Activites

• 2012/03/13 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
• 2012/03/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2012/03/05 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A7-0041/2012 summary

    The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality adopted the report by Sophia IN 'T VELD (ADLE, NL) on equality between women and men in the European Union – 2011. The report recalls that on average 3 in 10 households in the European Union are single-person households, the majority of them comprising women living alone, and that these households are more vulnerable and more at risk of poverty. It stresses that these households are more vulnerable and more at risk of poverty, in particular at times of economic adversity. Moreover, cuts in public spending are expected to have a disproportionate impact on female employment and wage difference, as many more women than men are employed in the public sector. In this context, measures should be taken to reinforce the economic independence of women and their potential to take decisions. Equal economic independence: Member States are called upon to: ensure that their marriage and divorce and matrimonial property laws do not directly or indirectly constitute a financial ‘trap’ for the spouses, in particular women, and to ensure that couples who seek marriage are fully informed in a suitable time-frame of the legal and financial implications of marriage and divorce; invest in affordable, high-quality facilities for the care of children, the sick, the disabled, the elderly and other dependent persons, making sure that they have flexible times and are accessible so that as many people as possible can combine professional and private life; ensure that men and women caring for children or the elderly receive recognition by giving them individual social security and pension rights; move towards individualised systems of social security; elaborate proposals for the mutual recognition of civil unions and of same-sex families across Europe between those countries which already have the relevant legislation in place, so as to ensure equal treatment with regard to work, free movement, taxation and social security, etc; promote women’s entrepreneurship, by setting up training and careers and legal advice services and facilitating access to public and private funding; invest current Structural Funds spending for the period 2007-2013 in the development of care services to enable both women and men to combine professional and private life. The report stresses that fiscal consolidation without consideration for gender equality risks leading to increased gender segregation in the labour market, increased precarious work among women, a wider gender pay gap, increased feminisation of poverty and more difficulties in combining caring and working. Income and high-quality gainful employment for women are the key to their economic independence and to greater equality between men and women in society as a whole. Equal pay for equal work and work of equal value: Members note that, despite countless campaigns, targets and measures in recent years, the gender pay gap remains stubbornly wide, women across the EU earn 17.5% less on average than men and there has only been a marginal reduction of the gender pay gap in the last few years. Efforts should be redoubled to put European measures in place with the aim of closing this gap. The report calls for a multifaceted strategy from European institutions, Member States and the Social Partners to tackle the full range of causes of the persistent gender pay, including a European equal pay target to reduce the pay gap by 10% in each Member State. Members are still awaiting a legislative proposal to be put forward by the Commission on this issue. Members are concerned about the legislation in some Member States which does not expressly prohibit the handing of pre-signed resignation letters to employers when women are recruited, which has the effect of enabling maternity laws to be circumvented. Equality in decision-making: Members regret that economic recovery projects still focus mainly on male-dominated employment. They call on the Member States and the Commission to give high priority to addressing barriers to women's participation in the labour market with particular emphasis on women with disabilities, migrant and ethnic minority women, etc. Once again, Members call for concrete measures to be taken to: enhance the presence of women in the renewable sector, science and technology-intensive jobs; break down stereotypes; support women in their career development and efforts to reach managerial positions (within the EU, on average only 12% of the executives of the major listed companies are women, with only 3% female chairs); propose legislation, including quotas, by 2012 to increase female representation in corporate management bodies to 30% by 2015 and to 40% by 2020; strengthen the presence of women in the 2014 European elections. The report points out that the use of electoral quotas has positive effects on women’s representation and welcomes the legislated parity systems and gender quotas introduced in France, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal and Poland. It calls on the Member States with particularly low representation of women in political assemblies to consider introducing equivalent measures. The Member States are called upon to promote female entrepreneurship and to provide financial support, vocational guidance and training to encourage women setting up their own companies. Dignity, integrity and an end to gender-based violence: Members urge the Commission to include homophobic and transphobic violence and harassment in its action programmes against gender-based violence. Welcoming efforts, both at Community and national levels, to combat violence against women (such as the European Protection Order, the Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and the legislative package to strengthen the rights of victims in the EU), Members stress that this phenomenon remains a major unresolved problem. They call on the Commission and the Member States to adopt and implement policies to combat all forms of violence against women including all sexual, physical and psychological abuse, domestic violence, harassment and the need to include the fight against gender-based violence in EU external and development cooperation policies. The report reiterates the need for the Commission to present an EU-wide strategy to end violence against women including a legislative criminal-law instrument to combat gender-based violence as requested by Parliament in several resolutions. Members also call for: the establishment of information programmes concerning harassment and mobbing at work, so that women who are subjected to such treatment can take effective counter-measures; adequate measures to be taken so that gender-based violence is treated as a public security issue and as a violation of fundamental rights rather than as a private, domestic issue by ensuring, amongst other things, access to forms of prevention, legal protection and assistance, including with regard to stalking; specific actions and resources to combat all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, sexual