Women in Europe and the World. Women’s voices depressingly absent from the British EU referendum debate

The suffragettes. UK Women's Rights. EU Referendum.

It’s been almost 90 years since women got full voting rights in Britain – thanks to the bravery of the suffragettes. Today, hundreds of thousands of women are not registered to vote in this referendum.

Women in Europe and the World

Gender equality was front and centre of discussions at this year’s State of the Union conference organized by the European University Institute with “Women in Europe and the World” as the central theme. Ruth Rubio Marin, Professor of Constitutional and Public Comparative Law, gave the keynote speech sharing her vision of a gender equal Europe and why it is still an unresolved and important matter for Europe.

"Europe today is struggling with the social implications brought on by the protracted economic crisis. It is also dealing with a rising tide of intolerance and discrimination that has accompanied the increasing numbers of refugees arriving in Europe. All these challenges could detract attention from Europe´s commitment to gender equality," she stated.

To address the current challenges, Rubio Marin puts forward a new emancipatory framework for Europe, one that brings together gender equality, democracy and social justice: “This new model for development would challenge gender stereotypes and predefined gender roles. It would also involve the equal representation of women in every site of decision making. It would mean bringing a gender perspective to macro-economic policy and gender budgeting. Work/life balance policies would be seen as good for everyone, not just women”.

Rubio Marin also showed her vision of the changes needed for this to happen: “This vision for gender equality would require affordable quality childcare, after school care and care for other dependents, including the elderly and the differently abled persons. It would require flexible working arrangements, such as job-sharing, working from home, flexitime and innovative measures to promote equal sharing of work and care”.

According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, with this scenario, Europe can aspire to close the current gender gaps. As it stands today, the EU’s average score for gender equality as measured by EIGE’s Gender Equality Index is 52.9 out of 100, proving that Europe still has a long way to go before it achieves 100 out of 100.

Women’s voices
Polly Neate, Women's Aid Chief Executive, in the wake of the absence of the impact of British EU membership on British women rights from  the referendum's debate has declared that  "the EU Referendum is only 16 days away, but confusion reigns. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the only voters who count are those who are interested in whether Boris or the Prime Minister is the true alpha male of the political savannah. And women’s voices have been depressingly absent. So let’s change that. And let’s be clear: there is no doubt that membership of the European Union has brought benefits for women - and particularly for women escaping violence and abuse. We haven’t heard enough about this so far.'
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