Activities of Cindy FRANSSEN related to 2019/2188(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Reducing inequalities with a special focus on in-work poverty (debate)
Amendments (28)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. whereas equality between women and men and non-discrimination are founding values of the European Union,as expressed in the Treaty of the European Union and the Fundamental RightsCharter;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1 a. whereas equal opportunities deriving from the above need to continue being promoted in order to reduce inequalities;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1 b. whereas gender mainstreaming is an important tool in the integration of gender equality in all EU policies, measures and actions, thus including in labour market and social policies to promote equal opportunities and combat all forms of discrimination against women;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1 c. whereas recalling the recommendations of the European Pillar of Social Rights on gender equality, equal opportunities and active support to employment;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the gender pay gap in the 28 EU Member States stands at 15.7 %, and the average gender employment gap at 11.5%, that women are more affected by flexible work forms, atypical and flexible contracts (zero-hour contracts, temporary work, part-time work, etc.) than men, and that women are more likely to experience poverty and fall into the category of the poorest workers as a result of these low- security contracts; combined with other intersectional elements such as single family household, carer for dependant parent, women with disabilities, women with low education or insufficient care services provisions;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that, following the global economic and financial crisis in 2008, in- work poverty in the EU increased from 8 % to 10 %, and that the current unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic will have even greater economic and financial consequences, which will have a direct impact in terms of increasing poverty, especially among women and the other most vulnerable groups in society, as its effects will be felt most keenly by workers in the service sector, the self- employed, temporary and seasonal workers, etc., among whom a higher proportion are women, this also in various other economic sectors which will be impacted through job losses, wage and/or working time reduction as well as through increased care services needs during the pandemic;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Stresses the importance of gender mainstreaming and tailoring the economic policy response to the COVID- 19pandemic to adapt it to the specific needs of women, to the structure of their economic activities, such as for example by boosting microfinancing for women entrepreneurs;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that, although poverty rates among women vary considerably from one Member State to another, the risk of poverty in the risk groups to which older women, single women and single mothers, homosexual, bisexual and transgender women and women with disabilities belong is the same; high, the average trend being that women are more affected than men by the risk of poverty and social exclusion (22,8% in 2018 in the EU), this combined with other intersectional risk factors such as inactivity, lack of care services provision for children and dependant family, thus observing that some specific categories are more vulnerable to poverty risks;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points out that, according to Eurostat, there are currently 64.6 million women and 57.6 million men living in poverty in the EU Member States, which shows that the impact of poverty on women and men is different, those numbers show the scale of women affected and have to be examined together with other indicators (such as age, life expectancy, income inequalities, gender pay gap, type of household, social transfers) to understand their full significance and in order to find ways to address them in each of its components;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas women in EU-27 earn 15% less than men on average8; whereas the average gender employment gap stands at 11,5% with women more affected by flexible work forms, atypical and flexible contracts (part-time work, temporary work); __________________ 8 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/he adlines/society/20200227STO73519/gende r-pay-gap-in-europe-facts-and-figures- infographic
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes with concern that poverty among women increases with age, with the gender pension gap remaining at around 39 %, representing the accumulation of various inequalities experienced throughout work life (job intensity, duration of work, gender pay gap, periods of absence from labour market), this being one of the factors behind the higher poverty faced by women in general; stresses therefore the need for awareness about consequences of women’s choices in the labour market and the importance of their economic independence to prevent from poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Stresses that in work poverty can be addressed at some of its root causes and components, such as education, training, care services which are determinant and have thus to be considered in policy making;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Points out the importance of promoting women’s empowerment through women’s education, training, life-long learning, which are of vital importance in order to fight stereotypes and combat persisting inequalities together with addressing women’s employment rate and underrepresentation in certain sectors like STEM and AI;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that female poverty is a multifaceted problem directly influenced by unequal access to property, career breaks due to the raising and care of children, caring for sick and dependent persons, and segregation in education and, subsequently, in the labour market, which means that women account for the largest share of low-paid workers, therefore in order to reduce persisting inequalities and the feminisation of poverty, actions and policies have to be promoted in various fields and steps, starting from education and training to systematically address labour market segregation;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas research8a shows that the amount a household receives from a minimum wage tends to be sufficient to protect a single adult against the risk of poverty, but it is often not sufficient to support more than one person; __________________ 8aEurofound (2020), Minimum wages in 2020: Annual review. https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publicat ions/report/2020/minimum-wages-in- 2020-annual-review
