Verbatim report of proceedings

Thursday, 24 May 2012 - Strasbourg

5. Equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value (debate)

  President. – The first item is the report by Edit Bauer, on behalf of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, on application of the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value (2011(2285(ΙΝΙ)) (A7-0160/2012).

  Edit Bauer, rapporteur. − Madam President, we can all agree that the gender pay gap should be closed. The question is how?

Back on 8 March 2010, 10 young female members of the European Parliament requested a legislative initiative report on equal pay for equal work, pursuant to Rule 42 of the Rules of Procedure. Under this rule, Parliament may request the Commission to submit a proposal for a new act or to amend the old one. There is a new legal basis here: Article 157 of the Lisbon Treaty and the secondary legislation in force.

Directive 2006/54 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation – the so-called Recast Directive – replaced Directive 75/117 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women. Even though the deadline for transposition of the Recast Directive was in 2008, legal experts are of the opinion that only small or no profound changes have been made in Member States’ legislation, and that no sanctions have been taken against employers under the directive’s provisions.

There is only slow progress. The gender pay gap is currently 16.4% – varying from 4.5% up to 25.5% in individual Member States – yet legislation has been in force for almost 40 years. It is obviously not efficient.

The question is what to do with an inefficient piece of legislation? We are aware that legislation itself is not enough to tackle the issue, but experience shows that legislation can be improved and better enforced. The gender pay gap is a complex and multifaceted issue with multiple causes, including social and economic factors, such as occupational and sectoral segregation in the labour market, the undervaluing of women’s work, an imbalance between work and private life, and traditions and stereotypes such as the choice of educational paths and employment patterns, to mention only some of them. The explanations account for only half the difference: the remainder is considered as a difference caused by direct and indirect discrimination.

What is more, statistics show that the gender pay gap is apparent after women’s return to the labour market following the birth of a first child, and that it grows with age, because of career breaks, but also with educational level. For these reasons, the answer has to be holistic and multi-level. It has to combine legislative and non-legislative measures, both of which are essential.

Our aim in this report was to identify those areas in legislation where improvement can be made. Since the Commission has an obligation under Article 32 of the Recast Directive to review the directive and, if appropriate, to propose amendments in 2013, we call on the Commission to address the unjust discrimination against women and to make the legislation on diminishing the gender pay gap more effective. Improvements based on the best practices of various Member States are also requested in selected areas. Equal work or work of equal value has to be regarded equally whether it is done by men or women. No excuse can be acceptable.

  Janez Potočnik, Member of the Commission. − Madam President, it is a nice day and we start with an important topic. Gender equality is a fundamental right enshrined in the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, but it is also a prerequisite for economic growth, social inclusion and well-being in our societies. The most recent figures indicate that the gender pay gap in the European Union decreased by 1.2% between 2007 and 2010, from 17.6% to 16.4%. However, the situation is very different from one Member State to another, and in some the gap is still widening.

The gender pay gap is also an expression of how our pool of well-educated and highly-skilled women is under-exploited. This is an untapped potential for the European Union economy that is needed especially at a time when human capital is the key factor for our future and for competitiveness.

With today’s debate and the subsequent vote, the European Parliament will take a position on an important issue. On behalf of Vice-President Reding, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Edit Bauer, for her efforts and also for her excellent work over the last years on this issue. I would also like to thank all Members of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality for their support.

The Commission is determined to further promote gender equality. Equal pay is one of the Commission priorities set out in its strategy for equality between women and men for 2010-2015. As you know, the principle of equal pay is enshrined in the Treaty and also in Directive 2006/54/EC on equal treatment of women and men in employment and occupation.

Some of our priorities for the coming years will be to monitor the correct application and enforcement of the equal pay provisions of the directive, and to support Member States and other stakeholders with a proper enforcement and application of the existing rules. The Commission plans to publish a report on the implementation of the 2006 Equal Opportunities Directive next year (2013).

In addition, enhanced transparency on the issue will be crucial in the coming years. As mentioned in your report, awareness-raising campaigns to keep employees and stakeholders informed regarding the existence and risk of the gender pay gap can play an important role. The European gender pay gap information campaign which we launched in 2009 is already a good example. This campaign has created a real partnership amongst social partners – ministries for employment, social affairs and equality, NGOs in the field of gender equality, and both private and public recruitment agencies who have acted as multipliers of the campaign messages. My colleague would like to explore this potential further in the future.

In addition, on 2 March this year we held the second European Equal Pay Day. This day is fixed each year on the date corresponding to the extra days that women are required to work in Europe in order to earn the same salary as a man during a full year of work. You might have seen advertising in national newspapers and our web clip highlighting the absurdity of pay inequalities between women and men.

