Spotted by our Members

The Accessible Art Fair Brussels are one month away from their applications deadline.

Artists, designers and galleries! Get your submissions in before 30 May!

Next Event - October 16-19, 2014
Cercle de Lorraine - Club van Lotharingen
Place Poelaert 6, 1000 Brussels

https://www.facebook.com/accessibleartevents

Today the European Commission has taken action to break the glass ceiling that continues to bar female talent from top positions in Europe’s biggest companies. The Commission has proposed legislation with the aim of attaining a 40% objective of the under-represented sex in non-executive board-member positions in publicly listed companies, with the exception of small and medium enterprises. Currently, boards are dominated by one gender: 85% of non-executive board members and 91.1% of executive board members are men, while women make up 15% and 8.9% respectively. Despite an intense public debate and some voluntary initiatives at national and European level, the situation has not changed significantly in recent years: an incremental average increase of the number of women on boards of just 0.6 percentage points per year has been recorded since 2003.

It is for this reason that the Commission is today proposing EU legislation to accelerate progress towards a better gender balance on the corporate boards of European companies. The proposal was presented jointly by Vice-President Viviane Reding (Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship), Vice-President Antonio Tajani (Industry and Entrepreneurship), Vice-President Joaquín Almunia (Competition), Vice-President Olli Rehn (Economic and Monetary Affairs), Commissioner Michel Barnier (Internal Market and Services) and Commissioner László Andor (Employment and Social Affairs).

The Commission is today responding to the calls from the European Parliament which, with an overwhelming majority, has repeatedly called for legislation on equality between women and men in business leadership, notably in its resolutions of 6 July 2011 and 13 March 2012.

The proposed Directive sets an objective of a 40% presence of the under-represented sex among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges. Companies which have a lower share (less than 40%) of the under-represented sex among the non-executive directors will be required to make appointments to those positions on the basis of a comparative analysis of the qualifications of each candidate, by applying clear, gender-neutral and unambiguous criteria. Given equal qualification, priority shall be given to the under-represented sex. The objective of attaining at least 40% membership of the under-represented sex for the non-executive positions should thus be met by 2020 while public undertakings – over which public authorities exercise a dominant influence – will have two years less, until 2018. The proposal is expected to apply to around 5 000 listed companies in the European Union. It does not apply to small and medium-sized enterprises (companies with less than 250 employees and an annual worldwide turnover not exceeding 50 million EUR) or non-listed companies.

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, said: "Today, with this proposal, the European Commission is answering the strong call of the European Parliament for EU action to bring about gender equality in corporate boardrooms. Today, we are asking large listed companies across Europe to show that they are serious when it comes to gender equality in economic decision-making. At my initiative, the Commission has significantly strengthened the presence of female Commissioners among its members, with one third of Commissioners being women."

Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU's Justice Commissioner, added: "The European Union has been successfully promoting gender equality for over 50 years. However, there is one place where we have not seen any progress: company boardrooms. The example set by countries such as Belgium, France and Italy, who have recently adopted legislation and are starting to show progress, clearly demonstrates that time-limited regulatory intervention can make all the difference. The Commission's proposal will make sure that in the selection procedure for non-executive board members priority is given to female candidates – provided they are under-represented and equally qualified as their male counterparts."

"I am indebted to the numerous members of the European Parliament who have fought tirelessly for this cause and who have been instrumental in helping me get this proposal on the table."

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1205_en.htm?goback=%2Egde_101377_member_185698774

'The Courage to Ask' written by John Niland will be published on December 2nd 2012 - just in time for Christmas.

This International Conference is organized by The Destree Institute with the patronage of the UNESCO.

http://www.millennia2015.org/Macro_Issues :

Macro Issue-1. How to make women and girls more autonomous, through access to education, training and resources, while guaranteeing the conditions for genuine social and political success, to value their skills in the framework of a shared leadership between women and men?

 

MI-2. How to change mentalities to put an end to gender discrimination and change the traditions, in order to eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls, while specifically mobilizing men and boys?

 

MI-3. How to restore women's self-confidence and esteem, raise their awareness about their potential, their abilities and their vital role as managers of life, actors of development, mediators for peace and architects of futures?

