18.12.2010   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 345/1

1.

Equality between women and men is a fundamental principle of the European Union enshrined in the Treaties and is one of the objectives and tasks of the European Union, and mainstreaming the principle of equality between women and men in all its activities represents a specific mission for the Union (1).

2.

Since the founding of the European Community, respect for equal pay for male and female workers has been guaranteed by the Treaty (2).

3.

European legislation (3) enshrining respect for the principle of equal treatment of women and men in the fields of employment and work aims to protect workers from discrimination on grounds of sex in their working conditions, including their pay.

4.

As part of the annual review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, in 2001 the Council adopted Conclusions to combat pay inequalities between women and men and took note of a report by the Belgian Presidency containing information on pay inequalities and defining six quantitative indicators and three qualitative indicators (4).

5.

Closing the gender pay gap remains a political priority shared by all the Member States and other key players on the European stage (5).

6.

The social partners, in particular, have a key role to play, at both European and national level, notably in the context of collective bargaining, in efforts to promote and sustain equality between women and men in the workplace, including with respect to pay (6).

7.

On 23 and 24 March 2006 the European Council adopted the European Pact for Gender Equality which encourages the Member States to take action, in particular to adopt measures to close gender gaps and combat gender stereotypes in the labour market.

8.

In November 2009 the Council adopted Conclusions on ‘Gender equality: strengthening growth and employment – input to the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy’, which notably called on the Member States and the European Commission to continue to reduce the persisting gender gaps as regards pay with a view to providing opportunities for both women and men to meet their aspirations and to fulfil their potential and to preventing in-work poverty (7).

9.

In November 2009, the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, also adopted a set of Conclusions on ‘the Review of the implementation by the Member States and the EU institutions of the Beijing Platform for Action: “Beijing + 15”: A Review of Progress’ (8), in which they undertook to regularly review progress achieved on those critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action for which indicators have already been adopted.

10.

In the Conclusions of the Barcelona European Council on 15 and 16 March 2002, the Member States committed themselves to strive, taking into account the demand for childcare facilities and in line with national patterns of provision, to provide childcare by 2010 for at least 90 % of children between 3 years old and the mandatory school age and at least 33 % of children under 3 years of age, and they have reaffirmed that commitment on numerous occasions (9).

11.

The Commission Communication on ‘Tackling the pay gap between women and men’ (2007) (10) underlines the need to improve the capacity to analyse this phenomenon, and the Commission report on ‘Equality between women and men (2010)’ (11) stresses that the Member States must respond without delay to the challenge of reducing the gender pay gap ‘through specific strategies combining all available instruments, including targets where appropriate’.

12.

In the declaration by the Trio of Presidencies adopted in Valencia on 26 March 2010, a call was launched to speed up efforts towards the closing of the persistent gender pay gap, by adopting a coordinated approach and defining targets.

13.

At the European Council on 17 June 2010, the Member States adopted the Europe 2020 Strategy for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, one of the five headline targets of which is to endeavour to raise to 75 % the employment rate for women and men aged 20 to 64 (12).

14.

On 21 October 2010 the Council adopted the Guidelines for the Employment Policies of the Member States (13). Guideline 7, in particular, calls on the Member States to promote gender equality including equal pay, as well as work-life balance policies with the provision of affordable care and innovation in work organisation; and Guideline 10 states that all measures should also aim at promoting gender equality.

15.

The Conclusions adopted by the Council (EPSCO) on 21 October 2010 on the Governance of the European Employment Strategy within the context of Europe 2020 and the European semester (14), underline the importance of, ahead of each European Semester, taking stock of progress made to reach the Europe 2020 headline and national targets related to employment; of contributing to the Spring European Council, through the identification in the Joint Employment Report of the main orientations in the field of employment which require strategic guidance by the European Council; and at the end of the European Semester, of examining and adopting country specific recommendations to Member States in the field of employment.

16.

The Conference on 25 and 26 October 2010 on ‘How to close the gender pay gap?’ provided an opportunity for in-depth examination of the issue with all stakeholders.

17.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1922/2006 (15) by which it was established, and its work programmes for 2010 and 2011, the European Institute for Gender Equality has the task of providing technical support to the European institutions, especially the Commission, and to the Member States’ authorities. This support particularly involves developing and revising the indicators as part of the follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action.

18.

Achieving equal pay for women and men, equal economic independence, and gender equality in decision-making are priority fields of action in the Women’s Charter (16) adopted by the Commission in March 2010 and in the Commission’s Strategy for equality between women and men (2010-2015) (17).

19.

Equality between women and men is crucial for fulfilling the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy regarding a high level of employment and the achievement of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as for ensuring economic and social cohesion (18) and competitiveness, and for tackling the demographic challenge.

20.

Within the European Union, the gender pay gap still averages 18 % (19); this pay gap varies considerably from one Member State to another, and differs in the public and private sectors.

21.

The pay gap is reflected throughout the life cycle of women, including in the form of lower pensions and a greater risk of poverty for women.

22.

The causes underlying the gender pay gap remain numerous and complex, mainly reflecting discrimination on the grounds of sex as well as inequalities linked to education and the labour market, such as:

23.

