OREANDA-NEWS. On January 22 and 23 the meeting of the High Level Group on gender mainstreaming took place in Riga which was opened by the Minister for Welfare Uldis Augulis.

During the meeting EU Member States' experts discussed gender equality issues in the medium term. At the same time Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Slovakia presented the plans regarding gender mainstreaming within the framework of their Presidencies of the Council of the European Union (EU).

In the field of gender equality, the Latvian Presidency focuses on gender gap in pensions and the underlying causes related to, for instance, the choice of education and profession, pay gap, possibilities to reconcile work and family life, etc.

Luxembourg as the next presiding country of the Council of the EU, intends to make an assessment of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action paying a special attention to women in decision making positions. The conclusions of the Council will be elaborated according to the results of the assessment. A conference on impact of taxation on gender to provide equal rights is planned to take place during the Luxembourgish Presidency.  

Accordingly, the European Commission revealed its intentions regarding gender mainstreaming strategy after 2015.  

During the meeting the EU Member States' experts discussed gender equality issues in the global context (gender equality aspects in setting post-2015 agenda after the Millennium Development Goals) and informed about the preparations for participation in the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.  

The participating experts shared their experience about the measures taken to ensure gender equality at national level including through gender mainstreaming within the Europe 2020 strategy.  

There were active discussions addressing the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Almost every Member State stressed its readiness to sign or ratify the Convention and also informed about the expected challenges regarding a full implementation of the Convention.  

The participants elaborated on further development and strategic goals of gender equality at the EU level after 2015 by discussing the available tools and resources for financing and implementing the gender equality policy.  

High-level officials in charge of gender equality policy implementation and coordination, mainly from the public bodies, as well as representatives of the European Commission participate in the High Level Group meeting.  

The High level Group meetings are organised twice a year in the presidency country. The Group is chaired by the European Commission. One of the Group's objectives is to provide a proactive support to the presidencies of the EU Council by identifying the policies and issues at EU level to be viewed from a gender equality perspective. At the same time the Group gives an opportunity for the Member state experts to exchange relevant information and share experience about national measures taken to ensure gender equality.

The main priority of the Latvian Presidency in the field of employment and social policy is inclusive and sustainable labour market participation. Other priorities include strengthening social dialogue, disability policy, occupational safety and health and gender equality.