33 Amendments of João PIMENTA LOPES related to 2015/2228(INI)
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the increasing risk of poverty is closely and directly linked to the destruction of significant social functions performed by the state, as seen, for example, in the destruction of public social security systems in a number of Member States, along with cuts in key social benefits (family allowances, unemployment benefit, sickness benefits, and minimum social integration incomes), which affect many women, particularly those with dependent families who have to cope with all their household problems;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the gap between the richest and the poorest is widening in Europe, with a severe imbalance in the distribution of wealth, and whereas income distribution has a decisive impact on reducing cycles of social inequality;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas Eurostat data published in December 2015 show that 123 million citizens (24.4%) in the EU-28 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, that women were particularly affected by the risk of poverty in the EU-28 in 2014, with the rate standing at 46.6% before social transfers and 17.7% after social transfers; whereas 38.9% of the population and 48.6% of single women in the EU-28 are not in a position to cope with unexpected expenses; Source: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php/People_at_risk_of_p overty_or_social_exclusion and http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database ?node_code=ilc_li10
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas poverty and widening inequalities have worsened with the macroeconomic policies implemented by the EU and the austerity measures imposed in response to the economic crisis;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas single-parent families, especially families headed by single mothers, are at greater risk of poverty or social exclusion; whereas according to Eurostat, women accounted for 56.6% of single-parent households in the Union in 2014; whereas poverty has a strong impact on children and there is a risk of transmission of poverty over several generations effects that poverty and social exclusion have on children can last an entire lifetime and continue across future generations; whereas the educational gap between children from different socio-economic backgrounds has increased (in 11 countries, the provision of early childhood education and care to children between the ages of 0 and 3 reaches no more than 15 % coverage);
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas living at risk of poverty translateresults into social exclusion in terms ofand limited access to public transport, primary healthcare services, education, decent housing and culture, culture and public transport, as well as malnourishment and material deprivation;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas labour deregulation policies and the attack on collective bargaining are fostering an extension in working time in a number of Member States, without wage compensation, which is contributing to increased working class poverty; whereas these policies are promoting and encouraging precarious employment and the downgrading of the value of work, which has a particular impact on young people and working women, who are obliged to accept jobs with increasingly precarious conditions, often without any social protection;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas EU policies have promoted the privatisation and destruction of the network of public services and infrastructure providing care for children, the elderly and the sick, and the supply of these high-quality and free public services is now reduced or non-existent;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas women often take the responsibility for the care of elderly or ill family members as well as for children, resulting in their lower participation in the labour market, which consequently diminishes their overall income; whereas this is in addition to the fact that women are worst affected by unemployment, as well as suffering negative discrimination in relation to access to jobs – especially in the case of women who want to have children and women who are already mothers – and being particularly vulnerable to precarious employment and wage discrimination; whereas the establishment of high-quality free childcare services and facilities at affordable prices reduces the risk of impoverishment; whereas few Member States have achieved or surpassed the Barcelona objectives;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the pension gap averages 40%; whereas this pension gap, which has its origins in wage discrimination and discrimination in access to employment, precarious employment and low wages, represents an obstacle to women's economic independence and is one of the reasons why women find themselves falling below the poverty line as they grow older;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the increasing risk of poverty is closely linked to low wages, precarious employment, budget cuts in education, health, social security systems and care services; whereas women have been hardest hit by the crisis and the austerity measures taken in several European countriesimposed on a number of countries, which has increased their vulnerability both collectively and individually, exposing them to more serious exploitation and leading to poverty and marginalisation, which has also helped to fuel trafficking in women and prostitution;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the social stereotypes widely conveyed by society, which contribute to the feminisation of poverty, are promoted and fuelled by the ruling classes and reach and are reflected in the whole gamut of policies adopted in the Member States and the EU, from economic and social policy to education and cultural policy; whereas these stereotypes are developed during childhood and are reflected in the choice of training and education and on into the labour market; whereas women are still too often confined to ‘women-friendly’ tasks and remain under-represented in certain areas such as mathematics, science, engineering, and so on; whereas these stereotypes lead to discrimination in terms of recrimination;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas social inequalities and inequalities between men and women can be combated only through policies guaranteeing a better distribution of wealth, based on an increase in real wages, action to promote labour regulation and labour protection, in particular through collective bargaining and the regulation of working time, and guaranteed universal free access to high- quality public healthcare and education services;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas the Europe 2020 strategy, which seeks tois supposed to be aimed at makeing the EU a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy, entails ambitious targets, such as a 75 % employment rate and a reduction of at least 20 million in the number of people affected by or at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2020; is based on targets that are claimed to be ambitious but are in fact meaningless, such as a 75 % employment rate - which means accepting that around 25% of the working population will be unemployed and ‘unoccupied’ - and a reduction of at least 20 million in the number of people affected by or at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2020 – which means acknowledging that in this scenario, 20% of the EU population will remain in this situation; whereas in practice the Europe 2020 strategy has meant unprecedented attacks on wages and social rights through direct wage cuts, labour deregulation, the spread of precarious employment, an increase in retirement age and the abolition of restrictions on the movement of labour in the EU, and has also meant an attack on public services and the destruction of the manufacturing base in the most weakened economies;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the