REPORT on Equality between women and men - 2008

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (26.6.2008)

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON CULTURE AND EDUCATION (25.6.2008)

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

28.7.2008 - (2008/2047(INI))

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
Rapporteur: Iratxe García Pérez

Procedure : 2008/2047(INI)

Document stages in plenary

Document selected :

A6-0325/2008

Texts tabled :

A6-0325/2008

Debates :

PV 02/09/2008 - 14
CRE 02/09/2008 - 14

Votes :

PV 03/09/2008 - 7.8
CRE 03/09/2008 - 7.8
Explanations of votes
Explanations of votes

Texts adopted :

P6_TA(2008)0399

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION
OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS
OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON CULTURE AND EDUCATION
RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

on Equality between women and men - 2008

(2008/2047(INI))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Articles 2, 3(2) and 141 of the EC Treaty,

– having regard to Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union[1],– having regard to the report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on equality between women and men - 2008 (COM(2008)0010) ("the Commission report on equality"), and the annual reports of the former years (COM(2001)0179, COM(2002)0258, COM(2003)0098, COM(2004)0115, COM(2005)0044, COM(2006)0071 and COM(2007)0049),

– having regard to the Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010 (COM(2006)0092),

- having regard to Council Decision 2001/51/EC of 20 December 2000 establishing a Programme relating to the Community framework strategy on gender equality[2]

– having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund[3], in particular Article 16(1) thereof,

– having regard to the European Pact for Gender Equality adopted by the Brussels European Council of 23 and 24 March 2006,

– having regard to the common declaration adopted on 4 February 2005 by the ministers of the EU Member States responsible for gender equality policies,

– having regard to its resolution of 9 March 2004 on reconciling professional, family and private lives[4],

– having regard to its resolution of 24 October 2006 on women’s immigration: the role and the place of immigrant women in the European Union[5] ,

– having regard to its resolution of 26 April 2007 on the situation of women with disabilities in the European Union[6],

– having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2007 on a roadmap for equality between women and men (2006-2010)[7],

– having regard to its resolution of 19 June 2007 on a regulatory framework for measures enabling young women in the European Union to combine family life with a period of studies[8],

– having regard to its resolution of 27 September 2007 on equality between women and men in the EU - 2007[9],

– having regard to its resolution of 17 January 2008 on the role of women in industry[10],

– having regard to its resolution of 12 March 2008 on the situation of women in rural areas of the EU[11],

– having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2008 on the particular situation of women in prison and the impact of the imprisonment of parents on social and family life[12],

– having regard to the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for women and men and its opinion on gender pay gap, adopted on 22 March 2007,

– having regard to the Framework of actions on gender equality adopted by the European social partners on 22 March 2005,

– having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and the opinions of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Culture and Education (A6‑0325/2008),

A. whereas equality between women and men is a fundamental principle of the EU, recognised by the Treaty establishing the European Community and by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, whereas in spite of the significant progress made in this field, many inequalities between women and men remain,

B. whereas violence against women is a major hindrance to equality between women and men and is one of the most widespread human rights violations, knowing no geographical, economic, or social limits; whereas the number of women who are victims of violence is alarming,

C. whereas the term “violence against women” is to be understood as any act of gender-based violence which results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm to or suffering of women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or the arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life,

D. whereas trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation is an unacceptable violation of human rights and law, and is a modern form of slavery closely linked to other forms of criminality, which significantly undermines all efforts for achieving equality between women and men,

E. whereas the promotion of a flexible enterprise policy on the labour market must not focus primarily on the requirements of companies or public administrations, but must first and foremost take as its starting point the time that women and men need to be able to take seriously their respective duties within their families ,

F. whereas neither specific gender guidelines nor the equal opportunities pillar remains in the European employment strategy,

G. whereas gender gaps in employment indicate persistence of both qualitative and quantitative disparities between women and men,

H. whereas the pay gap has remained steady at 15% since 2003 and has narrowed by only one percentage point since 2000,

I. whereas sectoral and occupational segregation between women and men is not diminishing and is even increasing in certain countries,

