Please or to access all these features

Site stuff

Join our Innovation Panel to try new features early and help make Mumsnet better.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Mumsnet goes to the European Parliament: your thoughts?

127 replies

KateMumsnet · 03/03/2011 13:25

To mark the centenary of International Women's Day, Mumsnet has been invited to the EU Parliament for a rummage about. So we're off to Strasbourg, in a (possibly doomed) attempt to figure out what impact, if any, this labyrinthine institution has had on the equality of women here in the UK.

We'll be sitting in on a special IWD parliamentary session, where MEPs will be discussing what's been achieved to date to further women's equality across Europe, and debating what the next steps should be. The gender pay gap, the vexed issue of maternity leave, the lack of female decision-makers in business and politics, and the grim figures for female poverty across the EU are all on the agenda.

We'll be frantically trying to make sense of it all as the day unfolds; and with a bit of luck and a following wind we'll collar a couple of MEPs and policy bods along the way to answer your questions, and feed back your views.

So, whether you're entirely au fait with the EU's inner workings, or your heart sinks at the very thought of it, do post your questions, observations, gripes or suggestions here, and we'll try our best to get to the bottom of it all.

OP posts:
AbsDuCroissant · 03/03/2011 15:55

I would like to know why/how the EU can justify spending (wasting) money at the rate it does, especially considering the economic strains various countries are facing. (I don't really expect my question to be answered to be honest)

RamblingRosa · 03/03/2011 13:56

I would be interested to hear more about the Pregnant Workers Directive which called for more paid maternity leave. I think it's kind of stalled and it would be good to hear more about why and when it's likely to go through (if ever!).