It is a bit of a ritual for the ministers for Employment and Social Affairs: every year, they discuss the gender pay gap. While they held a policy debate in 2018 (see EUROPE 11981/26), this year they decided during their meeting in Luxembourg on 13 June to adopt conclusions calling for a new strategy in this area.
For the problem is, indeed, real: according to Eurostat, the gender pay gap in the EU is still around 16% and is only narrowing very slowly or even widening in some Member States. Incidentally, the EU celebrates Equal Pay Day—marking the day from which women symbolically stopped being paid for their work relative to their male colleagues—a little earlier each year.
Beyond the calls made numerous times before, the ministers are suggesting certain measures that are more concrete than others. Thus, they implicitly refer to the possibility of amending Directive 2006/54/EC implementing the principle of equal pay or even modifying the Barcelona objectives regarding the provision of affordable, quality early childhood care to also include the elderly (given that women are more likely to sacrifice their careers in order to take care of a relative). They also call for the impact of digitalisation on gender equality as well as work-life balance in the context of the labour market to be analysed and taken into account in future policy making. Finally, they advocate a new gender equality plan, “including strategies aiming to close the gender pay gap”, bearing in mind that the 2017–2019 pay gap plan is coming to an end. The text of the conclusions can be consulted via this webpage: https://bit.ly/2XbItdQ (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)