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{EMPL}Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
2011/2285(INI)
{28/03/2012}28.3.2012
OPINION
of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
for the Committee on Womens Rights and Gender Equality
on the European Parliament's recommendations to the Commission on application of the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value
(2011/2285(INI))
Rapporteur: Gabriele Zimmer
(Initiative Rule 42 of the Rules of Procedure)
PA_NonLeg_art42
SUGGESTIONS
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs calls on the Committee on Womens Rights and Gender Equality, as the committee responsible:
to incorporate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:
1. Deplores the fact that the Commission has not yet responded appropriately to Parliaments resolution of 18 November 2008, or to its resolution of 10 February 2010, and has not started work on a legislative initiative, or made wide-ranging use of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All (2007) to tackle the problem of unequal pay for male and female workers effectively, given that closing the gender pay gap remains a political priority shared by all Member States and other key players at European level, as reflected in the Council Conclusions on the European Pact for gender equality for the period 2011 - 2020;
2. Emphasises that the gender pay gap principally exists as a result of stereotypes and women being seen solely from the point of view of the traditional distribution of roles; therefore calls on the Member States to promote equal pay by setting up social initiatives at both national and local level;
3. Is very concerned that in the past decade progress has only been achieved very slowly, that the wage differential between men and women has remained persistently high in recent years and that, despite the legally binding principle of equal pay for work of equal value, womens hourly earnings in the EU-27 were on average 17.5% less than mens for the same work in 2009 (up to 30% less in the private sector, equal merit and qualifications notwithstanding); is concerned at the very wide pay gap between highly qualified women and men in some Member States; stresses that women are among the sections of society worst affected by insecure employment and the social consequences of the crisis; points out that, according to the International Labour Organization report entitled Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a deeper jobs crisis, more women than men are in vulnerable employment (50.5%, as against 48.2%);
4. Considers that protection of women through flexicurity contractual arrangements enhances social cohesion in the labour market, particularly for women who become mothers or may have caring responsibilities towards the elderly; notes that womens working time arrangements should be sufficiently flexible to meet their needs and to improve their work-life balance;
5. Calls on the Member States to recognise the real added value of women in their workplaces and to create adequate conditions to improve their employability and increase their participation in the labour market, through affordable care and child-care, parental leave schemes and flexible working conditions, particularly when women return to the labour market after long periods of inactivity as a result of having children or meeting other family commitments;
6. Calls on the Commission to promote further research on flexicurity strategies in order to assess their impact on the gender pay gap and determine how these strategies can tackle gender discrimination;
7. Welcomes the Council Conclusions of 6December 2010 calling on the Member States to take wide-ranging measures to overcome the causes of this pay inequality;
8. Emphasises that the pay gap widens to womens disadvantage in proportion to the level of the position and qualifications held;
9. Points out that in some countries the pay gap widens to womens disadvantage during the most difficult times for them, i.e. when they are of child-bearing age and as they approach retirement age;
10. Stresses that the causes underlying the gender pay gap remain numerous and complex; considers that this inequality has a strong negative impact on the lives of many women, particularly after retirement age, as lower pay can result in smaller pensions and may be an explanation for the fact that a higher proportion of women than men suffer poverty in old age 22% as against 16%; stresses that in many cases the reason retired women live in poverty is that they have undertaken care tasks, as it is more common for women to take temporary or part-time employment in order to combine work with family responsibilities; therefore calls on the Commission and Member States to continue their efforts to eliminate these inequalities and ensure equal treatment of men and women in relation to pensions;
11. Considers that female workers performing jobs of similar skill, effort and responsibility to those performed by men should have equal opportunities at all ages for training, advancement, re-skilling and re-training, as well as pension rights and unemployment benefits that are equal to those applicable to men;
12. Believes that a reduction in the wage gap between women and men would have a positive impact on promoting an increase in parenthood and reducing the demographic trends which are gaining pace dramatically in the case of the eastern part of Europe and would improve the situation of women with children, particularly if they become single mothers, thereby reducing the risk of child poverty;
13. Considers that a labour market free of stereotypes could increase not just womens income, but also Member States gross domestic product; notes that, according to the findings of several studies, if female participation in the labour market were to rise to 70%, matching the male rate, this would have a highly beneficial economic impact (between 4% and 8%) on EU GDP;
14. Stresses that the failure to apply the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value undermines the Europe 2020 employment objectives; points out that the more active involvement of women on the employment market helps enhance the sustainability of insurance schemes, particularly in the light of demographic trends;
