The rights of today’s girls: the rights of tomorrow’s women

Recommendation 1872 (2009)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 29 May 2009 (see Doc. 11910, report of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur: Mrs Circene).

Thesaurus

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 1669 (2009) on the rights of today’s girls: the rights of tomorrow’s women, and asks the Committee of Ministers to ensure that it is applied by the member states, taking into account the fundamental principle of gender equality.

2. The Assembly urges the Committee of Ministers to focus the Council of Europe convention, currently being drawn up, on the severest and most widespread forms of violence against women, many of which are also directed against girls, in conformity with the unanimously adopted Assembly Recommendation 1847 (2008) on combating violence against women: towards a Council of Europe convention.

3. The Assembly welcomes the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)13 on gender mainstreaming in education.

4. It calls on the Committee of Ministers to implement speedily the follow-up phase of this recommendation, particularly in order to assess the progress of mainstreaming in the school environment.

5. It also calls on the Committee of Ministers to launch a European project on a carefully thought-out mixed-sex system of education that is aimed at achieving a more egalitarian and democratic society. This project will seek to give girls and boys, just as women and men, both in law and in fact, free access to education and the freedom to choose their branch of study. It will be based on support for the development of the full potential of girls and boys and on the preservation of their personal integrity. It will give priority to economic independence and the participation of every individual in society and political life.