On Thursday 3 December, the German Minister for Family Affairs and Women, Franziska Giffey, welcomed the support of the EU27 regarding conclusions calling on the European Commission and the Member States to take action to fight against gender inequalities in care work, particularly in terms of pay.
At the end of October last year, the German Presidency of the EU Council forwarded a detailed report on the subject to national delegations (see EUROPE 12584/11).
The adopted text calls on Member States in particular to combat gender stereotypes in education affecting vocational choices and to ensure that unpaid care work is valued.
These conclusions, and the latter provision in particular, were welcomed on Friday 4 December by Eurocarers, the European network that represents informal carers.
The organisation welcomed the commitment of ministers to tackle pay inequalities in the sector, “including through improving the availability, accessibility, affordability and quality of long-term care services”.
On Thursday, Franziska Giffey spoke at the end of a videoconference of social affairs ministers, and said the text had been approved “despite some difficulties”. The divergent views of some Member States on the concept of gender equality would have made this a “complex task”.
A few days earlier, these differences had prevented the conclusions from being adopted by the Council for Culture (see EUROPE 12614/26).
Read the conclusions: https://bit.ly/3lTHGXj (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)