Derde Europese Congres voor Vrouwen in Warschau (en)
Warsaw, 17-18 September 2011
The Third European Congress of Women is another event in the calendar of activities planned for the Polish Presidency in the Council of the EU. So far two Congresses of Women have taken place (in 2009 and 2010), which have been served as an expression of a social movement striving to draw attention to the widely understood problems of women. The Congress of Women, organized this year, will bring a new possibility for meeting and exchanging experience between all persons involved in the idea of promoting women’s rights globally.
Jolanta Fedak, polish minister of labour and social policy, Vivien Reding, EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, EU ministers of labour, social policy and gender equality will take part in this cogress.
The organization of the Third Congress of Women is in line with the priority adopted by the Polish Presidency in the area of employment and social policy: “Solidarity of generations - towards a demographic future of Europe”. One of the measures to be adopted under this priority is: „Increasing the participation of women in the labour market and in (social and political) decision-making processes”. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy implements this measure through supervising a systemic project: „Social and economic activation of women at the local and regional level”, carried out by the Human Resources Development Centre.
The project’s main objectives include the dissemination the concept of equal opportunities in access to employment and the methods to achieve them among the staff of labour market institutions (LMI). Such things as providing equal opportunities and gender mainstreaming (incorporating gender-related issues to mainstream policy) are goals serving to promote a modern society model in which women and men are equal members.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the co-organizer of this year’s Congress of Women, has planned several discussion panels and the Round Table of the Ministers competent for gender equality/employment. The participants of discussion panels and of the Round Table will be able to discuss the problem of differences in remuneration for the same work, way of functioning of the mechanisms to reconcile work and family life, or issues related to the participation of women in management boards of companies.
The Third European Congress of Women will focus on dissemination of the concept of equal opportunities in access to employment based on Polish and European practice. This theme will allow to present Polish and European examples of good practices which help to level out the regional and local differences in access to employment and to improve the quality of equal opportunities measures implemented by Public Employment Services (PES) and other labour market institutions (LMI).
More detailed information can be found at the website of the Congress of Women: