I'm sitting in the hotel lobby in Barcelona talking to an interesting English guy, Jon Worth, who, along with a small group of friends, just launched a campaign to push for more women on the European Commission. As Jon tells it, the European Commission is kind of like the Cabinet for the European Union (it's all a bit confusing).
Here's Jon's explanation on the Web site, it pretty much tells the story:
The idea of this website is simple. Every 5 years a new team of European Commissioners is chosen, normally as a result of a messy behind the scenes deal between the Member States. Last time this happened in 2004 we were lucky to end up with 8 female Commissioners. This time around it looks like the gender balance will be even worse.This is one of the reasons I travel - you can really meet some fascinating people who are very much like yourself, in terms of working on the same issues and via the same vehicles (in this case, getting a small group of friends together to do online advocacy on an issue they care about). But it's not simply about meeting like minds. Hopefully we can share best practices, what works, what doesn't, and serve as a resource in the future for progressives around the world. It really is incredibly cool (to me). It's why I react so strongly against people who treat foreign travel as something snobby. It's a gift, being able to travel abroad, for sure. But it shouldn't be looked down on, ever.
We believe in gender balance. Neither men nor women should be under-represented in political bodies. Especially not in one of the most important political bodies of the European Union, the European Commission, representing half a billion European citizens. To challenge this we are proposing a Commission of 26 competent women!
We limit ourselves as a country, sometimes, with our small-mindedness. But that discussion is for another day.
