Introduction

• Author: Nicole Kerschen
• Pages: 5-7

5

1 Introduction

1.1 Basic structure of the national legal system

Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democracy headed by a constitutional

monarch, the Grand-Duke. The Constitution dates back to 18681 and was last amended in

2016. It organises a separation of powers between the executive (the Grand-Duke and

the Government) and the legislative (the Parliament), with the judiciary watching over the

execution of laws. The principle of equality between men an d women has had a

constitutional value since 2006, when it was introduced in Article 11(2) of the Constitution.

The executive power is exercised by the Grand-Duke and, in practice, by the Government,

which consists of the Prime Mini ster and 16 ministers. In 1995, the Ministry for the

Promotion of Women was c reated with the aim of fighting against the discrimination of

women. From 2004 on, the policy was based on the concept of ‘gender mainstreaming’,

taking into the account gender equality in all fields of law and policy making. The Ministry

for the Promotion of Women became the Ministry for Equal Opportunities (acronym MEGA).

Three Gender Equality Plans were implemented between 2006 and 2 018. The Gender

Equality Plan 2015-2018, called ‘Making gender equality reality’ (MEGA 2015) , was based

on the governmental programme of 201 3 of the first ‘Gambia’ coalition Government (DP-

LSAP-De Grëng) (Gouvernement 2013), which mad e g ender equality one of its policy

priorities by declaring in the preamble th at ‘efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, social

coherence and equal opportunities’ were the guiding principles that characterised the

action of the Government. It also took into a ccount the conclusions of the evaluation of

the previous Gender Equality Plan 2009-2014.2

In terms of governanc e, the procedure for preparing the National Action Plan on equality

involved several ministerial departments in a direct and concrete manner and, as a

consequence, the plan had to be r egarded as a collective and transversal responsibil ity.

Each ministerial department was asked to identify three to five specific objectives, whi ch

had to be achieved between 2015 and 2018. Each minister was responsible for the

implementation of m easures for which she/he was functionally competent. MEGA

coordinated the work through the inter -ministerial Committee for Gender E quality,

established in 1996, in which each ministry was represented. Equality delegates were

listed within the Ministries and administrations. They had an information provision and

consulting task on gender equality policy and, in addition, were the contact persons in the

event of gender-based professional and sexual harassment withi n the administrations.

MEGA organised training programmes for them3 and proposed regular meetings for th em

as part of a network of exchange of good practices taking place in the positive action

programmes organised in the public sector.

After th e general elections o f October 2018, the second ‘Gambia’ coalition Government

(DP-LSAP-De Grëng)4 replaced the Ministry for Equal Oppo rtunities wi th a Min istry fo r

Gender Equality (although the acronym MEGA remained unchanged). The change of name

was justified by the desire of the new Government to strengthen the fundamental value

of gender equality and to ensure equal recognition of social and economic rights. The work

of the ministry was divided into 4 areas: edu cation (as a priority), employment, society

and municipalities. The slogan ‘Making gender equality a reality’ remained unchanged. It

1 Website: http://data.legilux.public.lu/file/eli-etat-leg-recueil-constitution-20161020-fr-pdf.pdf.

2 Professor Robert Plasman of the Free University of Brussels, as an external expert, accompanied the

implementation process of the national action plan on equality 2009-2014 and made recommendations to

the parties involved. In particular, he recommended improving the cooperation of MEGA with the other

ministries, to create a consensus on equality and a culture of gender equality, in order to implement a

policy of gender mainstreaming and to adapt the gender training offer for the officials of the ministries and

administrations according to the challenges.

3 Since 2011, all civil servants and public employees who enter the State and communal administrations

must undergo six hours of compulsory training on gender equality.

4 https://mega.gouvernement.lu/fr.html.