Brussels, 08/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - During International Women's Day on Thursday 8 March, the European Parliament (EP) decided to get to the heart of the problem of the pay gap. The EP president, Martin Schulz (Germany), stated during an inter-parliamentary meeting on the subject, that it was “a disgrace that women are paid less than men for the same job. This leaves me speechless, as there are no words to describe such an injustice.”
Eurobarometer sounds call for action. His indignation is backed up by the fact that seven out of ten Europeans (69%) are offended by this persisting gap throughout the EU, as demonstrated by a Eurobarometer survey on the subject, commissioned by the EP and published on International Women's Day. The survey illustrates that Europeans suggest very different solutions for ending the inequality: facilitating access to all kinds of jobs (27%), penalising companies that do not respect equal opportunities (26%) or calling on them to be transparent with regard to pay scales (24%). Nonetheless, almost half of all respondents (47%) advocated European-wide action.
Appeals from MEPs. MEPs also expressed their outrage on this day dedicated to women and said that it was high time that this pay gap was rectified. Speaking on behalf of the EPP Group, its leader, Joseph Daul (France), and the coordinator at the parliamentary committee in charge of women's rights and equal opportunities (FEMM), Mariya Nedelcheva (Bulgaria), said that they would like the European authorities to assume their responsibility and develop concrete and targeted measures for ensuring the principle of “equal pay for equal work”. The Liberals and Democrats agree but go much further by providing figures. Antonyia Parvanova (Bulgaria), the ALDE coordinator at the same committee, calls for “an equal pay objective to reduce the pay gap between the sexes of 10% in every EU country. It is time to put a stop to the purple prose and declarations, we have to take action now and respect our commitments.”
Constance Le Grip (EPP, France) calls for a serious rethink and is fighting for the launch of a European women's citizens' initiative (in reference to the introduction by the Lisbon Treaty of the right to launch a petition on the receipt of at least 1 million signatures in at least seven EU countries). She said that this could “provide an opportunity for charities and women's networks in Europe to call for the effective application of European texts on equal pay”.
More graduates. During the European Parliament conference, there were many delegates who spoke of the paradox of wage discrimination at a time when 60% of university graduates are women. Agneta Stark, a professor of economics in Sweden, explained that if women are not graduates they earn even less because men, even those without degrees, continue to earn more. Faced with these figures, Elisabeth Morin-Chartier, (EPP, France) asked how long they would agree to fund training policies that led to such differentials. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, referred to the situation of better qualified women and said that “talented women exist but these talents do not allow for higher jobs or better working conditions. The quality of talent does not correspond to what we have on the labour market”, she regretted. In one sense, more graduates is a good thing - it means that European policies have already borne fruit, she acknowledged. She said that they now need to analyse why the pay gap persists. She promised that there would be an analysis carried out on this in 2013, with regard to the application of the directive on the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in employment and at work (2006/54/EC). (MD/transl.fl)