Male violence against females, prostitution and human trafficking, the limited access of women to positions of power - these are, in the eyes of the Consultative Commission on Human Rights, issues that need to be addressed in order to achieve equality between women and men.
The action plan of the Ministry for Equality between Women and Men, MEGA for short, would not really take these matters into account, the commission concludes.
The text that was presented by minister Taina Bofferding in July seemed to impress at first sight, but very important details were absent, according to the commission's president Gilbert Pregno: "When we went to see what was in it, we were a little scared, because what we found is a plethora of ideas, in part things that have already been done or re-launched, but no further changes."
In most cases, neither a time frame nor a budget is foreseen, states Pregno. The fact that not everyone is either a man or a woman, but that there are quite a few nuances to gender, would only be briefly explained in the introduction.
"If we are now committed to human rights, to equality between men and women, we must also think of those who do not see themselves as men or women. This must be very concrete, and that is our goal. We want to achieve this and we'll also have the means to do that, but at the moment it's missing. It helps to raise awareness, but at the end of the day, we feel that there is not much left unsaid."
If one went into detail, the Equal Opportunities Action Plan is inadequate, Pregno believes. "One should stop saying 'Ms' to single women and ask for their maiden name. We need to change this mentality (...) How can it be possible that the state administration still circulates forms where the individual is requested to fill in their maiden name? These are concrete measures."
The Human Rights Commission does not have the impression that the ministry has listened to the ideas of women's organisations.
"It also says it was a consultation with the Human Rights Commission, of which we know nothing. We were in the ministry once and we talked about it for a few minutes," Pregno says.
Since the establishment of this ministry, no comprehensive measures have been taken to achieve real progress in equality between women and men, the president concludes - it would be time to finally consider the importance of this policy.
