| Author (Person) | Taylor, Simon |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.12, No.14, 20.4.06 |
| Publication Date | 20/04/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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Despite claims to being an equal opportunities employer, the European Commission is still falling short of its goal of ensuring that women take half of all posts within the institution. In a report published last week (12 April) Siim Kallas, the commissioner for administrative affairs, said that two targets for recruiting more women to the Commission in 2005 had been met but a third had been missed. The target that women should take up 20% of recruitments and appointments to senior management posts, was exceeded: they had a 32.8% share. Kallas admitted in his report that the success rate had been helped by a major reshuffle of senior officials in November 2005, the first since Jos�anuel Barroso took over as Commission president. Three women were promoted to deputy director-general: Claire-Fran�se Durand as deputy head of the Commission's legal service, Fran�se Le Bail at DG Enterprise and Lenia Samuel at DG Employment and Social Affairs. For middle management grades the Commission achieved a rate of only 24.4% for recruitments and appointments compared to a target of 30%. The poor performance was blamed on a shortage of women candidates, which also affected the outcome for senior management posts. There were no women candidates for 15 senior-level posts, according to the report. For recruitment and appointments at administrator level (grade A*5), the Commission was aiming for a rate of 50% for recruitments and appointments and managed to achieve 51.4%, helped by a large intake of candidates from the new member states after enlargement on 1 May 2004. By the end of that year, 68% of 450 temporary staff recruited by the Commission were women. But more than half of them joined the translation department, meaning that the impact in numbers of women in other parts of the Commission would be small. Commissioner Kallas has set new targets for 2006: 25% for senior posts, 30% for middle management positions and 50% for non-management positions. He is also considering introducing specific measures for 2007 to boost performance. But while the Commission is hitting two of the three targets it is setting itself, these objectives are only steps to address the low numbers of women in the institution at senior and middle management level. Women account for 48.4% of all Commission staff but are highly concentrated in category C (secretarial) where 79.6% of officials are female and B (administrative assistance) where 43.1% are women. By the end of 2005, 16.2% of officials at senior management level were women, compared to 19.2% in middle management and 36.2% in administrative positions. This was an improvement compared to 2004 where the figures were 12.8%, 18.3% and 34.1% respectively. Analysed by grades, the picture is even less complimentary. By the end of last year, only 6% of staff at the highest grade (A*16) were women compared to 27.7% at A*14 and 38.5% at A*9. President Barroso took the lead himself on appointing women to senior post when he formed his team of Commissioners. He told member states to propose female candidates, promising them weighty portfolios if they did so. He ended up with seven women out of 25 compared with five out of 20 at the start of the Prodi Commission. The Commission has embarked on a number of measures over recent years to improve the rate of recruitment of women. The new staff regulation revised by Kallas's predecessor Neil Kinnock, which came into effect on 1 May 2004, prohibits discrimination based on gender. The Commission is currently running the 4th programme of positive actions for women, which lasts until the end of 2008, as well as the system of targets for recruitment and appointments of women. But barriers to the advancement of women in the Commission still remain, as the low representation of women at the very top grades and the shortage of candidates for certain posts demonstrate. The recent round of Kinnock reforms tried to address specific issues which have deterred women applying to work in the Commission or proved barriers to their progress once inside. These reforms have included more flexible working arrangements, job-sharing, increased maternity and parental leave, more nursery places and improved after-school care facilities. But these measures have clearly not yet had the desired effect. For example, only two officials in the Commission are job-sharing. Real progress may have to wait until the Commission's internal culture of long working hours and late meetings changes. This acts as a disincentive for women, or indeed for any officials trying to balance work with home life. The Commission is hoping that having women in top jobs may break down prejudices about the supposed limits to careers women can make in the institution, opening the way to swifter progress for female staff. But one of the Kinnock reforms, the system of appraisal and rewards known as the career development review, may actually slow down pro-motion of staff, making it more difficult to redress the entrenched bias against women. Article reports that despite claims to being an equal opportunities employer, the European Commission was still falling short of its goal of ensuring that women take half of all posts within the institution. In a report published on 12 April 2006 Siim Kallas, the European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, said that two targets for recruiting more women to the Commission in 2005 had been met but a third had been missed. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Employment and Social Affairs, Politics and International Relations |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