lack of affordablfree high- quality care, whether for children or for the sick or elderly, in particular crèches, nursery schools and long-term care facilities, contributes to the gender employment gap, the pay gap and the related pension gap; emphasises that equal access to childcare and free, high- quality childcare and education is central to securing equal opportunities and breaking poverty cycles;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Rejects the austerity policies that the Troika has imposed on a number of Member States; argues that austerity policies, like the EU’s economic governance policies, have been a decisive factor in the exponential increase in poverty, particularly among women;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on Member States to implement policies that will protect, upgrade and promote free, high-quality public services, above all in the areas of health, education, social security and justice; points out that it is crucial for public services to have the necessary financial and human resources to fulfil their objectives;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission, in close coordination with the Member States, to undertake a comprehensive and global legislative action to modernise in a coherent wayeet the needs of mothers and fathers concerning the types of leave, namely maternity, paternity, parental and carers’ leave, so as to boost women’s participation in the labour market; calls on the Member States to lay down legislation to safeguard or enhance maternity and paternity rights;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for there to be a move towards the individualisreal development and implementation of rights in social equity policy;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement policies to promote the employment of women and the integration into the labour market of socially marginalised groups of women, in the light of the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, with an emphasis on life- long learning, the development of affordable andfree high-quality public care services, flexibleadjustments to working time arrangements whenever workers – women or men – so request and measures to combat the segregation of men and women by occupation and sector;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Notes that the only way to fight poverty is through fairer distribution of wealth, better regulation of employment, higher wages, and more advanced welfare systems, to be achieved by means of, for example, collective bargaining;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that women are disproportionately and often involuntarily concentrated in precarious work; urges the Member States to consider implementinggoing beyond the International Labour Organisation (ILO) recommendations intended to reduce the scale of precarious work, such as restricting the circumstances in which precarious contracts can be used and limiting the length of time workers can be employed on such a contract;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Member States to enforce labour laws to promote employment regulation, collective bargaining, welfare provision, and fair wages; also calls on Member States to do away with legislation allowing, and serving to regulate, precarious work;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls on the Member States to develop and strengthen national workplace supervision bodies by establishing proper conditions and providing them with means, including financial and human resources, enabling them to maintain an effective presence on the ground and hence to combat job insecurity, unregulated work, and employment- and wage-related discrimination, not least from a gender equality perspective;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Expresses particular concern at the fact that workers’ organisations, and trade unions especially, are being marginalised in the wage policy debate; points out that women are particularly affected by precarious work and various forms of ‘atypical work’, such as teleworking or homeworking, and are increasingly having to contend with the phenomenon of ‘worker and career individualisation’, an approach which bolsters the more broadly based offensive against collective bargaining;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Invites the Commission to carry out an impact assessment on minimum income schemes in the EU and to consider further steps that would take into account the economic and social circumstances of each Member State as well as an assessment of whether the schemes enable households to meet basic personal needs; invites the Commission to evaluate on this basis the manner of, and the means for providing an adequate minimum income above the poverty threshold of 60% of national median income in all Member States in line with national practicpoints to the need for action at Member State level to establish a minimum income threshold, based on appropriate indicators, with a view to ensuring socio-economic cohesion, lowering the risk of unequal pay for the same activities, and traditionsreducing the poverty risk for the EU population as a whiole respecting their individual characteristics in order to support social convergence across the EU; considers that the necessary minimum income schemes must provide for at least 60% of median income in the Member State concerned;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes that people living in poverty often pay a higher unit cost compared to the better-off for the same goods and services that are essential to their social and economic survival, particularly with regard to telecommunications and, energy, and water; calls on the Member States to work closely with suppliers and operators on the development of support schemes and social pricing for the most deprived in society;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Urges the Commission to refrain from recommending reorganisation and cuts in Member States’ government departments or from promoting greater flexibility in employment or the privatisation of public services, as those approaches have unquestionably served to weaken the social rights of workers and made themselves felt more severely among women;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Recommends that Member States make visible and transparent provision in their national budgets for expenditure to combat poverty;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses that in all Member States the risk of poverty and social exclusion among children is strongly linked to their parents’ level of education, and in particular to that of their mothers, and their parents’ situation in the labour market and their social conditions; recommends that Member States ensure that all young people have access to high-quality free public education at all ages, including early childhood, with appropriate pupil- teacher ratios; stresses the need to establish a framework of support for teenage mothers, for whom leaving school early is a first step towards poverty;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes that women’s economic independence plays a crucial role in their ability to escape situations of violence; calls for the provision of social protection systems guaranteeing the social rights of women who are victims of violence in any form, be it domestic, trafficking, or prostitution;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Believes that many aspects of female poverty remain unrecognised, including for example the exclusion of women from access to culture and social participation, and therefore calls on the Member States to provide the support necessary to ensure that all women can enjoy the right to culture, sport, and leisure, giving particular attention to women living in poverty, women with a disability, and migrant women; considers that the severe material deprivation indicators relating to access to culture are inadequate and that more indicators should be developed for assessing exclusion, particularly its influence on the vicious circle of poverty;