On Wednesday 28 January, MEPs on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) adopted (58 votes in favour, 6 against and 15 abstentions) an own-initiative report on the pay and pensions gap between women and men, calling for better evaluation and fairer pay for work in female-dominated sectors. All the compromise amendments were adopted.
The text, submitted by Irena Joveva (Renew Europe, Slovenian) on behalf of the EMPL Committee and Mirosława Nykiel (EPP, Polish) on behalf of the FEMM Committee, notes that despite a higher level of education than men in the younger generations, women are still over-represented in low-paid and under-valued sectors.
In 2023, the average hourly pay gap between women and men in the European Union increased to 12%, while the pension gap was 25.4%. These inequalities throughout their working lives make older women all the more vulnerable to poverty.
These imbalances also have economic consequences. The pay and employment gap between women and men cost the EU an estimated €390 billion in 2023, mainly due to lost income and unpaid social security contributions.
As a result, greater participation of women in the labour market could help to address labour and skills shortages and thus support European productivity.
The report also calls on the European Commission to present an ambitious new strategy for gender equality, accompanied by an action plan to eliminate the pay and pension gaps. Greater investment in work-life balance, childcare and long-term care are also advocated in the text, which identifies the unequal distribution of family responsibilities as one of the main vectors of inequality.
The report calls on the Member States to encourage greater use of parental leave by men.
The report: https://aeur.eu/f/kh4; the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/kh3 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)