J. whereas women's participation in decision making is a decisive indicator of equality between women and men; whereas the presence of female managers in companies and universities remains slight and the number of female politicians and researchers is rising only very slowly,

K. whereas the stereotypes which still exist with regard to the educational and occupational options available to women help to perpetuate inequalities,

L. whereas the Lisbon targets on generating growth and promoting the social market economy can be met only by making full use of the significant potential of women in the labour market,

M. whereas there is a risk of 'enforced' part-time work, particularly for women, a choice often forced on them by a lack of affordable childcare facilities,

N. whereas a number of challenges and difficulties affect women more than men, notably quality of employment, the situation of ‘helping’ spouses in areas such as agriculture or fisheries and small family businesses, health and safety at work and maternity protection, as well as their being at a higher risk of poverty,

O. whereas, for both men and women, employment rates are lower in rural areas, and, in addition, a lot of women are never active in the official labour market and, therefore, are neither registered as unemployed nor included in unemployment statistics, which leads to particular financial and legal problems in relation to the right to maternity and sick leave, the acquisition of pension rights and access to social security, as well as problems in the event of divorce; whereas rural areas are badly affected by the lack of high-quality employment opportunities,

P. whereas the conditions of some groups of women who often face several combined difficulties and risks as well as double discrimination – in particular disabled women, women with dependants, elderly women, minority and immigrant women – show signs of deterioration,

Q. whereas gaps between women and men persist in all other aspects of work quality, e.g. reconciling professional and private life, working arrangements which do not fully exploit people’s skills and in the field of health and safety at work; whereas the employment rate for women with dependent children is only 62.4%, compared with 91.4% for men; whereas women's participation in the labour market is still largely characterised by a high and increasing share of part-time work — 31.4% for women in the EU-27 in 2007 compared to only 7.8% for men - and 76.5 % of all part-time workers are women; whereas temporary employment contracts are also more common for women (15.1%, one percentage point more than for men); whereas long-term unemployment is still much more common among women (4.5%) than men (3.5%),

R. whereas the risk of falling into poverty is higher for women than for men, especially for the over-65s (21%, or 5 percentage points more than men),

S. whereas the reconciliation of professional, family and private lives remains an unresolved issue for women as well as for men,

T. whereas the social partners play an important role in defining and effectively implementing actions for gender equality at the European, national, regional, sectoral and corporate levels,

U. whereas the sharing of family and domestic duties between men and women, not least by developing the use of parental leave and paternity leave, is a precondition for promoting and achieving gender equality; and whereas not counting periods of maternity and parental leave towards aggregate working times is discriminatory and places women in a worse situation on the labour market,

V. whereas access to services for the care of children, the elderly and other dependants is essential for equal participation of women and men in the labour market, education and training,

W. whereas the Structural Funds regulations state that the Member States and the Commission shall ensure that equality between women and men and the integration of the gender perspective are promoted during the various stages of implementation of the funds,

1. Welcomes the Commission report on equality and reiterates the two-fold nature of policy on equal opportunities for women and men at EU level: on the one hand ensuring equality between women and men in all policy areas (gender mainstreaming) and, on the other hand, targeted measures to curb discrimination against women, including awareness-raising campaigns, the exchange of best practice, dialogue with citizens and public-private partnership initiatives;

2. Stresses the importance of combating violence against women to achieving equality between women and men; calls on the Member States and the Commission, therefore, to undertake concerted action in the field; urges the Commission to consider the possibility of new measures on combating violence against women;

3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to combine their efforts in fighting organised crime and trafficking networks, and to adopt and strengthen legislative, administrative, educational, social and cultural measures that discourage demand for prostitution;

4. Calls on the Commission and Council to create a clear legal basis for combating all forms of violence against women, including trafficking, and to take a decision on the full communitarisation of policies on combating trafficking in human beings and on the related topics of immigration and asylum, and specifically on a right to asylum on the grounds of gender-based repression and persecution;