15. Notes, however, that approaches consisting of measures tackling one or another cause of the pay gap in isolation have not proved adequate for closing pay gaps between men and women effectively;
16. Emphasises that, as well as focusing on private companies and the public sector, attention should also be paid to the unequal treatment of women in family businesses and in farming, where women are not only paid less than men but often receive no payment at all; calls for steps to be taken to raise public awareness of the impact that this situation has on the unfavourable position that women are in where social security and pensions are concerned;
17. Observes that statistics must be coherent, comparable, gender-specific, complete and designed to take account of new systems of classifying and organising staff and reforming work organisation; considers that, in assessing the pay gap, not only should differences in gross hourly wages be taken into account, but also other aspects such as individual pay, contract type, supplements and bonuses, professional qualifications, personal aptitudes and skills, work organisation, professional experience and productivity, which should be measured not only in quantitative terms (hours when the worker is physically present at the workplace) but also in qualitative terms and in terms of the impact which reductions in working hours, periods of leave and absences because of care activities have on automatic pay rises;
18. Calls on the Member States to implement gender mainstreaming strategies, because gender issues overlap with child-care, tax policies and public procurement;
19. Maintains that greater female employability, especially in the top flight, could help to narrow gender pay gaps; points to the need for women to play a more active part in economic decision-taking, using their influence to bring about solutions encompassing a gender equality perspective; draws attention to studies which have found that there is a strong correlation between larger numbers of women in company management positions and higher company profits from assets, sales, and investment capital;
20. Stresses that the EU2020 Strategy explicitly sets a target of raising the employment rate for women and men aged 20-64 to 75%, which can be promoted through measures aiming to close the gender pay gap, to reinforce the training of women and to promote female entrepreneurship as part of a wider plan for economic recovery, taking into account Member States relative starting positions and national circumstances;
21. Calls on the Member States to take the necessary steps to make pay more transparent; considers that the transparency of pay systems should be developed and promoted and that employers should monitor wages cash and non-cash remuneration in relation to duties, qualifications and experience, taking gender issues into account; points out that firms remuneration policies, as well as the rules on granting allowances and bonuses, should be transparent;
22. Points out that it is up to Member States to implement the EU 2020 Strategy and that Member States are best placed to allocate their own resources in terms of effectively achieving the agreed targets;
23. Stresses the need to take measures to promote professional and career development under conditions of genuine gender equality; points out that this principle forms part of the concept of corporate social responsibility which is promoted at international and national level and needs to be developed in all the Member States;
24. Notes that the pay gap is often linked to a series of legal, social and economic factors present in modern-day society, but considers that the only way to give practical effect to the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value is to adopt policies enabling family responsibilities to be shared equally between men and women;
25. Points out that there is a need to promote standards on fair and ethical conduct towards staff, with a particular focus on an equal and transparent remuneration system;
26. Points out that family responsibilities limit womens career options; notes that women are, for that reason, over-represented in part-time work, a fact which greatly reduces the duration of gainful employment, and make up most of the workforce in the informal economy, in which they are more likely to be in precarious jobs, more vulnerable to dismissal, and not properly covered by social security systems;
27. Considers it a priority to promote a new culture of shared responsibility both in private life and at work as regards bringing up children and household management tasks, thus making it easier to reconcile family life with having a career; maintains that the option of using the child-minding, neighbourhood and care services offered by institutions should also be promoted; calls on the Member States to make the cost of these services tax-deductible;
28. Points out to the Commission and the Member States that positive measures need to be taken for women and men, not least to enable them to return to work after devoting time to their families (bringing up children and/or caring for a sick or disabled relative), and policies promoted to help them (re)integrate into the labour market and hence regain financial independence;
29. Takes the view that initiatives and measures must be taken, principally in the field of education, at every stage and at both national and European level, to combat stereotyped perceptions of female employment as being associated with subsidiary household income, which have done much to cultivate and maintain the gender pay gap;
30. Stresses the need to broaden womens career prospects and to encourage women to take up traditionally male technical and scientific occupations;
31. Considers that legislative and non-legislative measures are needed at both national and EU level to close the wage gap, to enhance female participation in male-dominated sectors and to increase the recognition of womens skills and economic performance in the workplace so as to overcome horizontal and vertical exclusion as well as prevent the stereotyping of certain occupations and sectors as being typically the realm of women; stresses that such measures should promote the involvement of women in decision-making at all levels and in all sectors and calls on the Commission and the Member States to consider a legally binding quota for the appointment of women in public and private enterprises, in particular to senior posts; deplores the fact that women with multiple disadvantages (e.g. disabled women and women with a minority or immigrant background) are even more affected by the pay gap;
