Samira Rafaela is a Dutch MEP for the Renew Europe group.
It is almost 2020, nearly 115 years after the International Women Suffrage Alliance was founded in Berlin, and there are still far too few women at the highest levels of European politics.
In a group picture of all 28 EU leaders, only four are women. Two of them are interim prime ministers: Austria’s Brigitte Bierlein and Belgium’s Sophie Wilmès — impressive women who will soon be replaced by male colleagues.
Given the imbalance and the deep disparities that still exist, how much can the woman about to take over the most powerful EU job — the first woman to become European Commission president — change the male-dominated status quo?
The European Council is still a boys’ club. Even if, on paper, current political leaders support von der Leyen’s laudable agenda for gender equality, they have shown they won’t necessarily make it easy for her. This could be a problem for von der Leyen, who has tied herself so closely to the Council from the day she started — perhaps understandably so, given her nomination emerged from within its circles.
We should also remember that diversity is not just about gender.
Take for instance the ambitious goal Ursula von der Leyen has set herself: to achieve gender balance in her new Commission. In terms of absolute numbers, she has already fallen short. Among the 26 new commissioners, only 11 are women.
Not all the blame can be laid at von der Leyen’s feet. She was not dealt an easy hand by national governments, some of whom didn’t offer up credible female candidates or ignored her call to be presented with two candidates, one male and one female.
We therefore shouldn’t be too cynical when it comes to the new Commission. It is meaningful to finally see a woman chair the top political job. And without von der Leyen’s efforts, we would certainly have even fewer women in the Commission.
But to truly commit to making EU policies more supporting of women in general, she will have to take a stand against the shortsightedness of national governments — something she has so far not seemed to be willing to do.
Can gender-balance be achieved at all levels of the European Commission? | Olivier Hoslet/EPA
It will take more than just the presence of women and an updated group picture to make the EU institutions more inclusive to women and more representative of Europeans at large. There is a lot of policy work to be done.
Von der Leyen has already promised to introduce binding pay-transparency measures to do away with persistent pay gaps between men and women (currently around 16 percent on average, but up to 20 percent in countries like Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria). The European Parliament will also continue to push her on the “women on boards” directive, a proposal to establish quotas for the inclusion of women on company boards and in the public sector that has been stuck in the Council for years.
There is some low-hanging fruit as well, the result from the labor of previous commissioners. In trade, for instance, former Commissioner Cecilia Malmström made commendable efforts to include gender provisions in the latest agreements and negotiations. The issue of women’s inclusion in labor markets throughout Europe is also starting to get the attention it deserves, as is the need to improve education and childcare policies in order to help women succeed at work.
The large number of female commissioners — and a few outspoken male allies — in von der Leyen’s team may help her make significant progress in these areas, and could serve as a counterweight to the rather lopsided make-up of the male-heavy Council.
We should also remember that diversity is not just about gender. Europe’s new top team is still lacking in racial and ethnic diversity, and the situation is not much better at other levels of the administration von der Leyen is inheriting. The new Commission’s HR management should make diversity a key priority and actively work toward creating a more inclusive institution.
The commitment to gender balance and diversity more broadly should not stop at the commissioners’ level, but extend to at least top and middle management at the Berlaymont. If it does that, who knows, in a few years’ time, a European Commission might actually look like the society it represents.
Earlier this year, von der Leyen boasted that her team would be “as diverse as Europe is, as strong as Europe is.” There is still a lot to be done to justify that claim.