 

MI-4. How to train, enhance and fund health care providers, particularly women, to offer appropriate medical care to women and children, in real time and in their own language, while using scientific resources and adequate technologies for remote health consultation as well as in health structures?

 

MI-5. How to conceive and carry out innovative societal transformations in order to achieve equality between women and men, indispensable for common progress and human harmony?

 

MI-6. How to combine equitably the added value of women in economic, scientific and political decision-making, and political scientists in order to found an inclusive multicultural society more balanced and responsible for the future?

 

MI-7. How to structure and effectively relay the strategies of the Millennia2015 communities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and implement sustainable partnerships?

 

=> your action right now:

 

9. Formulation of the desirable futures and of the values we want to achieve by 2025:
- write your ideal answers to the questions raised by the issues.

                                       

Feel free to choose the issues that challenge you the most: either from the 7 macro issues listed above, 

or from the 231 issues raised by the Think Tank http://www.millennia2015.org/Issues

Your answers will enable us to draft the vision of the Millennia2015 community.

 

Thank you to send your answers before the 17 November (delahaut.marie-anne@institut-destree.eu).

 

This will help to finalize the vision and to identify some axes and strategic actions before the meeting at UNESCO in Paris.

 

To find out more about Millenia and Marie-Anne Delahaut, you can read the interview in the latest copy of the PWI Magazine https://pwi1.wildapricot.org/Default.aspx?pageId=951908&mode=PostView&bmi=1096473

To register for the conference: admission is free but registration compulsory, thank you for your cooperation:

http://www.millennia2015.org/millennia2015_unesco_conference_2012_inscription

http://www.womenatworkaward.be/mailing/2012/mailing_B2B.html#en

https://www.votefromabroad.org/

http://www.oxfamtrailwalker.be/fr/home

Dear All,

 

Never short of a challenge and on a never-ending quest for meaning, we - that's to say Magda FAHSI (PWI member), Bruno H., Bruno O. and Franz - will be taking part in the Oxfam Trailwalker on Saturday 25^th and Sunday 26^th August 2012! 

Our team, L'échappée Belle, will be walking 100km together for Oxfam-Solidarité in the wonderful setting of the Hautes Fagnes.

Over the next few months, in addition to our regular training sessions, we'll also be collecting money for Oxfam-Solidarité programmes. You're warmly encouraged, via the team, to help make a difference to the lives of people in the Southern countries.

So make your generosity felt, like our own, by taking a step with us and sponsoring our walk. You too can help combat poverty and injustice in the world! Each and every donation, however small, will leave its mark as we work together in paving the way towards a better world!

All donations are paid directly to Oxfam and sums over 40 euro will, of course, receive a donation receipt.
Take a look at the web page of L'échapée Belle to see just how far trailwalker and solidarity on the move really are going. And here's how…

http://www.aideroxfamsol.be/pp/action.php?ps=cd2ef668f4399aef0a35df70284207ff518c6c17

Thanks in advance for your help,

Les Bo'z'échapés.

 

http://lifehacker.com/5921095/facebook-just-changed-your-email-without-permission-heres-how-to-get-it-back#

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18338956

This is a great read to go with your morning coffee or tea.  And let's face it it could revolutionise the world.  Women being able to choose when they have babies.

Defying church teachings was difficult, Melinda Gates adds, but also came to seem morally necessary.  Otherwise, she says, “we’re not serving the other piece of the Catholic mission, which is social justice.” 

Right now, she points out, 100,000 women annually die in childbirth after unintended pregnancies. 

Six hundred thousand babies born to women who didn’t want to be pregnant die in the first month of life. 

“She is somebody who really sees this as a public-health necessity,” says Melanne Verveer, the United States ambassador at large for global women’s issues. “I think she believes, and I hope she is right, that people of different political persuasions can come together on this issue.” 

“This is about empowering women to be educated and to make a choice that they want to make,” Melinda Gates says.  

For reproductive-health advocates, this is terrific news. For some conservatives, though, it will likely seem almost dystopian.  For some parts of the Catholic  Church it is more than distasteful. 

 http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/melinda-gates-new-crusade-investing-billions-in-women-s-health.html