REPORT on the future of the Lisbon Strategy from the point of view of the gender perspective

on the future of the Lisbon Strategy from the point of view of the gender perspective

(2004/2219(INI))

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the conclusions of the European Councils held in Lisbon on 23 and 24 March 2000, Stockholm on 23 and 24 March 2001, Barcelona on 15 and 16 March 2002, Brussels on 20 and 21 March 2003, and Brussels on 25 and 26 March 2004,

–   having regard to Articles 2, 3(2) and 141 of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to the Community Framework Strategy on equality between women and men (2001-2005)(COM(2000)0335), the Commission’s programmes of work for 2001 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 (COM(2001)0179, COM(2001)0773, COM(2003)0098), and the annual reports on equality between women and men for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 (COM(2001)0179, COM(2002)0258, COM(2003)0098 and COM(2004)0115, COM(2005)0044),

–   having regard to the Commission communication to the European Council of spring 2005, ‘Working together for growth and jobs, A new start for the Lisbon Strategy’ (COM(2005)0024),

–   having regard to the report of November 2003 by the high-level group chaired by Mr Wim Kok,[1]

–   having regard to its resolution of 9 March 2004 on reconciling professional, family and private lives,[2]

–   having regard to its resolution of 11 February 2004 on the organisation of working time,[3]

–   having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2003 on gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament,[4]

–   having regard to the structural indicators,

–   having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A6‑0000/2005),

A.       whereas the Lisbon European Council approved strategic objectives aimed at making the Union the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of economic growth, social cohesion and poverty reduction; whereas the Gothenburg European Council merged the Lisbon Strategy with a Sustainable Development Strategy and acknowledged the three complementary pillars of the Lisbon Strategy: the economic, the social and the environmental pillar,

B.        whereas Lisbon made a clear commitment to full employment to be reached by 2010 with high-quality employment, greater social cohesion and social inclusion,

C.       whereas social inclusion within the Lisbon Strategy especially concerns women and their needs to participate fully in all aspects of life; whereas the inclusive society is built on equality, solidarity, liberty, sustainable development and justice with access to rights, resources, goods, services, information and opportunities,

D.       whereas the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy recentres the objectives on growth and employment, and provides for a new form of governance,

E.        whereas the link between the Beijing Platform for Action and the Lisbon Strategy being obvious the need to utilise the productive potential of the European labour force is a key to achieving the overall Beijing and Lisbon strategy goals,

F.        whereas the Lisbon Strategy has put in place common indicators and objectives requiring regular evaluation with a view to greater awareness of the progress made and the challenges to be met,

G.       whereas the Lisbon European Council set the objective, to be achieved by 2010, of an employment rate of 60% for women; whereas the Stockholm European Council added an intermediate objective, for the end of 2005, of a 57% employment rate for women, and added an objective of 55% for older workers, male and female combined,

H.       whereas the employment rate for women has increased, reaching 55.1% in 2003 in the enlarged European Union; whereas its progress has slowed down since then; whereas the employment rate for older women remains particularly low,

I.         whereas the new jobs created for women are, however, generally precarious and badly paid,

J.         whereas the European Commission estimates that for the enlarged EU25 some 22 million jobs would need to be created in order to achieve the overall Lisbon employment targets,

K.       whereas the risk of poverty and social exclusion, which is particularly high for women, is closely linked to long-term unemployment and unpaid work, which is overwhelmingly performed by women,

L.        whereas women’s pension rights are very much lower than men’s rights owing to their limited participation in the labour market; whereas some countries adjust their schemes by granting pension rights for periods of childcare and care of elderly or disabled dependants,

M.       whereas, although the effective and responsible integration of immigrants in the labour market and society is a key factor for achieving the Lisbon objectives, the gender perspective is generally absent from integration policies, and this is making it impossible to fully utilise the potential of immigrant woman on the employment market,

N.       whereas the slowdown in the world economy and the demographic challenge facing the European Union are reasons to make the most of the potential female work force,

O.       whereas many disparities between women and men continue to exist, particularly as regards difference in remuneration, access to and advancement on the labour market, post-university education and lifelong training, and pension rights,