As highlighted in the report, employers are key actors in tackling the gender pay gap. For this reason, the Commission has recently launched an initiative to raise companies’ awareness of the gender pay gap and of its causes and consequences, and to support businesses in their efforts to tackle it. The initiative will promote training activities and support the exchange of good practices on the business case for gender equality. These activities are also open to organisations that facilitate training and dissemination of messages, such as business organisations, social partners and others. We are also following closely the pilot projects launched in some Member States.

Your report also mentions the need to improve the quality of statistics. Eurostat constantly encourages the Member States to provide their national data in a timely manner. Eurostat has recently introduced a new breakdown which should show the impact of the type of contracts, part-time in comparison to full-time, in the gender pay gap. Preliminary data are now also available on the Eurostat website. Amongst other things, the Commission is further exploring the impact of part-time work and fixed-term contracts on equal pay.

Finally, with our exchange of good practices programme on gender equality, we are working to foster closer coordination among Member States. In this framework the Commission organised in Germany in December 2011 an exchange of views on instruments to tackle the gender pay gap. Representatives from several Member States participated. I would like to thank you again for speaking up in order to address this truly important question.

  Mariya Nedelcheva, on behalf of the PPE Group. – (FR) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to begin by congratulating and thanking Ms Bauer for the work she has done on this report.

I shall get straight to the point. The report that we are about to adopt is not only important, but is also relevant, because it raises the issue of the discrimination suffered by women in their daily lives. In 2012, it is unacceptable that, more than half a century after we adopted a legislative framework on this matter, the average pay gap in Europe stands at 17%.

First of all, and we should not be afraid to say it, what we clearly need is strong political will at both European and national levels to ensure that this legislation is implemented. In other words, we should strive, in every possible way, to promote gender equality and respect for the rights of women, as much at legislative level as at the level of public awareness and information, so that we can break down those gender stereotypes which continue to prevent women from fulfilling their full potential.

Secondly, Commissioner, you are quite right: we must encourage social partners to create a more inclusive wage structure to enable women to participate actively in pay negotiations. By measures such as these, we can strengthen the presence of women in senior posts and in the social partnership structure. Furthermore, when women are involved, they ensure that economic decision making includes a gender equality perspective, thus creating a virtuous circle which opens the door to greater equality.

Finally, we must enhance the mandate of equality promotion and monitoring bodies so that they can act effectively to guarantee genuine oversight of the application of the legislative framework at European and national levels.

I therefore call on all of you to vote in favour of this report because it is high time that we eliminated gender inequalities and acted on what we say and write.

  Britta Thomsen, on behalf of the S&D Group. – (DA) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today we are going to vote on a very important report that could be of decisive significance for one of the major equality problems in the EU, namely the lack of equal pay between men and women. Equal pay for equal work or for work of the same value has been an abiding principle of the EU’s values since the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Despite this, there still exists a pay gap of nearly 17% between men and women. By and large, there has been no progress in this area – and in some countries it is even getting worse. That is why today we are strongly urging the Commission to revise the 2006 equality directive. We are doing so because it is clear that it is not working.

There are a number of reasons for the lack of equal pay. Historically speaking, jobs typically performed by women have not been as well paid as traditionally male jobs. We also see a sharp drop in pay in professions where more than 30% of workers are women. It is as if being a woman is in itself a disqualification in the labour market.

In Portugal a survey was recently carried out in a supermarket which showed that the men in the butchery section were being paid more than the women in the fish section. The tasks that they performed were assessed as being of equal value, since the skills required to do the two types of jobs were the same. The pay gap was due entirely to the difference in gender. The solution was to give the women a pay rise and to end the sex segregation between the sections, so that now both men and women work in both sections.

This example shows why it is so important that we get a definition of what work of equal value is if we are to do anything about unequal pay. However, this requires all parties to be committed to this – commitment on the part of the EU, but also on the part of national governments, trade unions and employers. It cannot be a one-off problem when there are such clear pay gaps. It is a social problem that is down to structural and historical causes, and stereotypical ideas of men’s and women’s roles in the labour market. Let us break down this barrier, so that the EU can genuinely live up to the provisions of the Treaty concerning equal pay for equal work or for work of the same value – provisions that have now been in existence for more than 40 years.

  Siiri Oviir, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – (ET) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we no longer live in the Middle Ages, but being born a woman still leads to injustice. We make up half – even more than half – of society, but we have nonetheless put up with this injustice. Today the issue is wage differences. Despite the profusion of legislation over nearly forty years and measures undertaken to reduce wage differences, the wage difference between men and women remains – no significant shift has taken place. Words have not become deeds.

