On the eve of the ceremony of the 150th Anniversary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), PES Women celebrated today (22 May) its two decades of progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment. The 20th Anniversary Reception took place in Leipzig, commemorating the foundation of the PES Women's Standing Committee in May 1993 and honouring the remarkable work of past PES Women Presidents Karin Junker and Fiorella Ghilardotti.
PES Women President Zita Gurmai MEP addressed the Lithuanian Social Democrats (LSDP) at their party congress this weekend (Saturday 4 May). The Congress marked the first time that the Party had got together since LSDP’s election victory in December of last year.
Conference on Gender Equality and Europe 2020 in Dublin
The Irish Presidency hosts today and tomorrow (29 and 30 April) a gender equality conference in Dublin titled “Women’s economic engagement and the Europe 2020 agenda”. The event brings together national and international experts, NGOs and representatives of the Commission and the European Parliament. Conference participants include Irish Labour Party Member, Kathleen Lynch TD Minister of State, Department of Health and Department of Justice, Equality & Defence, and László Andor, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.
On occasion of her visit to Paris, the Party of European Socialists (PES) Women President Zita Gurmai had a one-on-one meeting with Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, French Minister for Women’s Rights. Together, they discussed common challenges in France and in Europe and how to reinforce their cooperation on gender issues.
The Party of European Socialists (PES) Women President Zita Gurmai addressed today a large audience of young people at the inauguration of the YES (Young European Socialists) Winter University in Brussels. The Winter University is themed around the core values of the progressive family and their context – and impact – in the current economic and political crisis, particularly in the light of the upcoming 2014 European elections.
At the start of our – Party of European Socialists (PES) Women and Irish Labour Women – joint 2-day event Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women, together with her Irish colleagues Emer Costello and Nessa Childers Members of the European Parliament reiterates the importance of emphasising that in this hard time of socio-economic crisis, gender equality is part of the solution not of the problem.
(Warsaw, 24th March 2013) ‘Fighting violence against women demands the elimination of gender stereotypes and of the patriarchal way of thinking,’ said Hungarian MEP and Party of European Socialists (PES) Women President Zita Gurmai in Warsaw, where she participated in the Left Women Summit of the Democratic Left Alliance. On the event Ms Gurmai received the SLD’s ‘Steel Carnation’ Award.
Calls on EU to create ‘Commissioner for Gender Equality and women’s rights’
(21 March, 2013) Party of European Socialists (PES) Women President, Zita Gurmai, has welcomed the appointment of Cathy Russell as United States President Barack Obama’s Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues.
On the eve of the International Women’s Day, the Party of European Socialists (PES) and PES Women reiterate their commitment to closing the gender pay gap and to empowering women all across Europe. Among the concrete measures, the PES proposes a progressive and measurable reduction of the gender pay gap by 2% per year, and a Gender Pay Gap Audit to verify its implementation in all Member States.
The Party of European Socialists (PES) Women President and Hungarian MEP Zita Gurmai called today to take concrete and rapid actions to defend gender equality in the access to and supply of goods and services, both in the public and private sectors. Although the Test-Achats case in 2011 constituted a major step against gender-based pricing for risk assessment in insurances – with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that the "opt out" clause of the EU directive on gender equality was illegal –, little has been done by the European Commission to clarify the implications of this ruling.
