Motion for a resolution | Doc. 11773 | 08 December 2008

The real situation of rural women in Europe

Signatories: Ms Carmen QUINTANILLA, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr John AUSTIN, United Kingdom ; Mr Lokman AYVA, Turkey, EPP/CD ; Ms Anna Maria CARLONI, Italy, SOC ; Ms Ingrida CIRCENE, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Ms Anna ČURDOVÁ, Czech Republic ; Ms Alena GAJDŮŠKOVÁ, Czech Republic, SOC ; Baroness Anita GALE, United Kingdom ; Ms Carina HÄGG, Sweden ; Ms Birgen KELEŞ, Turkey, SOC ; Ms Christine McCAFFERTY, United Kingdom ; Ms Nursuna MEMECAN, Turkey, ALDE ; Ms Christine MUTTONEN, Austria ; Ms Miet SMET, Belgium ; Ms Darinka STANTCHEVA, Bulgaria ; Ms Doris STUMP, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Gisela WURM, Austria, SOC

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Women are the fundamental pillar of rural society. Nonetheless, and despite the fact that they are vital for the maintenance, conservation and future development of rural villages, rural women have been invisible for many decades, so much so that even today studies on women living in the rural environment in Europe continue to be both scarce and incomplete, as a result of which it is difficult to ascertain their actual situation today and whether there has been any progress in relation to the situation ten years ago.

The integration of new countries into the European Union and the Council of Europe, especially those from central and eastern Europe (including Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro) has meant that the few studies on the situation of rural women in Europe have now become obsolete.

Accordingly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, conscious of the importance of the economic, social and cultural role played by women living in the rural environment, on the basis of Part A of Recommendation 1321 (1997) on improving the situation of women in rural society and bearing in mind the need to update the statistics and studies produced so far, proposes that a detailed study be carried out analysing the actual employment, economic and social situation of rural women in Europe in order to continue striving for genuine equal opportunities for rural women in Europe.