Scottish Office: Mainstreaming Equal Opportunities

Mainstreaming Equal Opportunities

Section 2: Equal Opportunities : Parliamentary Experience

Introduction

This section of the report summarises available information on the work of parliaments in ‘mainstreaming’ equal opportunities. Some initial points need to be borne in mind. Firstly, there is little literature which directly addresses the work of parliaments and parliamentary committees in terms of equal opportunities. Most studies focus upon policy machinery or equality structures at arm’s length to government (e.g. the Equal Opportunities Commission in Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); within the permanent bureaucracy (Women’s Ministries, Equality Units etc); or at executive level (Ministerial committees). Similarly, existing reports of ‘mainstreaming’ initiatives largely concern policy makers in governmental rather than parliamentary settings. This may reflect the differing roles of executives and legislatures in the policy making process in various countries or it may reflect the interests of academic researchers.

Secondly, within the short time scale of this research, it has not been possible to make a comprehensive survey nor to conduct extensive enquiries. There are scarce data on the functions, powers and work of parliament committees with responsibility for women’s equality/ equal opportunities. Bibliographic and internet searches did not locate any comprehensive summaries of their functions and competencies so information was sought directly from specialist committees. Response was severely limited as a result of the timing of the research which took place during parliamentary recess and, more generally, during the period of traditional summer vacations - particularly in Southern Europe. Future systematic research on various existing models may be useful for the consideration of the Scottish Parliament.

This section provides a comprehensive list of parliamentary committees with responsibility for equal opportunities in national and devolved parliaments in Europe (see also report on devolved parliaments). It also outlines the functions, powers and procedures of equality committees in a selection of case study parliaments in Europe for whom information was available.

Parliamentary Committees - EU national parliaments

Figure 5 below summarises the committees with responsibility for equal opportunities in national parliaments of the member states of the European Union. In the case of bicameral parliaments, an indication is given as to which house the committee is based. Where additional information was available on parliamentary web sites, it is included under the comments heading. The arrangements for European and trans-national institutions are also included

Figure 5: Equal Opportunities Committees in National Parliaments

Country	Parliamentary House	Title of Committee	Comments
Austria	Nationalrat	Gleichbehandlungsausschuss (equal treatment)	sub committees: 1.women’s participation in Public Life 2. Women’s referendums
Belgium	Chambre	Comité d’avis pour l’emancipation sociale(social emancipation)
Finland	Eduskunta	Committee for Labour Affairs
France	Sénat	Mission commune d’information sur la place et le rôle des femmes dans la vie publique	Project-based ‘mission’ disbanded in July 1997 after publishing report on the role of women in public life.
Germany	Bundestag	Ausschuss für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (families, older people, women and youth)
Spain	Congreso de los Diputados Senado	Comision mixta para los derechos de la mujer (women’s rights)	joint committee of both houses. 1 sub committee dealing with international traffic in women and children
Ireland	Dail Eireann en Seanad Eireann	Joint Committee on women’s rights	joint committee of both houses prior to ‘97 elections, now replaced by Joint Committee on Justice, equality and women’s rights
Italy	Senato della Republica	Commissione Lavaro e Previdenza sociale (work and social welfare)
Luxembourg	Chambre de Députés	Commission spécial Egalité des chances entre femmes et hommes (equal opportunities)
Netherlands	Tweede kamer der Staten-Generaal	Vaste Commissie voor Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid (social affairs and employment)
Portugal	Assembleia da Republica	Commisao para a Paridade, Iguakldade de Opportunidades e Familia (parity, equal opportunities and the family)
Sweden	Sveriges Riksdag	Arbetmarknadsutkotted (Labour Market)
United Kingdom	House of Commons	Education and Employment Committee
European and transnational Institutions
European Parliament		Women’s Rights Committee
Interparliamentary Union		The Meeting of women MPs
Council of Europe		Ad Hoc Committee on the equality of the sexes

The Conference of parliamentary committees responsible for equal opportunities for women and men in the member states of the European Union and in the European parliament (CCEO) is a network created in 1997 which acts to feed into European policy (vertical integration) and to exchange information on good practice (horizontal integration). It has commissioned preliminary comparative research into parliamentary committees. Unfortunately, during the time scale of this survey, detailed findings were not available to our researchers.

In brief the research found that parliamentary committees with responsibility for equal opportunities are highly heterogeneous. An initial typology divides the countries into three main categories: those with a specialist committee; those where equal opportunities is subsumed within functional remits, most usually social affairs, employment and labour committees; and those countries with no committee structure for dealing with equalities issues.

Figure 6: Types of Equal Opportunities Committees

Committee type	country examples
Specialist committees ( may also include responsibility for the family, youth and older people)	Austria, Germany, Belgium,. Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal
Committees whose remit includes equal opportunities (primary function most usually relates to social affairs, employment and labour)	Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden
No committee structure	Greece
Other	France limited to a mission of information which is currently shelved

The integration of equal opportunities into the work of functional committees in Scandinavia is seen by the CCEO as an indication of the advanced stage of these parliaments in terms of equalities work.¹⁰ However, it must be noted that there is no such compelling evidence that this is the case in other countries which have eschewed specialist committees such as the United Kingdom and Italy.