Court of Justice interprets EU legislation and makes sure
this is adapted in an equal fashion in all EU countries. It also solves
legal disputes between EU countries and EU institutions. It must not be
confused with the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg.
“Nordic courts often tone down and exist in a kind of symbiosis with
parliaments and governments. The EU Court of Justice is highly
independent and is a very competent court,” said Kirsten Ketscher.
One judgement which will have a big impact, she said, is Lex
Maïstrellis, which concerns the individual’s right to parental leave
during a child’s birth. The judgement was passed on 16 July this
year.
Konstantinos Maïstrellis is a Greek judge who applied for parental
leave in 2010. It was turned down because his wife was not working at
the time. The EU Court of Justice ruled that each individual parent has
an individual right to parental leave, and that Greek legislation
cannot prevent this. The Greek approach is echoed in Norway, where a
man’s right to paid parental leave in certain cases depends on whether
the child’s mother is working.
“The Maïstrellis judgement is like a letter to Norway. The judge,
Juliane Kokott, is really wielding the whip!”
The EU Court of Justice is known for basing its judgements on
individual rights. As a result it reacts in cases where people are
divided into groups for whom different conditions apply.
Unisex insurance
“Another such case is what is known as Test Achats, where a Belgian
consumer organisation took an insurance company to court for using
average life span calculations to give lower insurance payments to
women,” said Kirsten Ketscher.
Since women in most countries live three to four years longer than
men, female insurance customers’ pension insurance money is stretched
out over a higher number of years, making the annual sum lower because
the women might outlive men on average.
“The judgement is a huge victory for female insurance
customers!”
According to Kirsten Ketscher this means so-called unisex insurance
policies will become the norm in the EU and the EEA, where Norway and
Iceland are also members. Today only six to seven out of the EU’s 28
member states have unisex insurance policies, including Denmark and
Sweden.
Five pillars in EU gender equality politics
Johanna Kantola, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, who has
written the book Gender and the European Union (2010), described the
five pillars which the EU’s gender equality politics rest on:
- Anti-discrimination
- Positive action
- Gender mainstreaming
- Action programmes
- Funding
Johanna Kantola described each pillar and how they
had developed. She also used information from researcher Sophie Jacquot
from the University of Louvian in Belgium, whose book ‘Transformations
in EU Gender Equality’ has followed developments up until present
time.
“The book’s subheading is ‘from origins to dismantling’. She shows
how all of the five pillars are facing serious challenges.”
The most obvious of these is budget cuts.
“When austerity measures were introduced in Europe, gender equality
did not play a major part. But this is about more than the economic
crisis, there is more going on,” said Johanna Kantola.
Fewer directives
“The are fewer directives addressing gender equality coming from the
Commission now, and there is a debate about ‘cutting red tape’ which
also affects gender equality issues.”
In other instances the Commission tries to introduce directives
which are then slowed down by member states, or by the EU Parliament
which demands more from the directives than what the Commission has
proposed. That is the case for the directive on parental leave, which
the Commission passed on 8 March 2010. The Commission wanted to
extend parental leave in EU countries from a three month minimum
to four months. But the Parliament wanted the minimum limit to be five
months.
The issue has been locked for the past seven years, and there is
nothing to suggest a solution is anywhere close.
“It would have been nice to be more positive about the development
of EU gender equality politics, but I’m afraid my bleak vision is being
shared by most researchers in my field,” said Johanna
Kantola.
