Working for women’s rights in a hostile committee

“We need to resist all of those who are violating these basic values and rights of women. Unfortunately, these are together with us in this parliament”, said the vice-chair of the committee on women’s rights and gender equality, Croatian S&D MEP Marko Vešligaj, during a plenary debate on Thursday (9 October). And she wasn't joking.

The chair of the committee, Spanish MEP Lina Gálvez Muñoz from the same party, told EUobserver something similar: “They [the far-right] are using women’s rights and gender equality for supporting [a] xenophobic and anti-immigration agenda.”

Since the European Parliament election in 2024, the majority in the parliament is centre-right to far-right. This has made working for gender rights more difficult, said Gálvez Muñoz.

The Spanish Social Democrat is concerned that the centre-right European People's Party is now able to form an alternative majority with the far-right parties in the parliament and the committee.

As an example, she pointed out that the EPP sided with the far-right groups when it came to the topic of feminist foreign policy: “Just because the majority, an alternative majority, decided that 'feminist' is not a word to use.”

During the plenary in Strasbourg, MEPs with commissioner Jessika Roswell discussed the EU Commission's Roadmap for Women’s Rights and the Declaration of Principles for a Gender-Equal Society published in March.

Gálvez Muñoz described the commission as a bigger ally than the council, adding that many member states pose a problem while others are pioneers when it comes to gender equality.

However, she noted that the roadmap was not ambitious enough for her. She expects the new Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030, to be published early next year, will be where "we are finally able to bring equality to all policies and to all policy cycles”.

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