32. Maintains that measures need to be taken as a matter of urgency to combat wage discrimination, be it by revising the existing directive, drawing up phased industry-wide plans with clear-cut goals such as narrowing the pay gap to 0.5% by 2020 aimed at doing away with direct and indirect forms of discrimination, or encouraging collective bargaining and the training of equality advisers, remedying the inequality between women and men in terms of unpaid work, and laying down equality plans for factories and other workplaces; believes that transparency in wage determination should become the rule, so as to strengthen the bargaining position of women workers;
33. Deplores the fact that, although Parliament endorsed the revision of Directive 92/85/EEC relating to maternity leave on 20 October 2010, the Council has still not adopted a formal position on the proposal; points out that if the female employment rate is to reach 75% and pay gaps are to be narrowed, as called for in the EU 2020 Strategy, further measures will have to be implemented to facilitate work-life balance; calls on the Member States to determine their position on these matters in order to pave the way for institutional negotiations to produce the necessary agreement;
34. Calls on the Member States to combat the undeclared employment of women, since it is not only undermining the sustainability of insurance funds but also contributing to the full deregulation of womens pay structures, causing increased poverty among women, particularly in later life;
35. Welcomes the introduction by the Commission of an EU equal pay day to highlight pay inequalities between men and women, as well as the development of software to measure the pay gap; takes the view that the Commission should continue the pay gap information and awareness-raising campaign in the 27 Member States;
36. Calls for legal proceedings defending the legally binding principle of equal pay for work of equal value to be made simpler, swifter and more accessible to employees;
37. Calls on the Member States to review wage structures in female-dominated professions and occupations as a means of breaking down gender stereotypes anchored in the pay gap problem;
38. Calls on the Member States to ensure that women have access to education, training and lifelong learning at all levels, and, with a view to combating the existing sexist stereotypes, to encourage women to pursue scientific studies and careers; stresses that a higher number of young qualified women involved in science and technology would boost Europes growth and competitiveness;
39. Calls on the Commission to seek optimum coordination between Member States under the employment guidelines with a view to applying the principle of equal pay for equal work and work of equal value; calls on the Member States to adopt extensive legally binding rules in order to implement this principle in practical terms and, where judged necessary, step up national provisions by introducing penalties on a par with those applicable to other labour law infringements such as undeclared work; emphasises that urgent action must be taken to improve the situation of women whose employment arrangements are insecure, as these women are affected particularly badly and are vulnerable in times of social and economic crisis;
40. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to oppose inequality in pay between the sexes in all EU policies and national programmes, and in particular in those geared towards the fight against poverty;
41. Stresses the need for the involvement of the social partners, which have an important role to play in pay negotiations at all levels in order to tackle unequal pay for male and female workers and to combat discrimination against women, including in connection with access to employment, pay, working conditions, career advancement and vocational training; calls, accordingly, on the Commission and the Member States to step up cooperation with the social partners;
42. Notes that the Commissions measures must be directly addressed not only to Member States and the social partners but also to equal rights agencies, womens groups, womens initiatives and community and occupational equal opportunities officials who could provide training on gender issues with special regard to the gender pay gap in particular for social partners, lawyers, judges and ombudsmen;
43. Maintains that the concept of work of equal value needs to be clarified more fully; considers that the duties serving to determine the equal value of different kinds of work should be assessed on the basis of objective criteria and non-discriminatory analysis; also believes that, when evaluating equal pay and laying down wage scales, it is necessary to factor in the individual components of the pay-packet, in particular the basic salary and fringe benefits;
44. Calls on the Member States and social partners to adopt measures against discrimination on grounds of gender, against inequalities of training between men and women and against segregation of the labour market, to promote a successful balance between work and private life and complete transparency with regard to pay, and to include these issues in legislation or collective agreements;
45. Calls on the Member States, in cooperation with the social partners, to promote gender-balanced employment policies and enforce a uniform gender-neutral job evaluation which should be applied to employers in order to close the gender pay gap and combat discrimination at work; stresses the need to strike a good work-life balance through high-quality childcare and flexible family-friendly work arrangements;
46. Maintains that the appropriate effective legal procedures are required in order to eliminate pay gaps; recognises the usefulness of labour inspections in this area and considers that judges, lawyers and labour inspectors must be given specific training and opportunities to acquire the necessary expertise in wage discrimination issues;