Here I would like to commend the rapporteur, Ms Bauer, for her determination. She was also the initiator of a similar report that was adopted in 2008. Unfortunately the Commission has not reacted in the necessary way to what is contained in this report. Today the situation has changed in a legal sense. The Treaty of Lisbon gives Parliament a stronger legal mandate, and we also intend to use that. The priority of the report is not the elimination of the horizontal wage gap. Having defined our aim as the elimination of different wages for men and women for equal or equivalent work, we have also taken a big step towards eliminating the horizontal wage gap.

In order to reach our goal, we must ensure that objective work evaluation and job classification instruments are adopted in each Member State, that regular pay audits are performed, and that their results are available to workers. Here I once again call upon my colleagues to consider whether it is legally proportional in the context of this topic to resist the disclosure of wages and bonuses by appealing to the Data Protection Act.

The members of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe are convinced of the need to implement legislation more effectively and more rapidly, and to eliminate gender inequality in wage policy. Thank you.

  Franziska Katharina Brantner, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – (DE) Madam President, as women, we have been campaigning for equal pay for equal work since the Treaties of Rome were signed in 1957. The wording was changed in the Treaty of Amsterdam of 1999 to ‘of equal value’, in other words the same pay for work of equal value. A very good report was presented to this House in 2008, calling on the Commission to present new legislative proposals that would finally reduce the wage gap. Nothing has happened between then and 2012, except for a number of glossy brochures from the Commission, while the wage gap still remains 17 % on average, with 21 % in Germany, a trend that is rising in some countries. I find it unacceptable for the Commission to sit back and say: we are going to publish a few more glossy brochures and launch yet another campaign. We have seen over the last 50 years that this does not work. We do not need more glossy brochures, but rather further measures, including legal measures.

There are many reasons for the wage gap. Many of these cannot be remedied at European level. Some, however, can be influenced on a Europe-wide basis and it is these that we should be pushing in order to reduce the difference in the various Member States.

The first point is transparency. However, this does not mean transparency in the sense of glossy brochures, but rather transparency in the sense of the spread of wages within businesses. Models do exist for this. In Switzerland, anonymised data in which no names are mentioned show the spread of wages within enterprises. Any business in Switzerland that fails to disclose this information will find itself excluded from bidding for public contracts. Here we have an example where it is made clear how transparency can lead to less wage inequality. We should apply this right to transparency to the whole of Europe.

My second point concerns the issue of sanctions. In various EU Member States it is still the case that the penalties a company has to pay when sued by a woman are less than its previous savings. That is absolutely the wrong incentive. What we need to tell companies is that if they are guilty of discrimination, they will find themselves having to pay a hefty fine.

One final point: the implementation of the equal value issue. We need much better guidance and regulations if this law is to become a reality.

I hope that the Commission will not respond with just another monologue. By the way, I think it is a shame that Ms Reding is not present this morning. We do not just want a quota that will help high-flying women; we should also aim to assist all those women, who are in the majority, who suffer from unequal pay.

  Andrea Češková, on behalf of the ECR Group. – (CS) Madam President, we must also promote the principle of gender equality on the labour market. According to the latest statistics, the pay gap between men and women averages 16.4%, although it cannot be said generally that men earn more than women. It is a highly complex topic, with numerous underlying causes and reasons.

Ms Bauer’s report has sent out a very good signal here. The multifaceted and multi-layered approach of Member States to this issue is important. A legislative amendment may be an important component, but experience shows that this step is not enough by itself. We must continue to pay attention to this issue, and change the deeply engrained attitudes to the question of pay, for example.

I welcome the existence of pilot projects, for example, which are good instruments for creating enhanced transparency and monitoring. It is true that this problem cannot be properly grasped without reliable statistics. We need statistical data and we need to evaluate the differences between sectors and various other factors. We must also take account of the business activities of individual firms. Imposing sanctions on firms that are not really performing well economically is, in my view, counterproductive. It is also not possible to impose sanctions on firms until we have clear rules for measuring jobs that are equal and of the same value, and until we can compare these jobs. I see the good intentions behind the development of instruments that will evaluate work objectively and thus render it comparable, but can we really find such instruments? I am rather sceptical about this, and I think it is very difficult.

A tabular evaluation based on valid classifications may be applied in the public sector, but it will be hard to dictate to private firms. When setting levels of pay and remuneration, businesses also take account of the individual contribution of each employee. We must not overlook the individual abilities and accomplishments of each employee, which cannot be measured objectively, but which currently play a substantial role in the selection of candidates and the level of their pay.