Moreover, workers’ individual circumstances such as their family situations or civil status also have a bearing on the gender pay gap.

24.

While real progress has been made in identifying and understanding some of its multiple causes, other aspects of the pay gap remain unexplained, and require further investigation, particularly as regards the impact of job classification and the award of any consideration, whether in cash or in kind, other than the ordinary basic or minimum wage or salary (21), on which all the necessary data is not available.

25.

A high female employment rate sometimes correlates with a wide gender pay gap; yet increasing the female employment rate and closing the gender pay gap are important objectives that should be pursued together.

26.

Approaches consisting of measures tackling one or other cause of the pay gap in isolation have not proved adequate for closing pay gaps between men and women effectively.

27.

Closing the gender pay gap therefore requires further mobilisation of all the key actors, with a view to engaging, in a coordinated way, with targeted, integrated, multifaceted and consistent approaches designed to tackle its multiple causes, both at national and European level, including in the framework of the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

28.

The Commission’s Strategy for equality between women and men (2010-2015) and many of the actions foreseen therein are expected to contribute significantly to achieving equal pay for women and men.

29.

The integration of the principle of gender equality has not, in the past, always been sufficiently implemented across policy domains in the National Reform Programmes, and could usefully be further enhanced within the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy (22).

30.

The headline target of aiming to raise to 75 % the employment rate for women and men aged 20-64 that was set in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy presupposes significantly increasing women’s participation in the labour market, which can be promoted through measures to close the gender pay gap, to reinforce the training of women, particularly in sectors where they are under-represented, to improve the quality of women’s jobs and promote policies for reconciling work, family and private life, as well as to combat women’s poverty and improve their social inclusion, taking account of the Member States’ relative starting positions and national circumstances.

31.

TAKES NOTE of the report (23) evaluating indicators of gender-related pay inequalities, presented by the Belgian Presidency, which describes the data-gathering work in this area, certain inherent difficulties that remain and the need to revise and complete the set of indicators in order to reflect the multidimensional character of the gender pay gap.

32.

AFFIRMS the need to select a limited number of indicators for regular use, while reserving complementary indicators for expert use.

33.

Adopt or pursue a comprehensive set of measures to tackle the full range of causes of the gender pay gap linked to labour market inequalities between women and men, taking into account national circumstances, and coordinating the actions of all relevant key actors, particularly the social partners, at all levels. This could include the following measures:

34.

In the National Reform Programmes to be drawn up within the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy, in dialogue with the European Commission, and taking account of the Member States’ relative starting positions and national circumstances, if appropriate, set national targets and present a comprehensive set of measures aiming specifically at:

35.

Use the Structural Funds and other European funds to develop measures to combat pay inequalities between women and men, where appropriate.

36.

Fully implement Article 20 of Directive 2006/54/EC in order to allow the Equality Bodies to efficiently contribute to their efforts to step up actions to close the gender pay gap.

37.

Bring to the attention of civil society entities that have a legitimate interest, in accordance with the criteria laid down by their national law, the possibility offered by Article 17(2) of Directive 2006/54/EC to engage, either on behalf or in support of the complainant, with his/her approval, in any judicial and/or administrative procedure provided for the enforcement of obligations under the said Directive.

38.

Visibly integrate the principle of gender mainstreaming in the implementation of Europe 2020 Strategy, by ensuring that gender equality is taken into account and that gender equality measures are promoted in a consistent manner in:

39.

measure the gender pay gap and monitor progress on a regular basis by using the main indicators  (24) as set out in the Annex, subject to the availability of data, and taking into account the methodology of the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), as appropriate;

40.

consider the complementary indicators  (25), as set out in the Annex, as possible instruments for further in-depth research on the gender pay gap; and

41.

promote research into the relation between the employment rate of women and the gender pay gap.

42.

Organise regular exchanges of best practice concerning measures to close the gender pay gap, involving the social partners in such exchanges.

43.

Consider whether it would be useful to carry out a study with a view to identifying aspects of remuneration which are not included in the Member States’ existing statistics, so as to be able to measure the impact on the pay gap of the differences in the way in which such benefits are granted to women and men.

44.

Conduct regular awareness-raising campaigns in this area.

45.

Render more visible the close relations between the achievement of pay equality and economic independence, the promotion of reconciliation, and equality in decision-making, and the combating of gender stereotypes within the framework of its Strategy for equality between women and men (2010-2015); and to undertake to examine at regular intervals the progress achieved in this sensitive area in the Annual Report on Gender Equality, which it will present to the Spring European Council.

46.

Without prejudice to the future financial framework, evaluate and develop measures in the context of social cohesion policy, including the Structural Funds, to close the gender pay gap.

47.

Monitor closely the full implementation of European legislation aiming to ensure equality in the workplace and equal pay for women and men, and to promote, in consultation with the social partners and respecting their autonomy, active measures directed towards achieving real equality.

48.

Consider initiatives aiming to encourage the Member States to envisage suitable measures including, if necessary and where appropriate, concrete objectives, with a view to improving the gender balance in decision-making positions in the public and private sectors.

49.

Consider the need to create a ‘European equal pay day’ with a view to raising the awareness of the general public and key players and thereby encouraging measures to be adopted and followed up.