Gender equality is a cause that the Juncker Commission defends and that the von der Leyen Commission will also defend starting in November. This was the message delivered to MEPs on Wednesday 4 September by Tiina Astola, Director General of the European Institution's Directorate-General for Justice, Consumer Protection and Gender Equality.
Ms Astola has proven rather engaging on issues that have been blocked so far, such as quotas for women, or new issues, such as wage transparency.
This was the second time that the Parliamentary Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, chaired by Evelyn Regner (S&D, Austria), met during this legislature. This committee, it should be recalled, is composed of only one-fifth men (8 male deputies, out of a committee of 67 active or alternate members).
State of play
Ms Astola referred in turn to violence against women, work-life balance, the pay gap, gender mainstreaming, ‘glass ceilings’ for access to positions of responsibility in large private companies and the gender equality strategy.
Asked by MEPs, she recalled that family policy and, by extension, abortion fall within the competence of the Member States. “There are limits to what we can do”, she defended.
Among the most important messages is the one on wage transparency. Ms Astola recalled that in her political guidelines, President-elect Ursula von der Leyen had committed herself to making proposals in this area during the first 100 days of her mandate. At present, the pay gap is 16% and the pension gap is 31%, Tiina Astola recalled.
Secondly, on the draft directive on quotas for women in administrative boards, which is currently blocked in the EU Council, Ms Astola was rather optimistic (see EUROPE 12184/13). She said that the President-elect was looking for a majority of Member States.
“We are in regular contact with the Member States. With the support of the President-elect (from Germany), I think we will be able to move forward”, she said.
Finally, the European official suggested that Ursula von der Leyen, unlike her predecessor, would indeed present a European strategy for equality between women and men.
It should be recalled that instead of renewing the 2010-2015 strategy, as requested by the EU Council and the European Parliament, the Juncker Commission had presented a “working document” for the period 2016-2019. This document has no inter-institutional value and has no specific budget (see EUROPE 11739/18).
The future European strategy for gender equality “will cover all the aspects under which legislation influences the decisions women take throughout their lives: accepting a job, running a business, receiving treatment, getting married, having children, managing assets, receiving a pension”, Ursula von der Leyen’s policy guidelines indicate (see EUROPE 12298/18).
Violence against women
Tiina Astola also highlighted the European Commission's involvement in the fight against violence against women. She recalled that the Victims' Rights Directive (2012/29/EU) should have been transposed in 2015, but that the result was not there.
“The Commission has launched several infringement proceedings: 9 Member States have received a letter of formal notice, the first step, and 16 Member States a reasoned opinion”, she listed.
On the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the so-called Istanbul Convention), she pointed out that 7 Member States (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom) had not ratified the text and that ratification by the Commission on behalf of the EU would be brought before the Court of Justice (see EUROPE 12228/4). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)