Perhaps we should focus more on aspects that create the same working conditions and preconditions for women. I would like to say that one of the main problems and causes of differences in pay is that women interrupt their careers or reduce their working hours due to the need to balance family life and child care, or professional life and child care. I am therefore pleased that this issue has become a major debate, because it enables us to draw attention to other pressing issues and aspects of these issues. I would like to thank the rapporteur for her efforts, and everyone else for their contribution. I look forward to the Commission’s assessment.

  Inês Cristina Zuber, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group. – (PT) Madam President, despite the introduction of legislation, and national, EU and international guidelines, there is still a problem of wage discrimination and it is becoming worse. Women receive 16.4% less than men in the EU, and the wage gap is increasing. This report seeks to tackle this issue once again and, although we would like to make some comments, we agree with it and believe that it is generally positive.

At present, one of the labour rights that has been under greatest attack as part of the labour reforms across Europe is the principle of collective agreement, which is one of the most important ways of protecting female workers from wage discrimination. It should therefore have been given a more prominent role within this report. Moreover, in view of the trend towards greater precariousness in labour policy, we refuse to support measures that insist on making labour relations even more flexible.

One of the aspects of this report that we value highest is the fact that it advocates sanctions for employers that do not comply with the principle of equal pay. We do not, however, take the view that employers discriminate against women in terms of pay because they are ignorant of equality, or because they are absent-minded. When an employer has a policy of discriminating against women, it is rational, intentional and deliberate. The higher the level of wage discrimination, the lower women’s pay, and the higher the profits of the employers. Only by applying sanctions that are more expensive for the employers than getting rid of wage discrimination can they be deterred from this illegal practice.

Finally, we cannot neglect to say that so-called austerity policies will not help to realise the right to equal pay, as they destroy jobs and reduce wages, thereby putting enormous pressure on workers to accept low wages; rather, they will merely sideline, trivialise and destroy equal pay altogether.

  Gabriele Zimmer, rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. – (DE) Madam President, on behalf of my Committee, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, I would like to underline that, during our work on the draft, we were very critical of the fact that since 2008 all the Commission has presented is a study of changes to the situation as regards unequal pay for men and women and that we are very dissatisfied with this situation and refuse to accept it. Despite the formal equality of men and women, material equality is still very far off. The figures we have heard mentioned and the figures previously provided by the Commission should also be questioned by us, as even the slight decrease is mainly the result of different figures or changes in statistics, in particular with reference to the situation in Poland, where no such data existed in the past. Accordingly, this situation should be investigated once again.

We would point out that equal pay will remain an illusion in future too if the causes of wage inequality, such as discrimination, the segregation of the labour market and a lack of child care, are not remedied. We wish to see this anchored in the Bauer report in particular. Accordingly we, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, support the Bauer report and hope that we will adopt it in Parliament today.

  Joanna Katarzyna Skrzydlewska (PPE). – (PL) Madam President, equal pay for women and men for the same work is a goal that we must finally achieve in order to place women and men on an equal footing in the labour market, to reduce poverty among retired women and to reflect social justice. This is particularly important because the pay gap widens during the most difficult times in women’s lives – when they are raising young children and when they are approaching retirement. I glad to see that the Bauer report lists good practices which are currently followed in certain countries, since recognition of these practices at European level will help to make them more widespread. What is more, the report contains a list of recommendations aimed at improving legislation on pay inequality. I am referring here to the provision which calls on the European Commission to provide a better definition of direct and indirect discrimination and the pay gap when revising the directive.

It is also extremely significant that the report calls on employers to ensure greater transparency on pay, at the same time as complying with provisions on personal data protection. It is also vital that the Member States should be obliged to introduce penalties for employers who do not observe equal pay rules, in the form of compensation for workers who have suffered discrimination, and also administrative fines and ineligibility for public funding. I hope as well that by 2013 the European Commission will be able to justify the poor outcomes achieved for the directive’s provisions on equal treatment for women and men in respect of pay, and that it will propose concrete measures which take account of Parliament’s recommendations.

  Iratxe García Pérez (S&D). – (ES) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, this is not the first time we have dealt with the issue of the gender pay gap in this House. Unfortunately, we are talking about a figure that remains stable and which we are incapable of lowering, and we are also talking about the fact that we live in an unequal society where women do not start out on an equal footing in the labour market and many other areas.

I therefore believe that we must now once again reiterate, repeat and demand that all the European institutions implement the necessary measures to put an end to a situation which should be very difficult for any of us to explain.

In my view, this report refers to the fundamental issues of why women earn less: their careers are interrupted when starting a new job or having to combine family life and working life, and there are categories in which women are under-represented.

There is another vital issue I think we should bear in mind and address openly. If Parliament votes today in favour of instruments such as the role of social partners and collective agreements, we will not be able to allow governments, such as the government of Spain, to use labour reform as a way of abolishing employment legislation and the rights of all workers.

