23 Amendments of Maria ARENA related to 2014/2152(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Draws attention to the fact that the EU is facing a demographic crisis which by 2040 will result in a shortfall of 24 million inNotes that justice and social cohesion are the primary drivers for the action still to be taken to eliminate the labvariours force, creating an economic necessity toms of gender inequality; draws attention to the fact that further include womesion in the labour market; emphasises that increasing women’s employment rate to the level of men’s employment would reduce the labour force shortfall to 3 mill of women, who represent 60% of graduates, would make it possible to respond to the economic and demographic challenges faced by the European Union;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Draws attention to the fact that the EU is facing a demographic crisis which by 2040 will result in a shortfall of 24 million in the labour force, creating an economic necessity to further include women in the labour market; emphasises that increasing women’s employment rate to the level of men’s employment would reduce the labour force shortfall to 3 million; supports the promotion of women's entrepreneurial initiatives.
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Takes the view that gender equality is a necessary condition for meeting the Europe 2020 strategy’s 75 % employment rate target and is crucial for maintaining sustainable pension systems; stresses that an increase in the employment rate should be associated with high-quality jobs, so as to contribute to the achievement of the Europe 2020 strategy’s objective of reducing poverty; and considers that the achievement of the Europe 2020 objectives will not be possible unless they are taken into account in all aspects of the European semester;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Highlights that while the differences between the employment and pay rates of men and women may have reduced slightly in recent years, this is not the result of an improvement in the position of women, but of the fact that men’s employment rates and levels of pay have fallen during the economic crisis;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Considers that the austerity measures which have imposed budget reductions in public services have had a twofold negative effect on women, in that women hold a significant proportion of public service jobs and that the reduction in public services has an adverse effect on their inclusion in the labour market; highlights in particular that the impact of cutbacks in public services for childcare and care for the elderly is most likely to be borne by women;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that economic growth and competitiveness in the EU are dependent on closing the gap between women’s educational attainment and their participation and position in the labour market; reminds the Commission that men are over-represented in ‘green’ jobs while women are over-represented in ‘white coat’ jobs (in health and social care), both identified as priority sectors in its October 2013 Employment Package, and also reminds the Commission of the need to pay particular attention to this in helping to combat horizontal discrimination in the labour market;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that economic growth and competitiveness in the EU are dependent on closing the gap between women’'s educational attainment and their participation and position in the labour market; calls on the Member States to guarantee adequate social security and to ensure that social services are made more accessible for women, single mothers, because they are the most vulnerable in the labour market and highlights that women are at a greater risk for poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Underlines the importance of STEM studies as well as the involvement of women in high growth industry sectors like Research & Development, as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT); a study on women active in the ICT1 a sector published by the European Commission in October 2013, found that allowing more women to enter the digital jobs market can create an annual € 9 billion GDP boost in the EU area; stresses that we are also facing an alarming drop in ICT female graduates (today only 29 out of every 1000 female graduate have a computing or related degree); __________________ 1a Women active in the ICT sector study by the European Commission in October 2013 - http://europa.eu/rapid/press- release_IP-13-905_en.htm
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission to propose clear measures in its new gender equality strategy to combat sexual harassment at the workplace more efficiently;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the European Commission and Member States to introduce compulsory paid paternity leave of a minimum of ten working days and to give priority to legislative and other measures which enable men, and fathers in particular, to exercise their right to reconcile their private and working lives, including promoting non-transferable parental leave, to be taken equally by both men and women during the early years;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Member States to safeguard their maternity entitlements, to take measures to prevent the unfair dismissal of employees during pregnancy and to protect women and men with care responsibilities from unfair dismissal; calls also on the Council to speed up the adoption of the directive concerning the implementation of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of pregnant workers, workers who have recently given birth and women who are breastfeeding;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Also considers that there is an urgent need for a common position of the Council relative to the revision of the directive on the implementation of measures to promote improvements in the health and safety at work of pregnant workers, workers who have recently given birth and women who are breastfeeding;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Stresses that without European legislation on paternity leave, amendments on maternity leave and reinforcement of the public services which support women’s inclusion in the labour market, the EU will not be able to respond to the demographic crisis which by 2040 will result in a shortfall of 24 million in the labour force; emphasises that increasing women’s employment rate to the level of men’s employment would reduce the labour force shortfall to 3 million;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that the feminisation of poverty is the result of factors including women’s career breaks, the gender pay gap, the pension gap and poverty in households headed by single mothers, and that the reduction of poverty levels by 20 million by 2020 can be achieved by anti-poverty policies that are grounded in gender mainstreamingfact that they are often employed on non-standard contracts (such as involuntary part-time, temporary work, interim or zero hours contracts) and the absence of a social security status for partners assisting self-employed workers, leading to the gender pay gap, the pension gap and poverty in households headed by single mothers, and that the reduction of poverty levels by 20 million by 2020 can be achieved by anti-poverty policies that are grounded in gender mainstreaming; stresses that there is a continuing gender pay gap even for contracts of the same type and that the proper implementation by Member States of the directive against employment discrimination is key to the resolution of this problem;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that the feminisation of poverty is the result of factors including women’s career breaks, the gender pay gap, the pension gap and poverty in households headed by single mothers, and that the reduction of poverty levels by 20 million by 2020 can be achieved by anti-poverty policies that are grounded in gender mainstreaming. In particular, older women suffer high rates of poverty because many of them have not worked outside the home long enough to have a decent pension; it is therefore necessary to increase the amount of non-contributory pensions;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Welcomes the change in the burden of proof in Directive 2006/54/EC in favour of women who are presumed in legal proceedings to be the victims of sexual discrimination, but wishes to stress that this provision will not be effective unless there is a recognised right for such women to access information held by employers, as proposed by the European Commission for Directive 97/80/EC on the burden of proof in cases of discrimination based on sex, but ultimately not adopted;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the need for transparency and greater gender balance in recruitment for decision-making positions; and considers that there is an urgent need for the Parliament and Council to reach an agreement on the presence of women on the boards of companies listed on stock exchanges;
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on Member States to make full use of the instruments provided in the new public procurement directive by using gender equality on company boards as a selection criterion when running procurement exercises with companies listed on stock exchanges;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Highlights the high levels of undeclared work which negatively impact on women’s social security and the EU’s GDP levels; calls for the creation of incentives for employers and waffect a large proportion of women, particularly those in domestic employment, and which negatively impact on women’s social security and the EU’s GDP levels; and considers it essential in this respect that all Member States should be required to participate in all the activities of the future European platform in orkders to move from the informal to the formal economy.strengthen cooperation for the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work;
Amendment 106 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Highlights the need to recognize public procurement as the potential tool to enhance social inclusion policies, takes the view that public procurement should be used as an instrument to advance gender equality by considering to set requirements on anti-discrimination and gender quality criteria as prerequisites for public procurement contracts where applicable;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls on Member States to step up their efforts to combat undeclared employment and precarious work, including 'mini jobs' and false part-time jobs, and to ensure that all workers enjoy appropriate social protection; deplores, furthermore, the abuse of non‑standard employment contracts in order to avoid having to comply with employment and social protection obligations.
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Considers that policies and instruments aimed at tackling youth unemployment, such as the Youth Guarantee and the Youth Employment Initiative, should meet the specific needs of young men and women in order to enable them to access the labour market; and notes that the proportion of young women not in employment, education or training (NEET) is higher than that of men;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26b. Recognising the importance of sexual and reproductive rights, calls on the Commission to create best practice models of sex and relationship education for young people across Europe.