Both men and women would benefit from a world without sexism, gender inequalities and gender-based violence. Moreover, there’s a woman in every man’s life, whether it’s a wife, a daughter, a friend, a mother or a sister. These are some of the key messages conveyed by Charles Ramsden, Chairman of the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Commission, on the occasion of a hearing held on 25 June by the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination.

After welcoming PACE’s comprehensive work on equality and violence against women notably in the political arena, he underlined the importance of the recently adopted Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to Members States on preventing and combating sexism. By providing the first international definition of sexism, the instrument gives better tools to discuss and design measures to prohibit sexist contents and to criminalise sexist hate speech for instance. The Recommendation also identifies a series of sectors for priority action such as language and communication, media, justice, educative institutions, the workplace. Charles Ramsden then reported on progress in the implementation of the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023 pointing out that quota laws may not be enough to achieve balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making. In the debate which followed his presentation, ways to respond to the current gender backlash where also discussed, including a closer cooperation with civil society and political parties.

After the hearing, Charles Ramsden gave an interview in which he also highlighted some of the above messages.