5. Calls on the Member States to urgently ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings;

6. Considers overall participation of women in decision making at local, national and EU levels to be insufficient; invites the Commission, Member States and political parties, therefore, to consider action to improve the situation; notes in connection with this the positive effects of the use of electoral quotas on the representation of women;

7. Points out the correlation between participation of women in politics and decision-making and their involvement in NGOs and civil society activities; urges the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to support actions promoting that involvement;

8. Stresses the importance of women's active involvement in trade unions with tasks centred on protecting women at the workplace and granting them the rights to which they are entitled;

9. Notes the importance to women's empowerment of their control over their sexual and reproductive rights ; therefore supports measures and actions to improve women's access to sexual and reproductive health services and to raise their awareness of their rights and available services;

10. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take the necessary measures to implement gender mainstreaming in all social, employment and social security policies, in particular in the flexicurity strategy, and to combat all forms of discrimination;

11. Supports the measures promoted by the European Social Fund and the PROGRESS programme for 2007-2013, which improve the situation of women in the labour market and help eliminate discrimination;

12. Is concerned about the lack of progress as regards the gender pay gap between women and men over the last few years; urges the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to assess the strategies and actions in this area and to establish, where necessary in cooperation with the social partners, any new measures or new approaches in implementation of existing measures, to improve the situation; supports, in connection with this, the suggestion of the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities to render existing European legislation on the subject more stringent by inserting a requirement for employers to conduct wage audits and draw up action plans in order to close the pay gap; stresses the need for concerted action, especially in the context of the new cycle of the European Strategy for Growth and Jobs, and for common principles of flexicurity;

13. Is concerned about women being disadvantaged in the labour market which leads to them accumulating fewer individual rights to pensions and other social welfare payments, especially in systems where entitlement is based predominantly on an individual's record of employment contributions or earnings;

14. Calls on the Member States to support the Commission in its monitoring of the implementation of national measures to assess respect for the principle of equality, particularly as regards legal entitlements and pension and social security regimes;

15. Calls on the Community institutions and the Member States to make 22 February ‘International Equal Pay Day’;

16. Is concerned about the persistent discrepancy between women's and men's education level on the one hand, where women's performance is better than men's, and the situation in the labour market on the other hand, where women earn lower wages, are in less secure jobs and experience slower career progress than men; urges the Commission and Member States to explore the reasons for and find solutions to this situation;

17. Believes that if gender stereotypes are to be banished from the media, and egalitarian behaviour models fostered in industry and in the home, the right values will need to be inculcated through schooling, starting at an early age;

18. Urges the Commission and the Member States to take appropriate measures to tackle stereotypes at all levels of education and employment, to raise the awareness and participation of the media, civil society and the social partners in those efforts, and to emphasise the role of men in promoting equality;

19. Recommends that Member States actively promote equal treatment of pupils and take steps to combat the segregation of work still existing in the education sector, in which the percentage of women teachers at the pre-school and primary levels is well above the percentage in secondary education, a more markedly male preserve with more to offer in terms of recognition, pay and social status;

20. Proposes that the Commission consider adopting measures to encourage women to study scientific and technological subjects, so as to increase the supply of professionals in the corresponding sector and meet the manifest demand;

21. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take further measures to improve women's access to and participation in the labour market, especially in sectors such as high‑technology, research, science and engineering, in which they are still under‑represented, and to improve the quality of employment of women, in particular by means of lifelong learning and education programmes at every level; urges the Commission and Member States to make use of the European Structural Funds to achieve this;

22. demande à la Commission et aux États membres de se pencher sur la situation des conjoints aidants dans l'artisanat, le commerce, l'agriculture, la pêche et les petites entreprises familiales, du point de vue de l'égalité des genres et en tenant compte du fait que les femmes sont dans une position de vulnérabilité plus grande que les hommes; demande à la Commission de modifier sans délai la directive 86/613/CEE sur l'application du principe de l'égalité de traitement entre hommes et femmes exerçant une activité indépendante, y compris une activité agricole, ainsi que sur la protection de la maternité[13], en vue d'éliminer la discrimination indirecte, de développer une obligation positive d'égalité de traitement et d'améliorer la situation juridique des conjoints aidants;

