European Parliament High-level Group on Gender Equality Constitutive meeting on 21 April 2004 in Strasbourg CONCLUSIONS Reducing gender inequalities in all aspects of life -in the economy, in education, or politics leads to a more democratic society in which men and women can fully participate. As the institution closest to citizens, the European Parliament has a responsibility to present a positive role model. ‘The European Parliament adopted a resolution on gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament on 13 March 2003 (A5-0060/2003) on the basis of a comprehensive report by Lissy Gréner. In this resolution, a so-called High-Level Group on Gender Equality was called for to give visibility to the EP commitment to fundamental rights and equality. In an official decision by the Bureau of the European Parliament in February 2004, the Highlevel Group on Gender Equality was set up. The President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, announced this to the Plenary of the European Parliament on 8 March 2004. Members of the Group are: the President of the European Parliament, selected Vice-Presidents as well as the Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairmen and the Chair of the Commitee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities. The Secretary-General of the European Parliament assists the Group. The Group will monitor gender mainstreaming in EP activities right across the board: committee work, information and communication policy and other areas. The most important task of this Group is to ensure that the European Parliament takes into account the issues of gender mainstreaming and equal opportunities in all the policy areas which are debated in its committees. Inits first meeting on 21 April 2004, the members of the Group illustrated a strong political will and commitment to implement Parliament resolution on gender mainstreaming. The members of the Group confirmed the necessity of such a group in order to promote gender equality and integration of a gender perspective in all activities and policies of the Parliament. Special attention was drawn to the important role of the Conferences of Committee and Delegation chairmen in putting gender mainstreaming into practice in their respective fields. Furthermore, attention was drawn to the key role played by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities in promoting gender equality and in monitoring and assessing the integration of gender mainstreaming in the policy work of the Parliament. ‘The Group calls upon the incoming European Parliament to continue the work to implement the Parliament resolution on gender mainstreaming.