Explaining the Change in Attitude

Abstract

‘The soft approach has worked well.’¹ These were the words of the Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1995, when presenting the policies of the Dutch government designed to increase the percentage of women in politics and public office. What she meant by soft was that the policies of the government were based on the persuasion of relevant players such as political parties, external advisory bodies and other selectors — and not on coercion, for example through legal measures. The political representation of women in parliament and government was indeed something to boast about. Only in some Scandinavian countries were the relative proportions of women MPs and cabinet ministers higher, while in many other European countries there had been hardly any progress at all. The parliament of Belgium had, given this lack of progress, just accepted a law requiring political parties to select at least one-third female candidates and place these on their lists for parliamentary and local elections (see chapter 8). In other words, in the 1990s, the problem of ensuring that women were at the centre of political decision-making was clearly on the political agenda in most European countries as well that of the European Parliament. For example, in 1992, the European Commission created an Expert Network Women in Decision-Making whose main task was to disseminate information and to develop common European policies.