23. Calls on the Member States to develop the legal construct of shared ownership, in order to ensure full recognition of women's rights in the agricultural sector, appropriate protection in the field of social security and recognition of their work;

24. Encourages the Member States to promote female entrepreneurship in the industrial sector and to provide financial support and vocational guidance structures for women setting up companies, as well as the appropriate training;

25. Calls on the Member States to pay particular attention to the availability of maternity facilities for self-employed women;

26. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take particular note of the situation of the increasing numbers of workers who are formally self-employed, but can in reality be categorised as 'economically dependent workers';

27. Calls on the Member States to acknowledge companies that take action to promote equality between women and men and facilitate work-life balance, in order to foster the spread of good practices in this area;

28. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to give priority to and to take particular note of more vulnerable groups of women, in particular disabled women, women with dependants, elderly women, minority and immigrant women and women prisoners, and to develop targeted measures to meet their needs;

29. Calls on the Commission and Member States to adopt and implement the necessary measures to support women with disabilities so that they may progress in those areas of social life and in the world of work, culture and politics in which they are still under-represented;

30. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote immigrant women's access to education and employment by adopting measures to combat the two-fold discrimination suffered by immigrant women in the labour market, to create favourable conditions for their access to the labour market, to balance their professional and private life, and to ensure adequate vocational training;

31. Welcomes the consultation between the Commission and the social partners aimed at improving the legislative and non-legislative frameworks for reconciling professional, family and private lives; is looking forward to an analysis of that consultation and to proposals originating from it, in particular proposals relating to maternity leave and its inclusion in aggregate working time, parental leave, paternity leave, adoption leave and care-for-dependant leave; considers, moreover, that the Framework Agreement on Parental Leave could be improved in respect of the following points: provision of incentives for fathers to take parental leave, improving the employment rights of workers who take parental leave, making the leave arrangements more flexible, increasing the duration of parental leave and pay during such leave;

32. Points out that any policy on the reconciling of work and family life must be based on the principle of free personal choice and adapted to different life cycles;

33. Calls on the Member States to put forward specific measures to combat inequalities between women and men caused by interrupted patterns of employment resulting in particular from maternity leave or leave to care for dependants, and to reduce their negative effects on careers, wages and pension entitlements;

34. Notes that reconciling work, private and family lives is one of the keys to increasing employment and calls on the Commission to gather and disseminate best practice regarding an effective work-life balance and greater involvement of men in family life;

35. Urges the Commission and the Member States to promote male involvement in the implementation of gender equality policies, especially in the field of reconciling work, private and family lives;

36. Asks the Members States and regional and local authorities to improve the availability, quality and accessibility of childcare services and care services for dependent persons in line with the Barcelona objectives, and to ensure that the availability of these services is compatible with full-time working schedules of women and men with responsibility for children and dependent persons;

37. Calls on those responsible inside firms to include flexible family policy measures in their workforce-management plan to make it easier for employees to return to work after a career break;

38. Draws the attention of the Commission and the Member States to the feminisation of poverty, at a time when women, especially elderly women and single mothers, are at risk of exclusion and poverty, and urges them to develop measures to prevent this tendency;

39. Asks the Commission and the Member States to develop training and implementation tools to allow all stakeholders to take on board in their respective areas of competence a perspective based on equal opportunities for women and men , including the assessment of the specific impact of policies on women and men;

40. Urges the Member States and regional and local authorities to ensure the effective use of existing tools, such as the manuals for mainstreaming equal chances for women and men in employment policies produced by the Commission;

41. Urges Member States to provide appropriate training in gender mainstreaming to officials responsible for implementing Community programmes at national, regional and local level;

42. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to devise a number of quantity and quality indicators, as well as gender-based statistics which are reliable, comparable and available when needed, to be used during the follow-up of the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, in order to take into account the gender dimension and to ensure the appropriate implementation and follow-up of policies;

43. Welcomes the establishment of the European Institute for Gender Equality and the appointment of the members of the Management Board which has provided the Institute with a decision-making body; is concerned, however, at the delay in recruitment of an Institute director and urges the Commission remedy the situation;

44. Asks the Commission, with the help of the European Institute for Gender Equality, to include facts and statistics from candidate and potential candidate countries in future annual reports on equality between women and men;

45. Calls on the Member States to encourage the population as a whole to play sports and lead healthy lives, bearing in mind that, where sport is concerned, women’s participation rates are lower;

46. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.