P.        whereas in the enlarged European Union the average pay gap is 15% but can be as much as 33% in some countries; whereas within the last 30 years there has in practice been no progress made with regard to the implementation of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value; whereas reducing this gap is a way of making employment more attractive to women, which will help raise their employment rate, and of making full use of investment in human capital,

Q.       noting that the promotion of entrepreneurship and self-employment is the key factor in the European Employment Strategy; whereas the statistics show that self-employed women make up 28% of the total, while women entrepreneurs with employees account for only 2.5% (compared with 8% for men),

R.        whereas women’s level of education tends to be higher than that of men (58 % of university graduates are women, and women represent 41% of PhD graduates); whereas more and more women are continuing with their studies, so that they increasingly have degrees and are trained and qualified, despite continuing to experience difficulties in gaining access to employment and to be discriminated against in terms of professional advancement and pay,

S.        whereas lifelong education and training contribute to women’s and men’s fulfilment, and give them adaptability on the employment market, enabling them better to meet the challenges of the knowledge-based economy,

T.        whereas the education and training systems in most European countries have an extremely low percentage of women studying the new information and communication technologies (less than 20%), and an even lower percentage of women starting their own businesses, as is the case with women in positions of responsibility in that sector, which reduces their competitiveness on the labour market,

U.       whereas the Lisbon European Council recognised the importance of improving equal opportunities in all areas, particularly by allowing family and professional life to be successfully combined; whereas the Barcelona European Council established quantified objectives for 2010 for the establishment of day-care facilities for at least 90% of children between three years of age and the start of compulsory schooling, and for at least 33% of children under three, in both urban and rural settings,

V.       whereas the absence of adequate data and statistics in the Member States on the establishment of facilities for childcare and care of dependent persons makes it difficult to evaluate implementation of the measures in question,

W.      whereas there is a significant difference between Member States regarding ideas and their application on major issues relating to combining work and family life, such as parental leave (transferable right or not, duration), childbirth leave, paid or unpaid leave, which creates confusion when compiling and studying the relevant rights at European level, and exchanging best practices,

X.       whereas reorganisation of working time may help to improve the quality of employment for women and facilitate combining professional and family life; regretting that the new, flexible forms of employment, such as teleworking and part-time work, are essentially used by women,

Y.       whereas the average percentage of part-time employment among women is 30.4% compared with only 6.6% among men, while the difference has increased slightly since 1998,

Z.        whereas measures taken on behalf of women have an impact on men; whereas men can make positive contributions to combating family stereotypes,

AA.     whereas up to now collaboration on achieving the Lisbon objectives has essentially been between national governments; whereas, in order for the gender dimension genuinely to be taken into account, the whole of civil society, the social partners, businesses and administrations must pool their efforts,

AB.     whereas many jobs in the European Union, in particular in sectors such as family work (assistance to children and to elderly, sick or disabled people), medico-social work, hotels, catering (horeca) and agriculture, do not attract job-seekers from the Member States and are held by workers from third countries, owing to wage levels, the precarious status of the jobs concerned or their demeaning social image,

AC.     having regard to the importance of the role of its committee with responsibility for women’s rights and gender equality in promoting equality between women and men and taking account of the gender dimension in implementing the Lisbon objectives,

1.  Affirms the need to take urgent measures to promote employment, the quality of employment and social inclusion of women, with a view to achieving the Lisbon objectives bearing in mind the great economic potential in the involvement of more women in employment;

2.  Voices its concern at the continuing disparities between women and men, particularly as regards the pay gap, access to employment, segregation on the employment market, and access to post-university education, lifelong training, new technologies and the information society;

3.  Calls on the Member States to promote school guidance aimed at diversifying young girls’ career choices in order to guarantee them better opportunities on the labour market;

4.  Calls on the Member States to maintain their efforts in promoting quality employment for women of all age groups and in all sectors, and take more effective measures to promote a growth in employment for women, particularly those from the poorest regions of the EU, which will help to put to good use the knowledge and skills acquired by women during their training, boost the economic indicators and the viability of pension schemes, and enable women to become financially independent and self-sufficient and ensure that they have their own satisfactory pension rights;

