Tuesday

28th Mar 2023

Women quotas are 'demeaning', says Latvian ex-president

  • Europe should promote 'meritocracy', not gender quotas, says Ms Vike-Freiberga (Photo: Valentina Pop)

The EU commission's idea of imposing quotas on women in businesses is based on the "demeaning" principle that no woman can make it on her own merits, says former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

"What does it actually mean to have quotas? It's to say we don't have enough competent or interested women to do a certain job," Ms Vike-Freiberga told the EUobserver on Tuesday (8 March) on the margins of a gender equality workshop organised by the Norwegian funding scheme for eastern European countries - EEA/Norway Grants.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

On the same day, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, a special event with EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and vice-president Viviane Reding stressed the importance of closing the gender gap on companies' executive boards via a special pledge Ms Reding is promoting.

But to the 73-year old Vike-Freiberga, quotas are "demeaning", not because they remind her of Soviet times, but because as a psychology professor, she "always felt I could compete with any man."

"I would not need to get in on any quota and find it offensive to be given a grant or made professor just because I'm a woman," she said.

Instead of artificial targets, her vision of an ideal European society revolves around the concept of "meritocracy," where people are given a job according to their qualifications and talent, regardless of their gender, religion or skin-colour.

A useful example, according to the Latvian, is that of the Viennese symphonic orchestra, for a long time a male stronghold. A female cello player, however, at some point went to court after she had been refused a job despite the jury having recognised her as the best candidate. After she won on anti-discrimination grounds, the selection procedure was changed so that nowadays when somebody is auditioning for a position in the orchestra they have to do it behind a screen, and the jury only hears the sound, without seeing the actual person.

"This is meritocracy, this is my ideal of how a society should work," said Ms Vike-Freiberga.

Asked how meritocracy worked in the case of the current EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who was selected by EU leaders along with Herman Van Rompuy, for whose position - head of the European Council - Ms Vike-Freiberga ran openly in 2009, she said: "My objection to the process is that there was no process – these two position were selected in the good old way it had been done for many years in the past. To call it an election is really a misnomer."

This way of taking decisions is a major turn-off for citizens, who would be more interested in EU affairs if the process was more transparent, the Latvian politician argues.

Opinion

Women in the EU: an untapped resource

Women might just be one of the greatest, largely untapped, resources that Europe has in meeting its demographic challenge, writes Birgitta Ohlsson.

MEPs press EU Commission over Qatari-paid business-class flights

Pro-transparency MEPs are asking probing questions into possible conflict of interest between a senior EU commission official and Qatar, following revelations his business class trips were paid by Doha while negotiating a market access deal for its national airline.

Feature

Germany as a laboratory of 'communism vs capitalism'

A new exhibition at the Deutsches Historiches Musuem in Berlin unveils industrial photography of Germany's steel, coal, car, chemical and textile industries from the 1950s to 1980s — some in East Germany, some in West. But which was which?

Opinion

Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity

From the perspective of international relations, the EU is a rare bird indeed. Theoretically speaking it cannot even exist. The charter of the United Nations, which underlies the current system of global governance, distinguishes between states and organisations of states.

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Latest News

  1. Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity
  2. Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK
  3. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict
  4. Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all
  5. Von der Leyen pledges to help return Ukrainian children
  6. EU leaders agree 1m artillery shells for Ukraine
  7. Polish abortion rights activist vows to appeal case
  8. How German business interests have shaped EU climate agenda

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us