violence, harassment, so called honour killings, Female Genital Mutilation, forced marriages and other forms of violence and violation of individual rights; the introduction of rehabilitation and psychological programmes for perpetrators of physical abuse, which would reduce the incidence of such abuse; the enhancement of social and economic autonomy which are important preconditions for fighting against violence. Members reiterate their position on sexual and reproductive health rights and express concern in this respect about recent funding cuts to family planning and sexual education and also restrictions on access to sexual and reproductive health services in some Member States, in particular pregnancy and maternity protection and safe and legal abortion. They also express concern over the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible diseases, in particular amongst women and point out that 45% of young women and girls who are newly infected with HIV are between the ages of 15 and 24 years old. The Member States and the Commission are called upon to pay special attention to vulnerable groups of women: disabled women, women of advanced age, women with little or no training, women with dependent persons in their charge, female immigrants and women belonging to minorities, all of whom constitute specific groups on whose behalf measures adapted to their circumstances must be taken. Gender equality beyond the Union: Members call for human rights for women and the ability to use them effectively to be given the highest priority in the EU’s external policies. Whilst welcoming the Arab Spring, Members call on Commission to develop specific support measures for gender equality in those countries. The report deplores the fact that rape is still used in certain regions of the world as a weapon. They call on the European External Action Service, to include this phenomenon as a priority on its political agenda. As regards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Members call for the improvement of maternal health and reproductive health by 2015 (about 1000 women still die each day from entirely avoidable pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications). They call on Member States to uphold their political and financial support for the MDGs, despite times of economic downturn. The report welcomes the recent decision of the United Nations to create an International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, which is a powerful way to highlight the particular needs and rights of girls. Governance: Member calls on the incoming Council to reassess the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation with a view to adoption during the Danish Presidency. They call on the Council, within the on-going negotiations on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, to introduce gender-responsive budgeting in the EU budgetary process. The Commission is called upon to: put forward proposals for leave arrangements for care for elderly or sick relatives; put forward a comprehensive communication on the situation of single-person households in the EU, with policy proposals to achieve fair treatment in areas like taxation, social security, housing, healthcare, insurance and pensions; publish reliable gender-disaggregated data and qualitative gender indicators so as to be able to properly evaluate and update the Commission’s Strategy for equality between Women and Men (2010-2015) as well as to monitor the cross-cutting nature of gender equality in all policies; present a Road Map on Equality for LGBTI people, analogous to the Gender Equality Road Map; investigate the treatment of victims of human trafficking and prostitution in the Member States.

• 2012/02/27 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2011/10/27 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2011/02/11 Non-legislative basic document published
  • SEC(2011)0193 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation of the Commission Staff Working paper on Annual Report 2010 on equality between men and women.CONTENT: the report points out that, despite a general trend towards more equality in society and on the labour market, progress in eliminating gender inequalities remains slow. Meeting the employment targets in the Europe 2020 Strategy will be a challenge, and this report highlights the importance of gender equality for reaching those targets.This report takes stock of the situation for gender equality in the European Union in five significant areas in the first year of the Strategy for Equality between Women and Men (2010-2015). It points out that despite a general trend towards more equality in society and on the labour market, progress in eliminating gender inequalities remains slow. Meeting the employment targets in the Europe 2020 Strategy will be a challenge, and this report highlights the importance of gender equality for reaching those targets.Most Member States do have ongoing gender equality plans or strategies, which both support gender mainstreaming and initiate specific actions. In previous years, gender equality policies everywhere in the EU have not only improved the situation and rights of women, but have significantly contributed to economic growth and social welfare. By launching its new Strategy, the European Commission reiterates its commitment to promoting gender equality in all its policies. This report is the first annual report presented after the adoption of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Commission’s new Strategy for Equality between Women and Men (2010-2015). It describes recent developments in gender equality in the EU and presents statistics on all areas covered as well as recent new developments in the Member States. It establishes a state of play for the five priority areas of the Women’s Charter and the Strategy, namely: (1) Equal economic independence: sustained employment participation will strengthen women’s lifelong economic independence and enable them to have adequate pensions. Between 2009 and 2010 the difference between female and male employment rates narrowed by 0.4% from 13.3% to 12.9%. At national level, significant differences exist throughout the EU. Still, any positive assessment of the trend in women’s employment is offset by the fact that so many work part-time. A major reason for women’s low employment rates is the challenge of reconciling work, family and private life. The labour market participation of mothers is 11.5% lower than that of women without children, while the rate for fathers is 8.5% higher than that for men without children. In addition, poorly designed tax and benefit systems, in particular joint taxation, can - in combination with a lack of affordable and high quality childcare facilities - create strong disincentives for second earners to take up work. Providing a sufficient number of high-quality, affordable and accessible childcare is a vital step in offering parents, and especially women, a genuine choice to work. Moreover, care for the elderly and disabled is becoming a significant challenge with the ageing of the population, for society as a whole and for women in particular. Mothers often take care of both children and older relatives, sometimes at the same time. In the EU, around 30 % of women with care responsibilities say they are inactive or work part-time because of the lack of care services for children and other dependent persons.The year 2010 saw the adoption of Directive 2010/41/EC on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity. This was the first provision at EU level for a maternity allowance for self-employed workers and their spouses or life partners.