Therefore, we cannot allow this crisis and these conservative governments to further worsen women’s situation in the labour market.

  Antonyia Parvanova (ALDE). – Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, I very much welcome the report on equal pay for male and female workers and would like to congratulate Mrs Bauer for the great work accomplished. Despite having extensive equal pay legislation for over fifty years, the gender pay gap has only marginally reduced, and this provides a clear indication that legislation needs to be improved with a view to eradicating the still existing stereotypes about the role of women in the labour market. These stereotypes contribute to occupational segregation, the undervaluing of women’s work and the rising phenomenon of poverty among women.

Also, in order to achieve tangible results, it is of the utmost important to support concrete policy initiatives which improve wage transparency, impose stricter sanctions on employers for non-compliance with equal pay legislation, and empower those suffering from wage discrimination to take their cases to court and seek a remedy.

It is high time we took action to achieve concrete results in practice, and not only on paper, by addressing one of the most persistent and rigid problems in the field of gender equality.

  Ana Miranda (Verts/ALE). – (PT) Madam President, Commissioner, congratulations to the rapporteur. Equal pay for equal work is what many European women want, and is vital to ensuring dignity and social justice. The goal of equal pay cannot be achieved as long as direct and indirect discrimination still exist. The goal of parity cannot be achieved as long as there is still a segregated labour market and an imbalance between private and professional life. Although statistics are thin on the ground, there is evidence: a proven 17% difference. We need positive legislative and educational measures, along with sanctions for collective redress and legal action to identify publicly companies that fail to comply. Women are hardest hit by the crisis and, as my colleague said, their situation is being exacerbated by many conservative governments. We should combat this state of affairs using a large number of legislative measures.

  Marina Yannakoudakis (ECR). – Madam President, women must have equal pay for work of equal value. Women must have equal opportunity in the workplace. Equality for all is a basic human right: there is no denying this. However, with a heavy heart, I shall be voting against this report.

I fully support the principles of equality for women in all fields, but this report calls on the Commission to legislate on equal pay and to reinforce this legislation with sanctions. The EU likes to transform noble intentions into legislation, which then becomes an albatross around the neck of businesses. Just look at the Working Time Directive or the Agency Workers’ Directive. Legislation is bad for business and bad for women. It may even ultimately harm women’s employment opportunities.

In the UK we have realised that change will not happen by telling companies how to run their businesses. We can close the gender pay gap only when firms themselves realise the benefits. The British Government’s ‘Think, Act, Report’ programme is a voluntary approach to improve the transfer of pay. Initiatives such as this have proved to work well. EU legislation is not welcome in the fields of employment, pensions or social services, however good the intentions may be. The EU can play a positive role by sharing best practice.

I welcome this report and I welcome the debate, but legislation crosses a red line. I congratulate the rapporteur on her report.

  Christa Klaß (PPE). – (DE) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, legal provisions already exist in Europe. EU legal provisions aiming to reduce the wage gap between men and women have been in place since 1975. Nonetheless, on average women earn 16.4 % less than men at present in the EU. This raises the question: have we missed our target?

This income inequality becomes even greater when we consider pensions. As we all know, poverty among older people affects women particularly hard. The logic is simple: lower wages generate a lower pension and less valued work generates lower wages. Raising children, family and care impact on working lives, particularly among women. Yet this work is not paid in euros and cents. It is not given equal value. I would argue, however, that family and community work is more valuable to society than many a job based in an air-conditioned office. I am certain of one thing: if more men were to work in the social professions, this situation would improve. We need to continue to work for equal pay for equal work if we are serious about wanting equality between the sexes.

Ms Bauer’s report is a very good way to draw attention once again to these abuses. We know that the problem of the pay differential cannot be remedied through legislation alone. Social attitudes need to change and we need to abandon the long outdated life patterns associated with men and women. We need to draw attention again and again to this issue. Employers, employees and citizens should be made more aware of this problem. Simply awarding a prize to employers is not going to change this situation.

  Joanna Senyszyn (S&D). – (PL) Madam President, workers must receive the same pay for the same work. Unequal pay cannot be tolerated on any basis, including race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religion or gender. Although women are statistically more likely to have a higher level of education and thus be better qualified, they earn less than men, and the more senior the job, the greater the discrepancy. Equal rights and pay for women continue to be an illusory concept. Women are discriminated against primarily because they want to have or already have children.

Poland has some of the worst indicators in Europe for early years child care, and yet no investments are being made in nurseries or pre-schools. The retirement age for women is being extended by seven years, and yet no new jobs are being created at the same time. It is already almost impossible for women over 50 to find work. Unless women and men start to earn the same, extending the retirement age will lead to greater imbalances between the living situations of women and men. Pay inequality has a negative impact on women’s pensions, and is one of the causes of poverty among older women. As many as 21% of women over 65 are at risk of poverty, whereas the figure for men is only 16%. The suggestions in the report are therefore extremely important, and it is essential to put them into practice effectively so that we can all enjoy equal rights.

