New Forum booklet on women and the European Union

Introduction

The National Forum On Europe has held a series of conferences on the theme Making the European Union Relevant for Women since 2006. These conferences were held in partnership with a wide spectrum of women’s groups at local level.

This booklet is a response to the issues that arose at those conferences and is an attempt to demystify and clarify the European Union’s role in the range of issues. The Union’s role in equal treatment of women and men at work, poverty, education and training, human rights, health, and women in decision making were the issues on which the conferences mainly focussed.

A chapter is devoted to each of the issues with information on where to find outmore. The text explains what the European Union actually does in relation to each area and what is within the competence of the Member State where the European Union cannot act. Legal provisions and decision making mechanisms are identified, and the relevance of ‘gender mainstreaming’ – the gearing of all general policies and measures towards achieving equality between men and women – is outlined.

Each chapter highlights the existing funding programmes available.

  Making the European Union Relevant for Women.pdf (300 KB)