Brussels, 03/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 3 March in Brussels, the European commissioner for social affairs, employment and equal opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, launched a campaign for tackling the gender pay gap (EUROPE 9852). Mr Spidla informed the press that the campaign aims to raise awareness of governments, social partners and the public so they can rectify this widespread “cultural problem”. The commissioner affirmed that “the current crisis is the best way to exploit the Union's capability to take action”. This is the time when we should be proactive, being a woman should not be a crisis adjustment variable”. The commissioner added that the role of social partners is very important in raising public awareness about these inequalities. Mr Spidla announced that this month the Commission would be publishing a study of all European and national texts on the subject. He also said that a technical seminar would take place on 19 March in Brussels on the subject of European law on equal pay.
Mr Spidla explained that the pay gap is linked to a number of complex causes which are frequently interrelated: the undervaluing of women's work, segregation in the labour market, traditions and stereotypes, and problems in balancing work and private life. The commissioner noted that the gender pay gap is the consequence of all these factors and inequalities in the labour market. He also said that women have a more limited professional choice and are often in part time work, their careers are often interrupted and are slower and shorter than those of men, which results in lower pensions than their male colleagues. Consequently, women experience poverty more often than men. The commissioner added that 60% of new university graduates are women and “a lot of women are much better qualified than the majority of men and employers should take this into account!” He explained that more men are currently losing their jobs than women.
The 2009 report on equality between women and men presented by the European Commission on Tuesday, confirms that despite some progress on gender equality, significant gaps still remain in several areas: 1) The employment rate of women has been steadily rising over the last years (now 58.3% for women against 72.5% for men), 2) Women still work part-time more often than men (31.2% for women and 7.7% for men) and 3) Women predominate in sectors where wages are lower (more than 40% of women work in health, education and public administration.
A new expert report which the Commission also presented on 3 March, “Women in European Politics - time for action” confirms that women are also highly under-represented in economic decision-making and in European politics. We therefore see that all the central banks in the 27 EU member states are led by a male governor. The proportion of women members of national parliaments has risen by around half over the last decade, from 16% in 1997 to 24% in 2008. The European Parliament is just above this figure (31% women). (G.B./transl.rh)