5.  Points out that the upward trend and the increase in women’s participation in the labour market is a result of the increase in non-standard types of work, such as part-time, flexible hours, shift work and fixed term work;

6.  Calls on the Member States to take account of the gender dimension in immigrant integration policies in order to make full use of immigrant women’s potential on the employment market and thus to help achieve the Lisbon objectives;

7.  Recommends better coordination between the policy of an integrated approach to equality between women and men, and the Lisbon Strategy, in the interests of taking systematic account of the gender perspective in realising the ambitious Lisbon objectives, particularly in the ‘broad economic policy guidelines’, the ‘employment guidelines’, environmental policy and internal market policy;

8.  Views as regrettable the fact that, up to now, collaboration on achieving the Lisbon objectives has essentially been between governments, and stresses that national, regional and local administrations, local authorities, businesses, educational and scientific institutions, the social partners and the whole of civil society must be involved;

9.  Underlines the importance of fully involving the European Parliament, and particularly its Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, in evaluating the Lisbon Strategy from the point of view of the gender perspective;

10. Remains mindful of the implementation of the interim target of 57% employment for women by the end of 2005, and calls for an evaluation by the Commission on the basis of future statistics, with emphasis on an approach allowing assessment of the areas of activity which have contributed most to increasing the employment rate among women and the quality of the jobs thus created;

11. Stresses that the Member States must make the issue of reducing the wage gap between women and men an absolute priority on their political agenda and in their economic development strategy; calls also for the application of the relevant European legislation and the promotion of women to senior positions commensurate with their qualifications;

12. Calls on the Member States to take initiatives to support and measures to promote women as entrepreneurs in order to give women the opportunity to develop their spirit of enterprise and to contribute to economic development and competitiveness;

13. Reaffirms that lifelong education and training should be placed at the heart of the Lisbon Strategy; calls on the Member States to take the necessary measures to enable qualifications to be recognised in all countries of the Union and all modes of learning to be certified;

14. Stresses the need to expand the training of women in new technologies and increase their involvement in research and technology programmes which will enable them to become more competitive on the labour market and will reduce the gender gap in technological and scientific skills;

15. Affirms that reorganisation of working time may allow more and better-quality jobs to be created, as well as contributing to reconciling professional, family and private life and achieving the Lisbon objectives;

16. Welcomes in this connection the agreement on teleworking concluded by the European social partners, and encourages its implementation in daily life;

17. Supports greater participation by the social partners, including NGOs, at local, national and regional level, in the development and implementation of gender equality policies, particularly in the areas of education, employment and pensions;

18. Stresses that the reorganisation of working time must result in a free choice for women; recalls that part-time working as an obligatory solution can prove to be a source of social exclusion and poverty;

19. Recommends that the Member States adopt measures to guarantee the most disadvantaged women, especially single parents, a ‘guaranteed minimum income’, enabling them to live with dignity and to have access to professional training linked to the needs of the labour market;

20. Calls on the Commission to conduct a study in cooperation with the Member States and the social partners aimed at identifying more clearly these ‘labour pools’, in particular for women, in areas such as family work, medico-social work, horeca and others, to analyse the reasons why they have become less attractive, to put forward ways in which they could be made attractive again and to study the relationship between such jobs and illegal employment; calls on the Member States to exchange best practice in this area;

21. Stresses the need for the Member States to introduce into their national action plans measures providing for the establishment of easily accessible, high-quality, affordable day care for children and care facilities for other dependent people, and urges the Member States to introduce into their national action plans social protection for mothers raising children alone to allow them to return to, and remain for as long as necessary in, the employment market; stresses the role of the social partners in this area, particularly as regards the development of crèches in businesses;

22. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to collect sufficient data on unpaid work on which to base employment policies and the promotion of measures for a fairer distribution of unpaid jobs to enable women to participate more extensively in the labour market;

