This week sees the launch of the largest group in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) (EPP), previously known as the European People’s Party-European Democrats. It is a group which, like the others, is made up of many successful women who come from numerous walks of life and have enjoyed a variety of different experiences. At least two of the women in the EPP group, including Danuta Maria Hübner of Poland and Sandra Kalniete of Latvia, were Commissioners before entering Parliament.
Finnish MEP Sari Essayah has a particularly diverse background. She became a member of the European Parliament in 2009 after working as Party Secretary of the Christian Democrats in Finland from 2007 and as a member of the Finnish Parliament from 2003. Like many of the women profiled in Women in Power, she has spent time working in academia, and is an active member of a several well-known organisations such as Amnesty International and the Finnish Red Cross. However, unusually for an MEP, her career began in the sporting field. Sari achieved great success as a race walker, winning the European Championships in 1994 and the World Championships in 1993 (pictured).
Monica Luisa Macovei, from Romania, also achieved major successes before entering the European Parliament, but in a rather different field. She, like Sari, sat on her national Parliament; in this case as Justice Minister from 2004 to 2007. Her major achievement was to play a lead role in implementing the justice reforms that helped Romania to join the European Union and fight corruption in the country. She is a founding member of Transparency International Romania, and has conducted research on gender in Romanian law and on violence against women. Monica has also been a civil society activist for political reform, democratisation and human rights in post-1989 Romania.
Spanish MEP Christina Gutiérrez-Cortines was too for a time a member of her national Parliament: as Minister of Education and Culture. For much of her career she worked in the cultural arena, and this is of particular relevance to my work as I am currently the Socialist and Democrats (S&D) coordinator on the Culture and Education Committee in the European Parliament. Christina was Director of cultural events at La Verdad newspaper in Murcia from 1989 to 1995, and has also been Director of Cultural Events and Evening Courses at the University of Murcia. She has a doctorate in Art History, and has been a researcher in art and architecture, urban planning and the history of urban development, as well as in the use of new technologies in the field of art history.
In the run up to International Women’s Day on the 8th March, I will be launching the remaining women members of the European Parliament on my website. I would very much welcome comments on these or any of the other profiles in the Women in Power collection.
