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While Trump is destroying everything that rhymes with DEI, the European Commission is launching new equality initiatives, proving that the transatlantic rift is not just about military alliances and Ukraine, but about fundamental values.
A shared commitment to economic prosperity is forcing both sides of the Atlantic to choose two very different paths.
In the US under Trump, hyper-liberalization is the preferred method of freeing up American trade and combating what is seen as far-left policies.
Washington is removing DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives from government agencies, universities, and even the military as references to gender and racial equality disappear from official Pentagon documents.
This fixation on meritocracy will hurt US competitiveness. At least that is how the European Commission sees it.
“We can't afford to ignore this.”
Tomorrow is International Women's Day, and the Commission took the opportunity to present its “Roadmap for Women's Rights”.
The roadmap includes a number of policy proposals aimed at strengthening the position of women in society and harmonizing labour regulations across the bloc with a view to integrating women into the workforce.
“This is not just about fairness, it is also about competitiveness. Gender inequality costs the EU €370 billion a year in lost potential. We cannot afford to ignore this,” EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib told reporters on Friday.
“Of course we feel resistance on the other side of the Atlantic, but we have this roadmap to make sure we are not on the wrong side of progress.”
For the Commission, gender equality is not only a moral but also an economic imperative.
Draghi's damning critique of European competitiveness last September only made the point clear: Europe needs to improve across the board.
The East German Precedent
The story of East German working women who had to step in when working men went West and many women stayed at home is likely to be repeated as today's rapidly ageing societies force Western economies to do something similar.
The EU, desperate to match Draghi’s ambitions, is pursuing policies that make families less dependent on women working at home rather than in the workplace. In other words: European countries must foot the bill for an unequal labour market.
However, with the cost of living rising faster in Europe than in the US, it is becoming increasingly difficult to support a family on one income, so it is probably only a matter of time before more women (in Germany, 55% of women work part-time) enter the workforce full-time.
With its roadmap, the Commission aims to double down on its already ambitious gender policy compared to the US. For example, the roadmap says the Commission will continue to require companies to publish pay transparency data – as it did under von de Leyen’s last mandate – making it harder to keep women out of the workforce.
It is unclear how effective these measures will be. Progressives in the European Parliament have already taken up arms against their shortcomings – especially on reproductive rights. But at least the bar is being raised.
Useful moral
While yesterday's summit made it clear that Europe and its (former) American partner no longer see Ukraine's right to self-defense in the same light, the divide is growing elsewhere. And the issue of women's rights at work is a prime example.
The same capitalist logic that the US administration used to justify cutting back on all equality initiatives is being used by the Commission to implement them.
While Washington is erecting new glass ceilings, the EU is building new ones to break them.
Round up
Energy: The growing use of capacity markets for electricity in some of the EU's largest countries could have devastating consequences, researchers and internal European Commission documents have warned.
Tech – Poland has circulated a questionnaire to Member States on a compromise in the Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) Regulation in the hope of speeding up the adoption of the Council's position.
Agriculture: High energy prices are causing major European producers such as Yara and BASF to close their ammonia plants, which are needed to make fertilizers.
All over Europe
Slovakia – In defiance of Slovakia’s historical tradition of armed resistance, some Slovak leaders appear to be actively obstructing the country’s military defense. Much of the rest of the EU talks about rebuilding its military to counter the Russian threat, but the tone coming out of Bratislava has been different.
Hungary — The highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease has returned to the country after a more than 50-year absence, authorities in Budapest said Friday.
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