European Parliament sends strong signal that the next EU gender equality strategy needs to include transgender people
Today the European Parliament adopted the Figueiredo Report calling for a strengthened follow up strategy to the Roadmap for equality between men and women 2006-2010. The report clearly indicates that the strategy needs to take into account LGBT aspects, particularly equality for transgender people.
The European Parliament calls for:
- the tackling of multiple discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity;
- the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organisations in future work on gender equality;
- gender reassignment procedures to be made accessible, including through public health insurance schemes; and
- future EU actions in the field of gender equality to explicitly cover issues linked to gender identity and gender reassignment.
ILGA-Europe is pleased with the outcome of the debate as the Figueiredo Report contains all of the key proposals that ILGA-Europe submitted to the European Commission during the 2009 consultation.
Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said:
“We hope that the European Commission will follow-up on the European Parliament’s leadership and actively takes on board the promotion of gender equality for all, tackling multiple discrimination experienced by women and transgender people.
We also hope that the European Commission will follow the example of the Council of Europe’s Conference of Ministers responsible for Equality between Women and Men which identified that ‘women and girls discriminated on grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity, [and] transgender persons’ were particularly vulnerable group needing specific attention.”
The outcome of the Council of Europe Conference of Gender Equality Ministers