[1] OJ C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 1.
[2] OJ L 17, 19.11.2001, p.22.
[3] OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p.25.
[4] OJ C 102 E, 28.4.2004, p. 492.
[5] OJ C 313 E, 20.12.2006, p.118.
[6] OJ C 74 E, 20.3.2008, p.742.
[7] OJ C 301 E, 13.12.2007, p.56.
[8] C 146 E, 12.6.2008, p.112.
[9] Texts adopted, P6_TA(2007)0423.
[10] Texts adopted, P6_TA(2008)0019.
[11] Texts adopted, P6_TA(2008)0094.
[12] Texts adopted, P6_TA-PROV(2008)0102.
[13] JO L 359 du 19.12.1986, p. 56.

for the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

on Equality between women and men — 2008
(2008/2047(INI))

Draftswoman: Marian Harkin

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs calls on the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:

- having regard to the Work-Life Balance studies conducted by the European Foundation in Dublin, the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council of March 2000, which aimed to increase the general rate of employment in the European Union to 70% and the rate of employment of women to more than 60% by 2010, and also to the conclusions of the Stockholm European Council of March 2001, which added the interim target of 67% for the general rate of employment and 57% for the rate of employment of women by 2005,

A. whereas the Commission's report on equality between women and men, 2008,[1] suggests that, while female participation in employment has steadily increased, there remain significant challenges with regard to the quality of female employment, in particular the persistent pay gap between women and men, the continuing horizontal and vertical labour market segregation, the fragmented professional careers of women and the difficulty of reconciling professional and family life, all of which prevent equal treatment in education, during working lives and in retirement; whereas two thirds of part time jobs are held by women and women generally have more precarious employment relationships,

B. whereas neither specific gender guidelines nor the equal opportunities pillar remains in the european employment strategy,

C. whereas, consequently, the 2007 comparative review of 27 Member States and 3 EFTA States indicates that gender mainstreaming is, to a large extent, absent from employment policies,

D. whereas discrimination against women begins with access to training places, particularly in regions with high unemployment, where women have less chance of obtaining good training places and, subsequently good jobs, despite having better qualifications,

E. whereas the work-life patterns of women are characterised by truncated periods of working activity, which have an impact on the ability of women to remain in work and to make progress, make them potentially more vulnerable in the employment market and have long-term implications for pension provision,

F. whereas the flexicurity strategy raises expectations, but needs to be improved by adopting a 'phases of life' approach to employment; whereas not all Member States will attain the Barcelona targets by 2010; whereas care facilities for dependent family members other than children and the recognition of non-formal qualifications are not yet incorporated into policy strategies,

G. whereas, although the Commission's report includes comprehensive statistics on the rates of employment of women, their education and participation in decision-making and on the rates of poverty among women in the EU as compared to men, they completely lack data broken down by disability, age, sexual orientation, ethnic origin and religion, even though the situation of women who face multiple discrimination is particularly difficult,

1. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take the necessary measures to implement gender mainstreaming in all social, employment and social security policies, in particular in the flexicurity strategy, and to combat all forms of discrimination;

2. Reminds the Commission of its roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010 and calls on the Commission and the Member States to cooperate, in particular with SMEs, to ensure that specific policies are developed to achieve equal economic independence for women and men, the reconciliation of private and professional life, equal representation in decision-making, the eradication of all forms of gender-based violence and sexual harassment and the elimination of gender stereotypes;

