Avilés Perea (PPE-DE). – (ES) Mr President, I would like to begin by thanking you for having included this mini-debate on the agenda on International Women’s Day. It is traditional in all countries on this day to dedicate some kind of act or statement to the recognition of women’s work, equality between men and women and the fact that there is still much to be done in order to make this equality a reality.

We are going to see this in the debates to follow. I would therefore simply like to appeal for Parliament’s approach to be maintained, as an example from an institution which is making progress on the road towards defending the rights of women. We will see in the debates on the reports to follow that there is still much to be done in order to achieve equality between men and women and in order to achieve equal recognition of work. Mrs Napoletano, we women do not always have to be demonstrating that we work better than men; we simply want men to recognise our work on an equal footing with that of their male colleagues.