Dublin, 01/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - It is only from 28 February this year that women in Europe started to earn the same salary as men. An additional 59 days are therefore needed for women to reduce the pay gap - which this year still stands at 16.2% according to figures published by the European Commission.
European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding underlined on the occasion of Equal Pay Day (28 February) that, “while the pay gap has declined in recent years, there's no reason to celebrate”. Indeed, the pay gap has moved below the 17% bar but has only lost two points per year (16.4% in 2012). This downwards trend could, in fact, only be due to the economic slowdown. “The pay gap is still very large and much of the change actually resulted from a decline in men's earnings rather than an increase for women”, Reding explains. However, she reiterates that “the principle of equal pay for equal work is written in the EU Treaties since 1957. It is high time that it is put into practice everywhere. Let us work together to deliver results not only on Equal Pay Days, but on all 365 days of the year!” Reding's staff are currently working on a report about the application of Directive 2006/54/EC on equal pay.
Edit Bauer MEP (EPP, Slovakia), supported by around 20 colleagues, wants the Commission “to improve legislation and make it more efficient so that we can finally say goodbye to the gender pay gap”. She stresses the fact that the pay gap is simply discriminatory and has many different causes - “social and economic factors, under-evaluation of women's work, unequal balance of work and private life and the persistence of stereotypes”. These causes must be “tackled one by one”, Bauer stated. (MD/transl.fl)