23. Calls on the Member States to continue developing key indicators to assess the progress of equality between women and men in all areas and, to this end, to collect adequate, consistent and comparable statistics on a regular basis, broken down by gender and age, and conduct a detailed analysis thereof;

24. Criticises the Member States for not having implemented properly the established quantified objectives for the establishment of day-care facilities as agreed upon by the Barcelona Council; urges the Members States to provide childcare to at least 90% of children between 3 years of age and the start of compulsory schooling and for at least 33% of children under three in both urban and rural settings;

25. Considers it essential that Member States should systematically gather and produce statistics on the establishment of facilities for the care of children and other dependent people;

26. Voices its concern at the inadequate means of subsistence for older women, women belonging to ethnic minorities and women with disabilities, which means that they must seek jobs in an economy where the unemployment rate is high, and calls on the Member States to take their situation into account in national action plans and to forbid any legislative provision allowing discrimination on grounds of age;

27. Calls on the Member States to continue their efforts to modernise their social protection systems, as set out in the 2002 national reports on pension schemes, with a view to bringing them into line within a system in which women are employed to the same degree as men and enjoy equal pension rights;

28. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to collaborate closely with the future European Institute for Gender Equality to guarantee provision of care and financial resources to women who find themselves in difficult situations, as well as on the development of appropriate and comparable indicators, and monitoring thereof, and instruments to promote equality actively, such as benchmarks, with a view to combating discrimination against women and promoting their access to the labour market while allowing them to reconcile professional and family life, taking account of the variety of possibilities offered by the Member States at local level;

29. Calls on the Commission to take into account and deal with the problem of different definitions and methods of calculating the workforce and the unemployed (seasonal unemployment, long-term unemployment, atypical work, etc.) in the various Member States, which impedes the charting and assessment of the real situation of women on the labour market, the drawing of comparative conclusions and the drafting of proposals and guidelines with which to tackle the problems;

30. Calls on the Member States to take effective measures for the benefit of men, such as promoting appropriate systems of parental leave and organising awareness-raising campaigns with the aim of greater investment by men so that they take on a fairer share of family responsibilities; considers that, in this connection, flexible organisation of working hours and new forms of employment should also be used which make it possible to combine professional, family and private life;

31. Deplores the fact that men do not make sufficient use of the organisation of working time and new forms of employment which allow professional, family and private life to be successfully combined;

32. Declares that it is in favour of the launching of a regular follow-up, under the aegis of its Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, in collaboration with the national parliaments, with a view to recording the progress achieved and the challenges still to be met;

33. Stresses the need to transform the Lisbon Strategy into a genuine solidarity and sustainable development strategy aimed at establishing new guidelines incorporating economic, environmental and employment policies and laying down objectives and targets for the European Union and the Member States; the forthcoming financial perspective 2007-2013 should reflect this strategic objective;

34. Deplores the fact that earnings and working hours and conditions in many EU Member States, particularly in large commercial chains, are an affront to women’s dignity and are often the cause of miscarriages and disability;

35. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

At the meeting of the Lisbon European Council on 23 and 24 March 2000 new objectives were set with a view to stimulating economic, social and environmental renewal in the European Union. Europe was to be made the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world, accompanied by a qualitative and quantitative improvement in employment and greater social cohesion.

The Lisbon Strategy set ambitious objectives for the whole of European society, including women. These aims are to raise employment rates, to develop a strategy of active ageing, to build a research and information society, and to promote lifelong education and training.

In the four years that followed the launching of the Lisbon Strategy, economic activity in Europe has declined significantly, making it difficult to achieve the objectives that were approved. A series of studies, such as the report by the high-level group chaired by Wim Kok, underlined the urgent need to take the necessary measures to rationalise and simplify the process.

Mindful of the impact of the Lisbon Strategy on gender equality, the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality has drawn up this own-initiative report on the future of the Lisbon Strategy from the point of view of the gender perspective.