(2) Equal pay: women across the EU earn 17.5% less on average than men and there has been no reduction of the gender pay gap in the last few years. Member States have fully transposed the EU legislation on equal pay but the pay gap is unlikely to be solved by legal means alone. The underlying causes remain numerous and complex, not only reflecting discrimination on the grounds of sex but also inequalities linked to education, the horizontal and vertical segregation of the labour market, the difficulty of reconciling work, family and private life, the unequal distribution of family and domestic responsibilities, the lack of pay transparency and the impact of gender roles influencing the choice of education and vocational training courses. The Council conclusions adopted under the Belgian Council Presidency on the gender pay gap are thus an important step. In its conclusions, the Council invites Member States to adopt or pursue a comprehensive set of measures to tackle the full range of causes of the gender pay gap linked to the labour market inequalities between women and men.(3) Equality in decision-making: the higher up the hierarchy, the fewer women there are. The percentage of women in key political and economic positions is roughly unchanged from last year. In 2010, the governments of three EU Member States (Germany, Finland and Slovakia) were led by women, while the average number of female members of national parliaments (single/lower houses) was 24%, one p.p. higher than in 2005. In parallel, still only 3 % of the largest publicly quoted companies have a woman chairing the highest decision-making body. Yet the majority of the population are women and their participation in decision-making can make for more targeted policies and stronger and more prosperous democracies. The business case for having women in senior positions has been boosted by independent research suggesting a correlation between companies with women in decision-making positions and good performance. It also seems that gender diversity brings a number of vital benefits to boardrooms, such as higher returns, better overall performance, better risk management and greater employment of female talents. Some countries also have corporate governance codes stressing the importance of diversity and gender equality. Corporate codes sometimes contain special transparency rules on the composition of the board. Generally speaking, countries that have introduced these types of codes also have a higher proportion of women at board level — for instance Sweden and Finland. Other measures to improve gender balance include voluntary commitments. Denmark and the Netherlands have charters to promote women in management. The United Kingdom is undertaking a review on how obstacles can be removed to allow women to make it to the boards. The Commission will establish a direct dialogue with industry and urges private companies to make special efforts to address persistent imbalances in decision-making positions.(4) Fight against sexual violence: fighting against all forms of violence against women is one of the top priorities of the current Trio of presidencies (Spain, Belgium, Hungary) and of the European Commission but there is still a lack of timely, reliable, accurate and comparable data at both national and EU level. There are several reasons why data are scarce. A recent Eurobarometer survey appears to reveal the widespread nature of domestic violence across the EU: one out of every four respondents claims to know a woman among friends or in the family circle who has been a victim of domestic violence. During the ‘Women Ministers Summit on violence against women’ organised by the Belgian Presidency, a declaration was signed in order to encourage and support further appropriate action at EU level. The Commission will in 2011 propose an ambitious but realistic package of legislative and practical measures aimed at changing attitudes towards victims and bringing them into the heart of the criminal justice system. This ‘victims’ package’ will also include measures to combat gender-based violence more effectively.(5) Gender equality beyond the Union: as part of the enlargement process, the Commission will continue to monitor the transposition, implementation and enforcement of EU legislation in the gender equality area in the candidate countries and potential candidates in 2011. Gender equality is also addressed in the accession negotiations on social policy and employment with Turkey and Iceland.Cooperation with, and the support of, civil society organisations and women’s networks working in this area remains a key objective of EU policy. Several Member States also have action plans to implement Resolution 1325. In 2010, more than 130 EU delegations in non-EU countries were actively involved in the implementation of the 2008 EU Guidelines on violence against women and girls and the combating of all forms of discrimination against them. Gender equality issues were also discussed in several human rights dialogues and consultations.UN WOMEN, the new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, became operational in January 2011 when several bodies merged to form a new, stronger gender entity, marking a milestone in UN reform. UN WOMEN amalgamates the UN’s policies and practical work in this area and will improve the promotion of effective system-wide gender mainstreaming in the UN. Cooperation between the EU and UN WOMEN boosts the promotion of gender equality outside the Union.As part of the Commission strategy to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), it adopted a Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development for the period up to 2015. The Action Plan’s overarching objective is to meet the MDG more quickly and in particular MDG 3 (‘Promoting gender equality and empowering women’) and MDG 5 (‘Improving maternal health’).Lastly, as regards governance: the new Strategy for Equality between Men and Women sets out the Commission’s work programme for incorporating gender equality into all its work and taking specific action to promote equality between women and men. It lays the foundations for cooperation with the EU institutions and the Member States. Partnership with all stakeholders at EU level has proved to be the key to progress in achieving gender equality. In line with the European Parliament’s proposal, the Strategy seeks to strengthen the partnership by holding an annual top-level Gender Equality Dialogue. Council conclusions on the new Strategy were adopted under the Belgian Presidency.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/justice/', 'title': 'Justice'}, REDING Viviane

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: SEC(2011)0193
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A7-0041/2012
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)