Gender equality: EU action triggers steady progress
15 Apr 2014 10:51 AM
In 2013 the European Commission
continued taking action to improve equality between women and men, including
steps to close the gender gaps in employment, pay and pensions discrepancies,
to combat violence and to promote equality in decision-making. Efforts are
paying off: concrete progress has been made in the area of addressing the
gender pay gap – notably through an initiative by the Commission to
improve pay transparency (IP/14/222) – or increasing the number of women on company
boards (see Annex). These are the main findings of the Commission's annual
gender equality report published yesterday along with the annual report on
fundamental rights (see IP/14/422). But challenges remain: under current rates of progress,
it will take almost 30 years to reach the EU’s target of 75% of women in
employment, 70 years to make equal pay a reality and 20 years to achieve parity
in national parliaments (at least 40% of each gender).
"Europe has been
promoting gender equality since 1957 – it is part of the European
Union's ‘DNA’. And the economic crisis has not changed our
DNA," said Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice
Commissioner. "For us Europeans gender equality is not an option, it is
not a luxury, it is an imperative. We can be proud of what Europe has achieved
in recent years. Gender equality is not a distant dream but increasingly a
European reality. I am convinced that together we can close the remaining gaps
in pay, employment and decision-making jobs."
The annual gender equality
report reveals that gender gaps have significantly shrunk in recent years but
that progress is uneven among the Member States and discrepancies continue to
exist in different areas – to the detriment of Europe's
economy.
EU action accelerates progress
towards gender equality
-
Increasing the
employment rate of women: women’s employment rate in the EU has
increased to 63% from 58% in 2002. EU funding has helped: in the 2007-2013
financing period, an estimated EUR 3.2 billion from the Structural Funds was
allocated to invest in childcare facilities and promote women’s
participation in the labour market, which had a significant leverage effect
(see Annex).
-
Reducing the pay
gap which still stagnates at 16.4% Europe-wide: the European
Commission stepped up its efforts by raising awareness about the remaining
gender pay gap, marking a European Equal Pay Day (IP/14/190) and monitoring the application of legislation on equal
treatment of women and men (IP/13/1227). The Commission also pushed for further progress in
March 2014 recommending to Member States to improve pay transparency and thus
tackle the pay gap (IP/14/222).
-
Cracking the glass
ceiling: the Commission’s proposal for a Directive to have 40%
of the under-represented sex among non-executive board directors by 2020 made
good progress in the legislative process and received strong endorsement by the
European Parliament in November 2013 (IP/13/1118). As a result, there has been a continuous increase in
the number of women on boards ever since the Commission announced the
possibility of legislative action in October 2010: from 11% in 2010 to 17.8% in
2014; the rate of progress has been 4 times higher than between 2003 and 2010
(see Annex).
-
In 2013, the EU
took action to protect women and girls from gender-based
violence through legislation, practical measures on
victims’ rights and a comprehensive policy package against female-genital
mutilation (IP/13/1153). It also co-funded 14 national
government campaigns against gender-based violence (with EUR 3.7 million), as
well as projects led by non-governmental organisations (with EUR 11.4
million).
-
Childcare:
Since 2007, the proportion of children cared for in formal childcare facilities
significantly increased (from 26% in 2007 to 30% in 2011 for children under
three years old, and from 81% to 86% for children between three and compulsory
school age (IP/13/495) The Commission adopted a comprehensive
report in 2013 on the attainment of the "Barcelona targets"
on provision of childcare.
What challenges
remain?
-
Despite having 60% of university
graduates being women, they are still paid 16% less than men per
hour of work. In addition, they are more likely to work part-time
(32% vs 8.2% of men who work part-time) and to interrupt their careers to care
for others. As a result, the gender gap in pensions stands at
39%. Widows and single parents — mainly
mothers — are a particularly vulnerable group, andmore
than a third of single parents have insufficient
income.
-
Although
women’s employment rate has increased, it still stands at
63% against 75% for men. This is mainly the result of the
economic crisis which has seen men's employment situation
worsening.
-
Women still bear the brunt of
unpaid work within the household and family. Women spend on
average 26 hours a week on care and household activities, compared with 9 hours
for men.
-
Women are still less likely to
hold senior positions. They account for an average of 17.8% of the
members of boards of directors in the largest publicly-listed
companies, 2.8% of the Chief Executive Officers, 27% of senior
government ministers, and 27% of members of national
parliaments.
-
The results of the first
EU wide survey on violence against women, carried out by the
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and based on interviews with
42,000 women show thatone in three women (33%) has experienced physical
and/or sexual violence since the age of 15.
Background
The report published yesterday
provides an overview of the main EU policy and legal developments in gender
equality during the last year, as well as examples of policies and actions in
Member States. It also analyses recent trends, on the basis of scientific
evidence and key indicators that shape the debate on gender equality, and
includes a statistical annex with more details on national
performances.
The report is structured around
the five priorities of the European Commission’s Strategy for equality
between women and men 2010-2015: equal economic independence; equal pay for
equal work and work of equal value; equality in decision-making; dignity,
integrity and ending gender-based violence, gender equality in external action
policy, and horizontal issues.
For more
information
MEMO/14/284
Press pack: Fundamental rights
and gender equality reports:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/fundamental-rights/news/140414_en.ht
m
Factsheets on Boosting Gender Equality and
on Gender Balance on Corporate
Boards
Homepage of Vice-President
Viviane Reding, EU Justice Commissioner: http://ec.europa.eu/reding
Follow Vice-President Reding on
Twitter: @VivianeRedingEU Follow EU Justice on Twitter: @EU_Justice
European Commission –
Gender equality:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/index_en.htm
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