A public hearing on ‘The mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy from a gender perspective’ was held in the European Parliament, bringing together experts from different Member States, administrations, associations and the social partners. The experts laid stress on the idea that the Lisbon objectives, seen from the gender perspective, are far from having been achieved. In the view of all the contributors, the gender dimension needs to be taken into greater account in policies at both Community and national level. Specific innovative measures must be envisaged to promote employment for women and reduce the continuing inequalities between women and men.

The rapporteur has taken account of the opinions of various experts who spoke at the public hearing.

This report is based on research into the impact of the Lisbon Strategy on equality between women and men. It stresses the disparities that continue to exist in underlying factors such as employment, the wage gap, and lifelong education and training. It also evaluates the various measures which allow professional, family and private life to be successfully combined.

Ø Disparities between women and men continue to exist, and prevent the Lisbon objectives from being achieved

Ø employment

The quantified objectives for employment set at the Lisbon European Council aim to increase the proportion of women in employment to over 60% by 2010, as against an overall employment rate of 70%. The Stockholm summit established intermediate objectives to be achieved by January 2005, setting an employment rate for women of 57%, and including in the Lisbon Strategy a new employment objective of 55%, to be reached by 2010, for older workers, male or female combined.

In reality, the employment rate for women has progressed between 1999 and 2003 by 3.2%, bringing it to 56.1% in the European Union of 15.[5] In 2003 the rate of employment for women reached 55.1% in the enlarged European Union, taking into account the higher unemployment rate in the new Member States.

With the exception of young women between 15 and 24, the employment rate for women continues to rise in all age brackets, including that of older women. Nevertheless, the rate for the latter in 2003 was 30.7%, implying a continuing very large disparity between older women and older men (19.6%).[6]

It is for this reason that, despite the progress noted, efforts must continue towards increasing the rate of employment for women, and we must also bear in mind the evaluation of the intermediate objective scheduled for the end of 2005.

Ø the wage gap between women and men

Equal pay is a fundamental principle of Community law, which was established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957, reinforced by the Community directive of 1976, and amended in 2002.[7] The pay disparities between women and men continue to exist, which prevents the Lisbon objectives from being realised. During the period 1999-2001, the wage gaps between men and women have narrowed slightly in Austria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Finland, Ireland and the United Kingdom, whereas they have widened in Germany, Portugal and Sweden.

It is important to reaffirm that reducing wage gaps between women and men is a way of making employment more attractive to women, thus helping to raise their rate of employment.

The rapporteur takes the view that the Member State governments should make the issue of reducing the wage gap between women and men an absolute priority on their political agendas.

Ø lifelong access to education and training

The European debate on education and training was relaunched by the advent of the Lisbon Strategy.

There are still more women than men continuing with their studies, and the percentage of women among higher education graduates rose to 58% in 2003, because of the large numbers in the new Member States.[8] Women now account for 41% of holders of doctorates.

An important place must be given to lifelong training, which the Lisbon Strategy counts among the strategic challenges the Union must meet. Described by the Community texts as any useful learning activity of an ongoing nature designed to improve knowledge, qualifications or skills, lifelong learning was incorporated into the European Employment Strategy, the main instrument for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy.

Parliament’s resolution of 9 March 2005[9] stresses that European excellence in the knowledge‑based economy depends upon a well-trained and highly qualified workforce.

Active participation by women in lifelong education and training is an essential precondition for the achievement of the Lisbon objectives, and the European Parliament must reaffirm its position on this point.

Ø Effective measures not only for women, but also for men, are necessary for the achievement of the Lisbon objectives

Ø childcare services

The Lisbon Strategy’s quantified objectives established that by 2010 the Member States should have put in place structures capable of receiving at least 90% of children between three years of age and compulsory schooling age, and for at least 33% of children under three, thus enabling women to combine family and professional life successfully.

Since 2000 a growing number of Member States have set themselves objectives as regards availability of childcare facilities, but these do not always lead to practical initiatives.[10] Pending the harmonised statistics on structure of childcare which will be available in 2006, progress can only be assessed on the basis of national statistics.

As regards children under three, only Sweden, Denmark and (part of) Belgium say they have achieved the objective on childcare coverage (33%), while a number of countries have a coverage rate of under 15%.

