Highlights from the 11th meeting of the Gender Equality Commission
The Council of Europe Gender Equality Commission (GEC) met on 5-7 April 2017. The GEC discusssed the preparation of the next Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy (2018-2023), the ongoing work on a draft Committee of Ministers Recommendation to prevent and combat sexism, and the third monitoring round regarding women and men in public and political decision making.
The next generation of judges in Azerbaijan is trained to incorporate a gender-sensitive approach in their work
For the first time, the entire corps of candidate judges of Azerbaijan, a total of 126 candidate judges, took part in an intensive training seminar on “Ensuring Women’s Access to Justice” on 1-3 May 2017 in Baku. This training took place in the framework of the Council of Europe and EU Project “Improving Women’s Access to Justice in the Six Eastern Partnership Countries” and was organised by the Justice Academy of Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe.
Statement on current threats to women’s rights in Europe adopted by the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination
On 24 April 2017, the Committee adopted a statement expressing “deep concern at the growing trend in European countries and beyond to challenge the achievements made in the field of women’s rights over recent decades”. The Committee specifically mentioned sexist hate speech, challenges to sexual and reproductive rights, and high levels of violence against women.
New research shows high levels of harassment and sexual violence against women journalists in Council of Europe member states
The Council of Europe published the study “Journalists under pressure: Unwarranted interference, fear and self-censorship in Europe”, which explores the interferences that journalists face in Europe today, including the gender differences in the experience of such phenomena.
Report of online discussion on addressing gender stereotypes in the classroom
In January 2017, Wikigender hosted an online discussion on “Addressing gender stereotypes in the classroom: how to achieve a conducive environment for adolescent girls’ learning?” in partnership with UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), the Global Partnership for Education and the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). The synthesis report of the online discussion is now available.
European Commission proposes a new “work-life balance package”
The European Commission has put forward new proposals to enable parents and other people with caring responsibilities to better balance their work and private lives and to encourage a better sharing of caring responsibilities between women and men in the European Union.
Publications on gender equality by international organisations
Several international organisations have published interesting reports on gender equality related issues, including gender equality in the European Union, gender gaps in human development, and the rights of migrant women and girls.
Gender equality on the agenda in June – November 2017
Check out the main European and international gender equality-related events for the June – November 2017 period:
22-23 June 2017 2nd meeting of the Council of Europe Drafting Committee for the preparation of a Draft Recommendation to prevent and combat sexism, Paris, France
10-19 July 2017: UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (including the review of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”), New York, USA
15-17 November 2017: 12th meeting of the Council of Europe Gender Equality Commission, Prague, Czech Republic
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