  Norica Nicolai (ALDE). – (RO) Madam President, although we celebrate Equal Pay Day as of 5 March 2011, for the last fifty years we have not done anything else but play, failing to make progress in this field. I wish to congratulate Ms Edit Bauer for her report. It is an accurate and detailed description of equal opportunities in the European Union. Equal opportunities cannot exist in the European Union in the absence of equal pay.

I do not know whether we still need to improve the legislation or adopt other legislation, but I would like to know from the Commission how we abide by existing legislation, given that Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC forbid companies that do not ensure equal opportunities to participate in public tenders, get European funding, and take part in subsidies and public procurement procedures.

Has anyone ever asked any Member State if it complied with these criteria in the three areas? Has the Commission ever checked whether companies in Member States have received European funding or participated in public tenders without meeting the requirement of equal pay? Certainly not; therefore, I believe the only solution for ensuring the viability and implementation of this principle, which is a principle of honour for us all, is to strictly abide by the existing legislation, and try to find mechanisms and levers that enable us to control its enforcement.

  Marije Cornelissen (Verts/ALE). – (NL) Madam President, 55 years ago, equal pay for men and women was established as the first fundamental right in the European Union. Now, 55 years down the line, the pay gap continues to be unacceptably wide. So there must be something we are not doing right, you would think.

A fundamental right in itself is not enough to change our current practices. For example, employers should allow a lot more transparency around salaries, so that women know if they earn less than their male colleagues. Salaries should be dependent on responsibilities and skills and not on how hard you negotiate or whether you are playing golf with your boss. Workforce inspectorates should check pay gaps much more rigorously. And 55 years down the line, it is high time that we, as the European Union, make sure that equal pay becomes a reality.

I would like to hear from the Commission when it intends to respond to this.

  David Campbell Bannerman (ECR). – Madam President, I am very much in favour of equal work for equal value and of fair treatment, but the issue here is: who enforces that? We do not need the EU to dictate to sovereign nations yet more top-down equalities legislation in yet another power grab. Pay should not be set at the EU level. With the state of the European economies at present, this enforcement really does not help – it is like tying weights to someone who is already drowning.

Already the engine of our economies – small businesses – are suffering from too many unnecessary, costly and over-the-top regulations, such as the disgraceful, out-of-control UK employment tribunal system, where 90% of those laws come from the EU and which really acts as licensed blackmail. Thankfully, the UK Government is cutting that back. But business really does not need this – not when one in five young people in the EU are out of work and when the EU share of GDP wealth is falling so alarmingly. We have to ensure that all intervention is constructive; this is not. Then there is the EU’s Equality Directive, which was dressed up as Harriet Harman’s Equality Act. Civitas actually estimated that that directive alone cost GBP 150 million in the service sector and 210 million across SMEs, across the UK. It is too much.

(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))

  Lena Kolarska-Bobińska (PPE), Blue-card question. – (PL) Madam President, I should like to ask whether Mr Bannerman believes that it is a bad idea to introduce standards of equality and anti-discriminatory measures in the European Union because it would be too expensive for both the state and for businesses, and, if so, what does he mean by this? Does he mean that we should keep pay unequal in order to make businesses more profitable? Thank you.

  David Campbell Bannerman (ECR), Blue-card answer. – Ms Kolarska-Bobińska, no, absolutely not. I do compliment the report. As I said quite clearly, I am in favour of equal pay for equal work. That principle is very important. What I query is whether this should be done at EU level. I do not believe it should be; it should be for nation states. However, I absolutely agree with you on the principle. It is the intervention at EU level, the heavy costs of that and the power of the EU over sovereign states that I object to.

(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))

  Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (PPE), blue-card question. – (FR) Madam President, as we are talking of economic returns in relation to pay equality, I have a question for you: the Member States invest as much in the training of girls as they do in that of boys; it seems to me that, if we followed your argument to its logical conclusion, that has to be a rather poor investment, has it not? That is not a view I share. On the contrary, I believe that we must encourage women’s work and value it.

  David Campbell Bannerman (ECR), Blue-card answer. – Ms Morin-Chartier, I agree with that. I accept in this report that career breaks actually cause a lot of loss of income and affect this. As I say, I am very much in favour in the thrust of it. What I am saying is that this should be down to nation states to do and should not be enforced – which this legislation associated with a good report does. That is the problem. It is not the report, because that is a very good report in many respects. It is the legislation, done top-down from the EU, which I object to. The great thrust of it is very good, but it should be done through nation states.

