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.
Read here the full article published by POLITICO on 29 July 2024.
Image by Politico
