Birgitta Ohlsson: Europe wastes the world's “most educated housewives”

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A failure to capitalise on women’s professional skills threatens growth and will make Europe home to the “most educated housewives” in the world.

In an interview with the Council of Europe's Viewpoint television programme, Sweden’s EU minister Birgitta Ohlsson said that the number of working women should be increased as part of the 2020 Strategy for Growth.

“To get more growth, more people need to work and especially more women who need to get onto the labour market, “Ms Ohlsson told Viewpoint, Europe’s first human rights talk show.

“We have a lack of representation in the labour market supply when it comes to women. Women need to get out and work. Europe cannot afford to have the most well-educated housewives in the world. Women need to get out and show their competence.”

The talk show ’s theme – ‘Women: New Century, Old Problems’ – brought together Portuguese author and journalist Isabel Stilwell, German business consultant Anke Trischler and British gender expert Paul Wolf-Light.

The programme reviewed women’s professional progress, the impact of feminism and the fight against male gender privilege.

The panelists also examined gender roles in the economic crisis, debated the value of positive discrimination and analysed the benefits to men in accepting women’s demand for fairness at home and at work.


Watch Viewpoint

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