47. Emphasises that, for the pay gap between men and women to be reduced in practice, the measures in the European Strategy for Growth and Employment need to be implemented and support given to the exchange of best practices at Union level, whenever possible with the involvement of the social partners;
48. Takes the view that the procedures and mechanisms for defending the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and for prohibiting any and every form of gender-based discrimination need to be improved and simplified;
49. Encourages the Member States to provide adequate financial support and appropriate training to women wishing to set up businesses, with a view to fostering female entrepreneurship;
50. Reminds the Member States of their commitments regarding a review of the effect that employment and tax policies have on the pay gap;
51. Considers that, in view of the lack of progress, the Member States should give consideration to effective and, where appropriate, legislative measures and lay down penalties against employers who contravene the principle of equal pay; maintains that it should be possible, in particular, to lodge complaints on the grounds of wage discrimination; takes the view, furthermore, that the Member States should encourage businesses which take steps to encourage pay equality, in order to disseminate good practice;
to incorporate the following recommendations in the annex to its motion for a resolution:
52. Considers that a combination of strategies and measures, taking account of the gender mainstreaming principle, can eliminate the gender pay gap and should comprise the following:
(a) specific measures to make it possible to reconcile work, study, vocational education and training or re-training with family and private life through access to care services (which must be affordable, easily accessible and independent of employment status and type of employment contract), through working-time patterns that are adapted to the needs of employed people, particularly single parents, and through maternity, paternity, paternal and family leave in conjunction with the possibility of smooth reintegration into work and equal participation by women in the labour market;
(b) appropriate fiscal and social security policies and family protection measures, including measures to dismantle the significant disadvantages in retirement pensions owing to work interruptions and part-time work by parents, and gender-specific measures designed to compensate for unfair and unjustified pay differences, to enhance the quality of female employment and to provide for atypical services with regard to care within the family or its broader environment,
(c) practical measures to be implemented by the social partners and equal rights agencies (pursuant to Article 157(4) TFEU) to overcome the pay gap and exclusion at the various contractual and sectoral levels, such as obliging social partners to conclude pay agreements, to undertake regular investigations in relation to equal pay, to ensure the implementation of companies equality plans, the setting of qualitative and quantitative targets and benchmarking, and the exchange of best practice validated by the parties concerned and accompanied by accounts of the obstacles and difficulties encountered,
(d) inclusion of a clause on respect for gender equality and equal payment in public procurement contracts,
(e) adoption of measures to implement the policy of equality and equal payment for women and men by businesses;
(f) the development of a European equal pay quality certificate in cooperation with social partners and associations, which institutions, undertakings and authorities could use to advertise their compliance with specific criteria in relation to equal pay, e.g. wage transparency;
(g) a list of examples for overcoming gender and pay discrimination,
(h) information and guidelines on practical solutions for closing the pay gap,
(i) developing transparent and neutral work evaluation systems for assessing whether job descriptions and pay criteria are ensuring non-discrimination,
53. Proposes that the European Parliament should offer a Women and Business in Europe prize that could be awarded to employers (undertakings, institutions and authorities) which lead the way in promoting women, supporting female managers and practicing equal pay;
54. Considers it necessary to interpret and implement Article 157(1) and (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union appropriately and adapt the relevant directive at EU level and at the stage at which it is implemented and applied at national level;
55. Is convinced of the need for better, swifter implementation of the provisions of the relevant directive with regard to equality agencies and social dialogue in order genuinely to overcome the pay gap by means of measures to be implemented by the Member States, social partners and equality agencies;
56. In the light of the economic crisis and of demographic changes, considers equal pay for women and men for equal work and an absence of discrimination with regard to remuneration to be of major importance in terms of competitiveness, economic growth and ensuring that women in the European Union can live in dignity;
57. Maintains that workers and employers organisations and other appropriate bodies, such as government gender equality commissions, should be involved in the adoption of policies and measures under the Member States national programmes for equality at work; believes that the purpose of their involvement should be to improve understanding of, and publicise, best practices and laws aimed at promoting wider application of equal pay and to set up systems to monitor and oversee their implementation;
58. Calls on the Commission to submit to Parliament an analysis showing which legal acts at EU and/or national level would be an appropriate means of bringing about a significant reduction in the pay gap in the shortest possible time;
RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE
Date adopted27.3.2012Result of final vote+:
:
0:39
0
5Members present for the final voteRegina Bastos, Ed i t B a u e r , P h i l B e n n i o n , P e r v e n c h e B e r s , V i l i j a B l i n k e v i
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