3. Calls on the Member States to fully implement the provisions of Community legislation that require equal treatment of women and men in employment, including as regards access, working conditions, flexible working time, career development and promotion, equal pay for equal work and work of equal value, dismissal, the reversal of the burden of proof in cases of discrimination on grounds of sex, sexual harassment and the protection of pregnancy, maternity and paternity as well as in obtaining access to and the supply of affordable, quality goods and services, such as child care, care for the elderly and people with disabilities and for other dependent persons;

4. Points out that, despite the relative quantitative progress made in women's employment, data reported by the Commission show that the average disparity in the rates of employment in the EU between men and women remains high (14.4%), and is much higher for the over 55 age-group (17.8%), in some Member States the disparity being more than 30%;

5. Stresses that many of the jobs created in the EU are precarious, with fixed-term contracts, and that women are particularly affected; calls, consequently, on the Commission and the Member States to encourage the adoption of measures to combat labour precariousness; stresses that open-ended contracts remain the norm;

6. Calls on the Commission to take the measures needed for effective implementation of the Equal Pay Directive in every Member State and the achievement of the target agreed at the Barcelona European Council as regards high quality childcare; also calls on the Commission to strengthen the Parental Leave Directive;

7. Calls on the Member States to pursue the objective of equal economic independence and professional development for women and men and to support business start-up programmes and loans geared towards female entrepreneurs in all fields of activity; reminds the Commission of the Framework of Actions on Gender Equality of the Social Partners to encourage girls to consider a broad spectrum of career possibilities, mainly in technical and scientific professions;

8. Calls on the Commission and Member States, in cooperation with appropriate bodies, to develop educational and training programmes that will ensure that high educational qualifications of women will result in better jobs, better remuneration and increased career opportunities commensurate with their qualifications and training; calls on the Member States to take targeted measures to eliminate discrimination against young women in the transitional phases from education to training and training to professional career;

9. Proposes that education policies be drawn up carefully so as to avoid preconceived ideas as regards careers that are supposedly inaccessible for women, and proposes that access to management posts should be fully transparent so as to avoid discrimination on grounds of sex;

10. Stresses the importance of access to available European and national funds being geared towards projects aimed at actively including women, and invites the Commission to call on the Member States, in the context of implementing the Structural Funds, to set specific targets, in line with the horizontal goal of gender mainstreaming, for the participation of women in programmes receiving funding; calls on the Commission to consider drawing up guidelines for gender budgeting in the Structural Funds and testing them in pilot projects;

11. Supports the measures promoted by the European Social Fund and the PROGRESS programme for 2007-2013, which improve the situation of women in the employment market and help eliminate discrimination; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that all policy measures and actions aimed at improving gender equality take full account of the specific situation of women who face multiple discrimination due to disability, age, sexual orientation, ethnic origin or religion, and also of that of women who experience discrimination by association, and the parents or spouses of people who face discrimination;

12. Stresses the importance of identifying tools and adequate mechanisms for the integration of vulnerable groups among women in the employment market; also callsfor better recognition of informal learning so as to help with this process;

13. Recalls its resolution of 9 March 2004 on work, the family and private life[2] in which it invited the Commission to propose a framework directive on reconciling professional, family and private life that would, inter alia, allow complementary mechanisms to be put in place to enable women and men to share equally the care of dependent family members and would reflect the European Foundation's studies on work-life balance;

14. Notes that, as a result of changing demographics, it is estimated that, by 2030, the ratio of active to inactive people will be 2:1; calls on the Commission to support the future role of carers and also those who are obliged to withdraw from the labour market or who work under part-time contracts so that they can take on family responsibilities by developing policies that enable women and men to achieve a balance between professional, caring and family responsibilities and thus avoid job, income and pension insecurity; calls on the Member States to plan and implement social protection schemes that take account of such specific situations of women and men in the employment market;

15. Calls on the Member States to put in place mechanisms to ensure equitable treatment of women and men under pension schemes and to assess the impact of pension reforms on the lives of women;

