Brussels, 24/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has just adopted its annual report on “Equality between men and women - 2006”, which presents an overview of the main political and legislative developments in this area in 2005, outlines challenges and policy orientations for the future and draws conclusions for the Spring European Summit. A statistical annex on the relative positions of women and men in some key domains - the labour market, education, presence in decision making positions, health and reconciliation of professional and private life - completes the report. The Commission points out that, in the first quarter of this year, it is expected to adopt a communication on future developments of policies for equality between women and men in the European Union for the next five years. This roadmap for equality between women and men will identify challenges and actions of the EU to achieve gender equality through its internal and external policies. The communication will highlight the commitment and specific contribution of the EU to the process.
The report shows that the gender gap in terms of employment has narrowed with the rise in the female employment rate to 55.7% in the EU-25 in 2004. Among older workers, the employment rate for women over 55 reached 31.7% in 2004. The report recognises, however, that the segregation of the labour market had been reinforced because the main areas of growth for female employment have continued to be concentrated in activities and occupations already predominantly feminine. More than four in ten employed women work in public administration, education, health or social activities, compared with fewer than two in ten men. Another cause for concern is the persistence of the gender gap in part-time work - 32.6% of women in employment work part time, compared with 7.4% of men. Work-life balance tensions combined with stereotypes and gender-biased remuneration and evaluation systems continue to affect women's careers and perpetuate the vertical segregation of the labour market. The report says that within companies, women account for only 32% of managers, 10% of members of the board and 3% of CEOs of the larger EU companies. The pay gap between women and men remains unacceptably high and shows no sign of being closed: on average women earn 15% less than men for every hour worked.
In terms of challenges and policy orientations, the Commission calls on Member States to fully exploit the gender equality policy contribution to the European strategy for growth and employment, to promote effective reconciliation of work and private life (childcare, development of care for older people and those with disability), support gender equality through effective institutional mechanisms, guarantee the external dimension of gender equality (for example through providing appropriate technical and financial assistance to developing countries to support their efforts to integrate gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women within policies and programmes).
In conclusion, the Commission invites the European Council to urge Member States to take stock of progress in the field of gender equality and to reaffirm their commitment to mainstreaming the gender dimension in all policy fields in partnership with the social partners and civil society. Particular attention should be paid: - to reducing, with a comprehensive approach, the employment gap between women and men, especially among older workers; - to analysing and tackling the underlying causes of the gender pay gap; - to developing a comprehensive approach to promoting the reconciliation of work and private life, involving men as well as women; - to making full use of all the Structural Funds to support gender equality, ensuring both the funding of specific actions and the integration of a gender equality perspective at all stages.