  Mikael Gustafsson (GUE/NGL). – (SV) Madam President, I would like to thank Ms Bauer for this report, which attempts to tackle the significant pay gap between women and men. There is clearly a need for a great many different measures to overcome this problem, but I would like to look at the situation from just one perspective.

The basis for achieving equal pay levels lies in a well-developed public sector with a good social infrastructure, including child care and homes for the elderly, which will make it much easier for women to establish themselves in the labour market and give them the same opportunities for full-time work as men. Shared parental leave is another important measure, because we know that women currently stay at home with children to a much greater extent than men do. This can mean that employers regard women as more unreliable employees which, of course, leads to smaller pay rises and poorer working conditions.

In order to prevent wage discrimination, we must bring an end to cuts and privatisation in the public sector and allow men to have a larger share of parental leave.

  Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (PPE). – (FR) Madam President, first of all, I should like to thank Ms Bauer for her work, which I fully support. However, secondly, and this request is for you, Commissioner, could you tell Ms Reding that our patience is running out?

Today we are in a position where the Charter of Fundamental Rights is being blatantly violated by pay inequalities which trouble no one. I was upset by hearing you say that things had got better because the gap had been reduced from 17.5% to 16.4%. I was upset because I truly believe that Europe has a crucial role to play in showing the Member States the way forward. We must of course respect the equality of citizens before the law; that is a fundamental right and we must ensure it is respected. However, over and above this, what we want is transparency, transparency so that everyone is aware of the real pay gap that exists in our society. The public sector should set an example. SMEs too clearly have a role to play, as does the private sector, but the public sector must also set an example. That is why, when Ms Bauer calls for encouragement and also for sanctions, I think we should support any future legal appeals that women bring against pay disparities.

The Member States clearly need to be coerced, private business clearly needs to be coerced, but we also need to coerce the public sector, and we must adopt every possible measure, as Mr Gustafsson said just now, to ensure that women benefit from the pay equality that is achieved. We have had enough. We want growth and, for there to be growth, we need women.

  Silvia Costa (S&D). – (IT) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the rapporteur for her work. Fifty-five years on from Article 119 of the Treaty and after Article 157 of the Treaty of Lisbon came into force, the average pay gap in Europe is still 16.5%, demonstrating that a more comprehensive approach should be attempted, as the report itself advocates.

In my view, the nine key issues identified in the report provide a sound basis for amending the 2006 directive, which Parliament is asking the Commission to review by February 2013, with the inclusion of both legislative and non-legislative measures. I would remind the previous speaker that the legal basis is Article 157, which provides that Parliament and the Council can act through the ordinary legislative procedure, in conjunction with the Commission, to introduce measures to ensure that the Member States implement equality measures.

In particular, I must stress the need for transparency in defining work of equal value, which should be based on a job classification system that takes into account professionalism, skill and responsibility. Statistics should be made comparable – which is not the case at the moment – and there should be effective monitoring bodies to which appeals can be addressed, as well as more effective sanctions.

Additionally, in terms of pay evaluation, greater transparency is needed in the wage or salary component, which is generally equal compared with the other components, such as benefits, allowances or deductions, in which the gap tends to be greater. That is shown by the fact that the higher women climb in their professions, the greater the pay gap becomes. We should therefore focus on that aspect, together, of course, with the need to reconcile work and family life and the need for training opportunities, not to mention raising the profile of part-time work in relation to the ability to pursue a career, a factor that penalises women to this day.

  Julie Girling (ECR). – Madam President, equal pay for work of equal value is not an issue which divides us; it is an issue of basic equal opportunities and equal rights. We are united in promoting it. However, we have to be pragmatic about how we deal with it.

In my many years of business experience I have been involved with this issue many times. It is not a straightforward case of proclaiming a principle. Painstaking work to benchmark equal value must take place and it comes with a cost. I believe society must be prepared to pay that cost. My problem here is not the principle involved, but the issue of EU legislation. I do not believe that EU legislation will add value.

Where companies are failing to follow national legislation, why do we believe that they will react any more favourably to the heavy hand of the Commission? As MEPs, we frequently find ourselves bemoaning the failure of Member States to enforce EU legislation. I look around this Chamber at the intelligent, powerful and impressive women engaged in this issue. Let us not waste our energies denouncing Conservative governments, and concentrate on working in our Member States to get legislation which works.

(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))

  Zofija Mazej Kukovič (PPE), Blue-card question. – (SL) Ms Girling, I have a question for you.

What, according to your proposal, can politics do to enable a woman to be a wife, a mother and have a career at the same time?

