Brussels, 21/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 18 December, the European Commission adopted its 2010 Annual Report on Equality between women and men, which highlights the challenges still to be met in this area in Europe and calls for a stronger gender dimension as part of the EU's growth and jobs package to be presented to EU leaders at the spring European Council on 25 March 2010. It will also inform the EU's 2020 strategy for growth and jobs and will provide a basis for work on the EU's gender equality strategy under Spanish presidency.
In its report, the Commission notes that gender gaps persist in employment rates, pay, working hours, positions of responsibility, share of care responsibilities and poverty. Between 1998 and 2008, considerable progress was made in women's employment: the female employment rate rose by 7.1 percentage points to 59.1%. This positive trend has, however, been interrupted by the economic crisis, the Commission says.
While unemployment among women has risen less rapidly as a result of the crisis (from 7.4% in May 2008 to 9% in September 2009) than among men (from 6.4% to 9.3%), the two rates are now rising at the same rate, and women's unemployment is still higher than men's in 12 EU countries. The Commission points out for example, that: - there is a danger of a delayed impact on women, as job losses spread from predominantly male sectors such as construction and manufacturing, to more gender-mixed sectors and the public sector, where more women are employed; - quality employment is the best safeguard against poverty and social exclusion, and, in times of recession, special attention should be paid to vulnerable groups; - policies which aim to improve the work-life balance of both women and men, enabling more women to enter the labour market, should be considered as a longer-term investment and not as a shorter-term cost; - gender-based violence which is first and foremost a breach of fundamental rights and also represents high costs for society has to be tackled. (G.B./transl.rt)