WUNRN
Link to European Commission Article
on Closing the Gender Pay Gap:
European Women's Lobby - EWL
EWL Welcomes Commission’s Initiative to Tackle the Gender Pay Gap,
but More Concrete Steps Needed
The European Women’s Lobby
welcomes the Communication from the European Commission “Tackling
the pay gap between women and men” issued on the 18th of July, which
outlines the measures to be taken by the EU to address the issue.
Women’s employment is key
for women’s economic autonomy and equality between women and men. Although the
principle of equal pay was established in the EU treaties fifty years ago,
there is still a significant gap between women and men’s wages. The average gender
pay gap in EU countries - defined as the difference between the average hourly
pay for women and men before tax and across the economy- is 15%. The figure
ranges from a surprising 26% in
One of the measures
proposed by the Communication is for Member States to “set objectives and
national deadlines for reducing the pay gap between women and men”. While
welcoming this proposal, EWL would like the Commission to be more concrete,
notably by setting targets, indicators and a timetable for the elimination of
the pay gap for the whole of the EU. EWL also support the proposal of the ETUC
to introduce a specific target and timetable on the elimination of the pay gap
in the European Employment Strategy.
The Commission states that
the gender pay gap can not solely be attributed to “objective factors” such as
education or occupational skills and gender based discrimination. Instead it
reflects segregation in the labour market and unequal division of unpaid work
between women and men at home.
Figures show that it is the
countries where women to a large extent work part time that have the largest
gender pay gap. This demonstrates the need for a comprehensive approach to the
problem. For example, the elimination of the gender pay gap will necessitate
stronger measures for the conciliation of private and working life including
the promotion of an equal sharing of care responsibilities between women and
men. In this respect, the Commission has launched a consultation with social
partners, which EWL hopes, will lead to further concrete European action for
the conciliation of working and private life, notably in relation to parental
leave and paternity leave.
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