The availability of childcare facilities for children of three and over who have not yet reached compulsory schooling age is a little higher, and quite a large number of States say they have reached, or are near, the objective of 90%.

Considerable efforts are needed to increase the number of childcare facilities. It is also crucial that these facilities should not only be sufficient in number, but also affordable and of good quality, with opening times that meet the needs of working parents.

Ø promoting new forms of work

Promoting new forms of work is one way of increasing the rate and quality of employment for women and men, allowing them to combine professional, family and private life successfully.

The agreement on teleworking signed on 16 July 2002 by the European social partners is an example of this. Teleworking, which combines the two aspects of distance working and homeworking, is an innovative, flexible way to allow everyone to participate in the employment market.

Teleworking is an attractive option for women, provided this type of work is freely chosen and not imposed.

Ø organisation of working time

Part-time working is on the increase in the European Union, and represented 17.1% in the Europe of 25.

This mainly affects women: 30.5% of women work part-time in the Union, as opposed to only 6.6% of male workers.

The proportion of part-time work is lower in the new Member States owing to the rigidity of their employment markets and lower levels of pay, which makes this possibility less accessible.

Nonetheless, part-time work is often characterised by irregular, atypical hours. There is a risk of ‘enforced’ part-time work, particularly for women, and this can lead to social exclusion and place women among the poorest workers.

It is for these reasons that it is important to stress that, while it helps achieve the Lisbon objectives, part-time work must be based on genuine choice.

Ø sharing tasks and responsibilities

To date, measures to promote equality between women and men, in the framework of achieving the Lisbon objectives, have mainly applied to women. It is important to stress the involvement of men in sharing domestic tasks and family responsibilities.

More importantly still, the political will to design measures aimed at men that have an impact on women must become apparent.

Women’s situation, when all is said and done, is very paradoxical: their employment rate is rising, they are better trained and qualified than men, and yet the inequalities between the sexes persist.

In the realm of the family, women take on a ‘double working day’. According to statistics, men perform less than 40% of household tasks, and assume between 25% and 35% of childrearing responsibilities in couples with children under seven.[11]

The Member States are regularly called upon to promote appropriate parental leave systems effectively, so that men can take a greater part in child rearing, allowing women to enter or re‑enter the workforce.

Concrete measures, such as increasing rates of part-time work or use of new forms of work, such as teleworking, by men could be envisaged. These measures would not only allow men to combine family life and work, but would also have an impact on the rate and quality of employment for women.

Conclusion

Seen from the gender perspective, the evaluation of the Lisbon Strategy must also take account of the policy of mainstreaming.

Institutionalised by the Amsterdam Treaty, the policy of mainstreaming should be an instrument which will help with achieving the Lisbon objectives. The employment guidelines, as well as the fourth pillar, which is specifically devoted to gender equality, are intended to ensure that the policy of equality is incorporated in all the other pillars. The new method of governance proposed in the revision of the Lisbon Strategy offers, among other things, an opportunity for a permanent debate on the relevance of the objectives.

With this in mind, it would be useful to introduce a chapter devoted to an integrated approach to equality between women and men, in order to foster a systematic approach based on the gender dimension, and to monitor progress in women’s employment rates in all sectors.

PROCEDURE

• [1]  ‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Creating more employment in Europe’, Report of the Employment Taskforce
  chaired by Wim Kok, November 2003.
• [2]  OJ C 102 E, 28.4.2004, p. 492.
• [3]  OJ C 97 E, 22.4.2004, p. 566.
• [4]  OJ C 61 E, 10.3.2004, p. 384.
• [5]  Eurostat EFT, 2003.
• [6]  Eurostat EFT, 2003.
• [7]  Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions, OJ C 240, 5.10.2002.
• [8]  Eurostat, UOE, 2003.
• [9]  European Parliament resolution on the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy of 9 March 2005, paragraph 23.
• [10]  Data were not yet available on the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Poland and Slovenia as of 20 January 2005.
• [11]  How Europeans spend their time, Eurostat, 1998-2002.