During the plenary session (7-10 June 2021) in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on women in politics - combatting online abuse. Opening statements by Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union and by Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

violence against women (T)

DALLI, Helena (MT, EC)

ZACARIAS, Ana Paula (PT)

Women in politics - combatting online abuse: opening statements by Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union and by Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, President, dear commissioner Dalli, honourable members. Thank you for organising this debate, as the Council has often noted, women continue to be seriously underrepresented in decision making, including politics and businesses. And the situation is improving, but much too slowly.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, Meanwhile, gender based violence remains a grim reality for millions of European women and girls, a severe manifestation of gender inequality. It is also a human rights violation and a cause for suffering. In your resolution on the commission's gender equality strategy adopted in January this year, you're rightly pointed out that cyber violence disproportionately affects women and girls.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, Its manifestation ranges from online harassment and cyber bullying to sexist hate speech. And your resolution also stresses cyber violence, particularly affects activists, women, politicians and other public figures in this strategy. The commission has wisely undertaken to address this problem in the context of the digital policy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, Sadly enough, that is a close link between women's underrepresentation and decision making on one hand and the violence that they experience on the other. Because it is brutally disempowering, intimidating and damaging violence is not just a symptom, but also a perpetuating cause of inequality, the experience of online abuse undermines the role and the capacities of decision makers.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, And that is, of course, precisely the intentions of the perpetrators. Meanwhile, the risk of online abuse is likely to discourage people from becoming decision makers in the first place, and this chilling effect is an affront to democracy. We must address all obstacles that discourage women from participating in political life.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, All forms of gender based violence, including cyber violence, must be combated in total determination. Freedom of speech gives no one the right to abuse others. As you will know, the proposal for a Digital Services Act is currently under examination by the Council as a matter of priority.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, The regulation will, once adopted, make it easier to intervene against illegal online abuse and violence across the internal borders of the Union. Although the definition of what is illegal will in general remain a national competence, the harmonisation of the injunctions to service providers will, for example, make it easier to request that illegal content is removed from the Internet.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, I'm proud to say that European Parliament and the Council are long standing allies in the battle for gender equality, including the campaign for more equal decision making. The council has called on the commission and the member states to strengthen their commitment to the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, And it has specifically called for measures to improve the gender balance on the on decision making across the board in politics, to be sure, but also in the economy and within the EU institutions. The past pandemic recovery policies will be with us for years to come, including in the context of the digital transition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, And in this area, equal participation in political decision making is particularly crucial. We need female politicians, voices and perspectives in order to ensure gender responsive policies and the fair and sustainable recovery.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Council of the European Union, The Council has also called for measures to increase the representation of women in decision making in areas such as academia, science, research institutions, the media and sports. And we have also called for a renewed commitment to eliminating gender based violence, including on cyber violence. Thank you very much for your attention.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, President, Minister, honourable members of the European Parliament. While in this House women's representation has a better record at 40 percent compared to the EU average, men still outnumber women in positions of political power. On average, women account for just one in three of the seats in the EU's national parliaments, and only 21 percent of leaders of major political parties are women.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, The increased use of social media and online tools in politics have provided great opportunities in terms of inclusion, participation in public debates and access to information. However, there is also, as we all know, a downside to this development the exposure to online violence, threats and harassment.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Last year, the World Wide Web Foundation found that 52 percent of young women and girls had experienced online violence, including threats and sexual harassment. Hateful online targeting makes it even more difficult to allow women to participate to public life.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, It can dissuade women from running as candidates in elections or to participate to public online debates and can also lead to women ending their political careers prematurely. Online attacks and disinformation are used to undermine women's political credibility and question their decision making capabilities when violence occurs online.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Women are both the primary targets, but also forced to be the first responders on social media platforms. They are the ones who have to request the deletion of the hateful comments after they have been posted. A study by the Interparliamentary Union and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe shows that eighty five point two percent of the interviewed female parliamentarians had experienced psychological violence.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Almost half of the respondents reported, having received death threats or threats of rape and beatings directed against a. Selves or family members, in most cases, the threats were delivered by electronic means. These online threats and attacks sometimes translate into physical acts such as the killing of parliamentarian Jo Cox in 2016.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, In extreme cases, as shown by a UNESCO's study on journalists, these attacks are accompanied by a rise of viral disinformation and through digital conspiracy networks. Online violence can be part of an orchestrated campaign or can come from individuals sharing the same often misogynist or racist prejudices.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Barring women from participating to public life and spreading gender misinformation, these attacks are attacks on our fundamental values. Democracy and freedom of expression are the main pillars of the pluralist societies the EU stands for. When women are not fully represented in positions of power, we are faced with a serious democratic deficit.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Online hate and violence can have a killing effect on women's participation in our democracies. We must ensure that women and groups who can be marginalised as victims of online violence are safe to raise their voices in public debates without fear of being attacked and discredited. The commission is strongly committed to end online abuse in all of its forms. Thank you.