Equal opportunities between Women and Men

This page has been automatically translated from French into English by a translation software. Automatic translations are not as accurate as translations made by professional human translators. Nevertheless these pages can help you understand information published by the City of Brussels.

   

Women have the same rights as men but in practice there are still problems. There are some prejudices leading to an indirect discrimination. Some examples? Women are considered as only being capable of exercising 'easy' professions. Ambition is not considered a feminine characteristic. We wait for women to take charge of the house, the children,...

Women therefore turn less to responsible jobs. On average they gain one third less than their male colleagues, they work more part-time and, therefore, are less independent financially.

The City of Brussels acts against these discriminations at 3 levels: by assuring the equality of opportunity within its staff, by collaborating with associations, by organizing events.

Within the staff of the City

The City of Brussels decided to take measures within its own administration in order to give women the same chances:

• A reliable person indicated to collect the complaints of harassment and sexual intimidation
• A person working within the personnel department is asked to reveal measures hurting women
• The system of promotion was revised to avoid obligations susceptible to hurt women (an evening class for example)
• Juries consist of women and men
• ...

The associations

The City works in association with feminine associations. They can obtain subsidies to organize actions on the Brussels territory.

'Two Weeks for Women'

The City of Brussels organizes the 'Two Weeks for Women'. This event aims at informing the population of the various forms of violence against women, at making people sensitive and at bringing everybody to think about the actions to be led locally against this discrimination.