The European Parliament has marked International Women’s Day. On Tuesday 14 March, it adopted a number of non-legislative resolutions calling, for example, for gender equality to be promoted, including in collaborative economy services, and for gender equality to be incorporated in European funding programmes.
“The European Union agenda on gender equality has stalled. We were ambitious in terms of legislation at one time. But now, things would appear to have slowed down”, commented Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA, Spain) during the debate that lasted more than two hours.
Urtasun is the author of a report on gender equality in the EU in 2014-2015 which calls for measures to address the gender pay and pensions gap and the paucity of women in decision-making posts. Like the Council of the EU, Urtasun calls for a gender equality strategy for the period from 2016 to 2020 (in addition to the European Commission’s current strategic commitment) and repeats his call to the Commission to set up a European observatory on sexual violence.
The second report, prepared by Clare Moody (S&D, UK), deals with EU funds for gender equality (in particular, the structural and investment funds, the rights, equality and citizenship programme 2014-2020 and Horizon 2020). In general, the resolution “deplores that most of the EU-funded programmes do not have specific targeted actions with specific budget allocations on gender equality” while noting that €5.85 million will be spent on promoting gender equality in the 2014-2020 period. The report calls for a gender equality strategy and for gender equality to become part of the European semester.
The third report, drafted by Agnieszka Kozlowska-Rajewicz (EPP, Poland), focuses on the application of Directive 2004/113/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. The resolution calls for the effective application of the text, including in the collaborative economy sector. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)