In anticipation of the appointments of European Council President and Foreign Policy chief, a lot of noise was made about gender balance. Member states were also urged by activists, NGOs, as well as Commission President Barrosso to consider nominating female candidates to the Commission. The promotion of a gender balanced Commission is a cause supported by at least 2 360 facebook users, and 888 petition signers on official website, www.genderbalancedcommission.eu, though it’s reasonable to expect some overlap in members. The result ? The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is a certain Catherine Ashton, and nine women have been nominated to the new Commission (the same number as were in the last Commission). While ideally we would live in a world where underpaid and overlooked women is not the norm, the debate on positive discrimination and gender quotas is again on the table. On the one hand, a visible gender equality within the European institutions has positive effects both for gender issues and for the image of Europe. On the other, appointing underqualified women does not further women’s rights. Rather, it risks proving sexist people right. The female appointees may however well be qualified, and for their sake and the sake of gender equality, we certainly hope they are.

Photo : Flickr, DogFromSPACE