Liliana Rodrigues: Women's rights concern all of us | WPN World People News

International Women's Day is again marked as it is every year on 8 March, but is there much to celebrate? We talked to Liliana Rodrigues, a Portuguese member of the S&D group who has written a report about empowering girls through education in the EU, about the challenges women continue to face and how they can be overcome.

Liliana Rodrigues

The situation in developing and developed countries is very different. What are the main problems in the EU?

Women are fighting for their rights in every country. In Europe one out of three women suffers from some type of violence. We also have a serious problem with domestic violence. In addition we have other worrying indicators, the fact that women earn less than men, which is an enormous injustice, and problems with access to the labour market. We have more women qualified than men both in secondary and higher education and yet, they still don’t hold as many administration positions and top management jobs.

What can be done to improve this situation? How can the European Parliament help?

I am very critical regarding the European institutions. The European Commission is a blatant example of lack of equality [only nine out of the 29 commissioners are women]. The institutions should start by giving the example.

Education, and this includes parental education, is a key tool to guarantee gender equality. It is fundamental to train teachers. We could also encourage girls to go into vocational education and have more computing and sciences in all school programmes. We have done it already in some schools and it has worked. But above all, we need to create self-confidence mechanisms in women and girls. Without this, it would be very difficult to change, but I believe that together we - professors, parents, friends, children - can do it.

One day, I expect we will have a society where people are chosen for a position, not because of their gender, but because of their competency.

When we talk about women rights, some men ask "what about us?". What would you say to them?

Women rights, like all human rights, don´t concern only women or men, they concern all of us. I believe men have a key role to play and I would ask them to feel women’s problems as their own. They should become feminists. Being a feminist is not about considering women superior to men, but about demanding equality and men should be the first to demand it.

Of course there are men that are also discriminated and that are also victims of domestic violence. They should know that their rights are protected. The associations that deal with domestic violence, for example, receive women, men, grandparents and children. Nevertheless, scientific data shows that women are still less protected.

Source: European Parliament