Brussels, 07/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On the approach to International Women's Day on Thursday 8 March, three areas of concern can be distinguished in the struggle for gender equality: the under-representation of women in management positions and in politics, along with women's increased likelihood of experiencing poverty or hardship during pension age (even though there are 40% more women aged over 65 than men). With International Women's Day slogan being “equal pay for equal work”, several organisations have sounded the alarm, calling on the European institutions to do more, or are taking initiatives to resolve the problems which go beyond wage differences.
Pensions gap. The wage gap, which is well known in Europe, with an average difference of 16% between men and women, has a serious effect on the pensions women receive at the end of their working lives. With lower wages, women contribute less - and this is aggravated by breaks in their careers to look after children of family members. With women's pensions often 60% less than men's, putting almost 25% of Europeans aged over 65 at the risk of poverty (as Eurostat pointed out on Wednesday 7 March), the European Women's Lobby (EWL) and AGE Platform, a network of people aged over 50, urge the EU to bring in strong measures to resolve the issue of pay and also of pensions, “two sides of the same coin”, said EWL Secretary General Cécile Gréboval. She went on to state that “men as well as women must be able to be workers and carers at different times in their lives without being penalised as they grow older”. AGE Platform fears that, with the drastic cuts in subsidies for child care and care of the elderly services, the gap between incomes for older people might grow. “The EU has a role to play in this area and its proposals for EU-wide legislative provisions on paid leave to care for dependents are more than necessary”, argued Anne-Sophie Parent, AGE Secretary General.
Monitoring centre in municipalities and regions. A further facet of gender inequality is the under-representation of women in political bodies. It is estimated that only around 25% of national parliaments and governments in Europe (24% and 26% respectively) are women. Efforts must be made, then, to increase the number of women in politics. An initiative will come on stream on 8 March with the launch of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions' gender equality observatory, which will help local and regional governments mainstream gender equality through local action and initiatives. Ten countries have already indicated their support. The project, financed, inter alia by the City of Paris and the Swedish government, will provide a platform for exchange, cooperation and training.
Quotas in businesses. Under-representation of women is also endemic in the world of business. Only one board member in seven of Europe's largest companies is a woman (13.7%) lamented European Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Viviane Reding on Wednesday of last week. While she intends to take steps, possibly setting quotas, to remedy the situation, European Liberals and Social Democrats do not think she has done enough: “We need to go further than the action proposed in the consultation by the Commission”, said S&D Group leader Hannes Swoboda (Austria). “We want EU legislation by the end of 2012 that includes quotas for women. Quotas have proved useful where they are implemented”, added his colleague Britta Thomsen (Denmark). The Liberals were of the same view: Sophie in' t Veld (Netherlands) said that “the time for reports is over. Now is the time for action”. She called on the Commission to live up to its promise of 2011 to bring in immediate measures, rather than just conducting a consultation. (MD/transl.rt)