Belgium celebrates a century of women’s presence in politics
The King’s Day was the occasion this year to highlight 100 years of presence of women in politics. One century ago, socialist Marie Janson was the first woman appointed in a Belgian parliament, the Senate in this case and by co-option on the proposal of the president of the Belgian Workers’ Party, Emile Vandervelde.
The Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, the President of the House, Eliane Tillieux, and his colleague from the Senate, Stephanie D’Hose, reminded Albert and Paola of the milestones laid to strive for equality between men and women in politics and mentioned some of the outstanding figures of this fight.
From 12% to 40% of women in the Chamber in 25 years
The House of Representatives now has a little over 40% women, against 12% in 1995 when the world average was 25%. The government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has more women than men while the federal government is parity. The road was long: it was not until 1928 that a woman was elected to the Chamber, the socialist Lucie Dejardin, women’s suffrage dates back to 1948 – Belgium was then lagging behind in Europe – it was only ” in 1965 that a woman entered a government, in the person of the social-Christian Marie De Riemacker-Legot, and received the portfolio of the Family, in 1977, Antoinette Spaak was the first woman president of a party (the FDF, ex-DéFI) and in 2019 only a woman became Prime Minister – the liberal Sophie Wilmès, while a year later a woman finally occupied the perch of the House.
Paternalism in the allocation of ministerial portfolios has disappeared
Two laws have favored the emergence of women in politics. In 1995, a law imposed one-third of the presence of one of the two sexes on the electoral lists before compulsory parity in 2002.
“The introduction of quotas was necessary“, underlined Mr. De Croo according to whom”these laws balanced the balance of power“.”Nowadays, paternalism in the allocation of ministerial portfolios has disappeared“, he affirmed. In his eyes, there is still some way to go in other sectors, including boards of directors and university management.
“The fight will be won when there is no longer any need to devote a day to women’s rights“, remarked Ms. Tillieux.
The cause of women does not stop at institutions. The pandemic and the confinement have led to an aggravation of domestic violence, she recalled. “And in our patriarchal society, a woman can be pushed into poverty, especially if she is alone.“.