The president of the Commission published a speech (26 April 2021 [1]) where she states that she considers the ‘sofagate’ events of 7 April to have been gender discrimination. Until then, and in the absence of details and statements it was important to keep a cool head and to view the whole affair in all its complexity to look at all the factors that might have played a role. We appreciate that there is now clarity on the events in Ankara and in this article we will address the matter of discrimination in all its forms.
Generation 2004 is here for all our colleagues in any situations of discrimination and wishes to reiterate its support, not only to those at the highest level in the European Commission, but also to all staff in any EU civil services, including colleagues in Delegations. We are committed to protecting your rights in all spheres of your professional life, regardless of your grade, type of contract, gender or other circumstances.
At Generation 2004 we continue our campaign against injustice and inequality. For example, we are committed to pursuing gender equality and to tackling issues disproportionately affecting women: this is not a once-yearly International-Women’s-Day-email activity. When anyone is victim of discrimination, even a high-level representative of the EU, we will work to ensure that colleagues’ welfare, work-life balance and career development, are respected and that these matters are prioritised. Therefore, we find it rather saddening to see that messages of solidarity are much less in evidence when colleagues are not having their contract renewed or are facing work-place harassment.
From the 2021 report on gender equality in the EU [2] it is again confirmed that ‘[..] the pandemic hit women particularly hard [..]’, we saw elsewhere that in general national COVID decision-making teams [3] did not include women and again within the EU institutions [4] that ‘gender balance within EU services, especially for management posts and career progress, remains a challenge’.
Training on unconscious bias and basic facilities for parents such as those for child care were still far from optimal for colleagues in Delegations and elsewhere: work-life balance and equal opportunities should be there for all of us, regardless of our circumstances!
Even though the Commission Decision on Flexible working arrangements [5] (Teleworking or Flexitime) states clearly that ‘[..] A flexible approach to working time is an essential component of modern human resources management. Staff can adjust their working hours while taking into consideration the needs of the service. Staff can more easily balance their work-life needs, in particular in situations where they are parents and their expatriate status does not allow them to rely on family networks. Flexitime contributes positively to a more even distribution of parental responsibility and therefore gender balance and organisational efficiency in the Commission[..]’, flexitime is often implemented randomly and subjectively across EU services and Delegations, just as the line-manager decisions on summer [6] and Christmas teleworking were inconsistent. In addition, teleworking is, until now, still not a mode of operation available in Delegations (teleworking in the pandemic is an exception).
Generation 2004 believes that true advocacy on discrimination must not end with setting the legal basis to fight it but extend to implementing the appropriate means to reach the intended impact and finally to design any new framework or decision with potential discrimination in mind: to consult widely enough to see the potential discrimination in action before committing to it.
We will continue to work in this area and keep you up to date with our progress.
As usual, do not hesitate to share your comments and ideas [7] with us.