16. Proposes that the Commission continue to consult the social partners on the approach to be adopted in Community action aimed at better reconciliation of professional, private and family life, with a view to improving and supplementing the existing framework and implementing the objectives of the Barcelona European Council;

17. Highlights the role of employers and trade union organisations in creating an equitable work organisation for women and men and the role of Member States in providing accessible and affordable quality services, the exchange of best practice in order to allow better reconciliation of professional and family life and the promotion of corporate social responsibility;

18. Stresses the importance of women's active involvement in trade unions with tasks centred on protecting women at the workplace and granting them the rights to which they are entitled;

19. Agrees with the proposal in the Framework of Actions on Gender Equality of the Social Partners for the creation of non-linear career development paths in which periods of greater professional involvement alternate with periods of greater family responsibility, as an alternative to a culture of unnecessarily long working hours for women and men;

20. Calls on the Commission to support cooperation and the development of partnerships between all the bodies involved in order to promote better reconciliation of professional, family and private life in the context of the European Alliance for Families;

21. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to devise a number of qualitative indicators to be used during the follow up of the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs which take into account the gender dimension;

22. Calls on the Commission to launch information campaigns regarding gender discrimination and to include the gender dimension in EU education programmes.

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

[1] Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Equality between women and men 2008 (COM(2008)0010).
[2] OJ C 102 E, 28.4.2004, p. 492.

for the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

on ‘Equality between women and men – 2008’
(2008/2047(INI))

Draftswoman: Maria Badia i Cutchet

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Culture and Education calls on the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:

1. Believes that if gender stereotypes are to be banished from the media and egalitarian behaviour models fostered in industry and in the home, the right values will need to be inculcated through schooling, starting at an early age;

2. Recommends that Member States actively promote equal treatment of pupils and take steps to combat the segregation of work still existing in the education sector, in which the percentage of women teachers at the preschool and primary levels is well above the percentage in secondary education, a more markedly male preserve with more to offer in terms of recognition, pay, and social status;

3. Proposes that the Commission consider adopting measures to encourage women to study scientific and technological subjects, so as to increase the supply of professionals in the corresponding sector and meet the manifest demand;

4. Calls for every form of gender-related wage discrimination to be eradicated from education, cultural, sports, and communication circles, and considers the female dominance of part-time and temporary work to give cause for concern inasmuch as it proves that reconciling work, family life, and education depends essentially on women; calls, therefore, on the Member States to improve the publicly supported network of care services for dependants and education services for children so as to enable both men and women to bring work, family life, and education more readily into balance, thereby encouraging an egalitarian distribution of familiar tasks and increasing the proportion of women engaged in lifelong learning and employed in high-level jobs;

5. Calls for steps to be taken to enable more women to serve in management bodies, especially in fields in which gender factors are preventing balanced representation;

6. Calls on the Member States to encourage the population as a whole to play sports and lead healthy lives, bearing in mind that, where sport is concerned, women’s participation rates are lower.

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE

Date adopted

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

Members present for the final vote

Jan Andersson, Edit Bauer, Iles Braghetto, Philip Bushill-Matthews, Alejandro Cercas, Ole Christensen, Derek Roland Clark, Luigi Cocilovo, Jean Louis Cottigny, Jan Cremers, Proinsias De Rossa, Richard Falbr, Carlo Fatuzzo, Ilda Figueiredo, Roger Helmer, Karin Jöns, Ona Juknevičienė, Jean Lambert, Raymond Langendries, Bernard Lehideux, Elizabeth Lynne, Thomas Mann, Maria Matsouka, Elisabeth Morin, Juan Andrés Naranjo Escobar, Csaba Őry, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Pier Antonio Panzeri, Elisabeth Schroedter, Jean Spautz, Gabriele Stauner, Ewa Tomaszewska, Gabriele Zimmer

Substitute(s) present for the final vote

Jean Marie Beaupuy, Petru Filip, Donata Gottardi, Marian Harkin, Rumiana Jeleva, Sepp Kusstatscher, Roberto Musacchio, Csaba Sógor, Patrizia Toia, Glenis Willmott

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