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission to come forward as soon as possible with proposals to close the gender pay gap. by championing the principle of equal pay for equal work for men and women and welcomes its commitment to take action in the recently announced Gender Equality Strategy, awaits for the proposal on a binding framework for pay transparency, with due account to the impact of COVID 19 pandemic, as well as for the other measures to tackle women’s labour market participation and to promote equal opportunities;
Amendment 91 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Urges the Commission and Member States to effectively address inequalities women face, tackling their main components thus barriers in the labour market, as well as access to affordable and quality services such as child care and long term care service;
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the EU legislation on gender equality with a direct impact on women participation in the labour market, such as the directive on work-life balance, is implemented and its progress closely monitored;
Amendment 94 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7 c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to systematically examine and address women’s in-work poverty in all its forms and causes;
Amendment 95 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 d (new)
Paragraph 7 d (new)
7 d. Calls on the Commission to prepare an EU strategy for carers, following the social impacts of the changes or loss of employment, particularly for those with caring responsibilities who are disproportionately women;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas coverage is declining in OECD countries, and in at least 14 EU Member States one in every two employees works without a wage agreement; whereas only seven Member States have a collective bargaining coverage rate above 80%16 ; whereas the decline was most rapid in those countries where collective bargaining was the target of structural reforms16a; __________________ 16OECD, Visser(2016) ICTWSS Database.https://www.etuc.org/en/docume nt/etuc-reply-first-phase-consultation- social-partners-under-article-154-tfeu- possible-action, p. 6, no 15. 16aEurofound (2020 forthcoming), Industrial Relations Flagship report.
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L d (new)
Recital L d (new)
Ld. whereas the contraction of employment during the previous crisis created a dramatic increase in the number of involuntary part-time workers who are most likely to work in basic or lower-level service occupations and sectors and who have amongst the highest in-work poverty risk-levels17a; __________________ 17aEurofound (2017), In-work poverty in the European Union. https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publicat ions/report/2017/in-work-poverty-in-the- eu
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas minimum wage systems vary widely in size, scope and coverage across Member States; whereas the minimum wage is consistently above the defined poverty threshold (60% gross median) in only three Member States and does not consistently provide protection against poverty in other and minimum wages vary widely in terms of their absolute and relative level versus median national wages; whereas minimum wage workers are more likely to have difficulties to make ends meet than other workers; whereas seven out of ten in the EU report at least ‘some’ difficulties (versus five out of ten for other workers) with large difference between EU Member States19a; whereas moreover, in some sectors, groups of workers and selected forms of work are sometimes not included or covered by minimum wage arrangements; __________________ 19aEurofound (2020), Minimum wages in 2020: Annual review. https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publicat ions/report/2020/minimum-wages-in- 2020-annual-review
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q a (new)
Recital Q a (new)
Qa. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic will have significant social and economic consequences, which will have a direct impact in terms of increasing poverty, especially among the most vulnerable groups in society, as its effects will be felt most keenly by workers in precarious positions such as temporary workers, seasonal workers, platform workers, etc. as well as in various economic sectors which will be impacted through job losses, wage and/or working time reduction during and after the pandemic; whereas 16% of workers in the EU consider that they are likely to lose their job in the near future and 40% of workers say their financial situation is now worse than before the pandemic20a; __________________ 20aEurofound (2020), Living, working and COVID-19dataset, Dublin, http://eurofound.link/covid19data
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses that in-work poverty needs to be addressed at its root causes, such as but not limited to education and training; calls on the Commission to urge Member States to invest in qualitative education and training, to share good practices and to have specific attention for life-long learning;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is convinced that the axiom that ‘work is the best remedy for poverty’ no longer applies today in the face of low- wage sectors, atypical and precarious working conditions and the dismantling of social security systems and that a poverty- free life can only be secured by effective collective agreements and minimum wage systems are needed to realise a poverty- free society;
Amendment 406 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls for measures/actions to be taken to avoid a renewed increase in involuntary part-time employment as a result of Covid-19;
Amendment 437 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Proposes to actively counter potential high unemployment through European and national employment programmes and to invest in new sustainable jobs, future-oriented infrastructure, digital change and ‘green transition’.;