  Julie Girling (ECR), blue-card answer. – I do not suppose that there is any realistic expectation that I will spend the next three hours going through an answer to that. If I concentrate on this issue of equal pay, let me simply say that the point that I made here – and I do not know if people are wilfully trying to misunderstand it – is not that I do not think that equal pay for equal value will improve women’s rights or women’s workplace conditions. Of course I do. I made that point and I have been involved in it all my working life. What I think, though, is that the Commission will not add to that by legislating. It will not help. We need to make sure that our Member States subscribe to it and put it into practice.

  Kartika Tamara Liotard (GUE/NGL). – (NL) Madam President, allow me to welcome the Commissioner. Ms Bauer, thank you very much for your report. According to recent data, women continue to earn 16.4% less than men for equal work in the EU and, yet, we have had 40 years of legislation designed to reduce that gap. However, the gap seems to be widening in some Member States. Even in a supposedly emancipated country such as the Netherlands, the average pay gap is above the EU average.

This pay gap does not constitute a disadvantage only in the period during which women are in work; because of it, we are also contributing a lot less to our pensions. As many as 22% of all women have an income at a level around the poverty threshold when they reach 65. Now, on top of that, the EU with its inhumane pensions plans wants to dismantle the state pension and the number of older women who will get into difficulty will only increase.

We must act now. We need equal pay for men and women and we need to scrap pension plans that make things worse for women. This is the only way we will achieve a fair standard of living for everyone: old and young, male and female.

  Anna Záborská (PPE). – (SK) Madam President, I would like to thank Ms Bauer for her tireless efforts to change the status of women in this issue. The problem of unequal pay has persisted for a number of decades because neither the Commission nor the Member States have grasped it correctly. Their understanding is based on an incomplete answer to the fundamental question of why exactly it is that women earn less than men, even in comparable positions. If the reason for this was merely a widespread prejudice that women workers are less productive than men, the solution would be the introduction of financial penalties and stricter controls of employers. However, this is not the case – the problem is more complex than that. The real reason is that most women have two jobs: one with their employer, and one with their family. Involving the husband in housework is not a perfect solution. Nor should the answer to this natural situation be pressure on the woman to give up her maternal responsibilities and transfer them to the state. Rather, we should think whether, by any chance, today’s unpaid work carried out by women as mothers is not of greater value to society than if they were tractor drivers or managers acting in their jobs as men where required by the situation, prioritising work over all else, knowing that, from infancy, their children will be brought up by complete strangers.

  Antigoni Papadopoulou (S&D). – (EL) Madam President, my congratulations to Ms Bauer on her detailed report. The need for action to close the pay gap between men and women is a perennial complaint and, at the same time, a sad story. The pay gap remains. It ranges from 4 % to 27.6 % in the Member States of the European Union. On average, women are paid 16.4 % less than men. Progress is slow and negligible.

As, basically, pay inequalities are the result of discrimination and stereotyping, we need social initiatives at national, local and, most importantly, European level, a change of attitude and effective measures in both the public and private sectors and measures to reconcile family and work. I support the idea of a European strategy to address this gap, with the European Union taking a leading role in coordinating policies, promoting best practices and involving various social operators.

I call on the Commission to take initiatives immediately and to revise the current legislation, based on the resolution, by February 2013, with the emphasis on penalties for infringements.

  Roberta Angelilli (PPE). – (IT) Madam President, I would particularly like to thank Ms Bauer for the excellent work she has done. Commissioner, we have to work with the Member States to establish a clear road map for eliminating the gender pay gap. We need concrete, measurable legislative commitments that can monitor the progress made or reveal the sticking points.

In my view, the Member States should be further supervised in this undertaking by the Commission, usefully supported by Eurostat, not least so we can find out what works and what does not work, and disseminate and share good practice. This will start a virtuous circle in terms of culture and mentality both in the world of work and more generally in society at large.

We now need to transform these proposals into concrete measures, by strengthening the legislation in force and equipping it with sanctions, which must of course be effective and proportional while acting as a deterrent, and introducing continuous, compulsory monitoring of staff recruitment, pay and the right to take maternity leave without the risk of dismissal.

  Marita Ulvskog (S&D). – (SV) Madam President, Mr Potočnik, the most important factor in all areas of pay determination is free and powerful trade unions which are not obstructed by the Posting of Workers Directive or other EU regulations. At the same time, political values and decisions are what define the social climate that forms the background for wage negotiations. It is important that the principle of equal pay for equal work was introduced in the Member States 50 years ago. However, the pay gap between women and men, for example, remains at around 16% to 17%. In some areas, the differences in pay for women and men have even increased. This would seem to indicate that the directive on equal treatment for men and women has turned into a paper tiger.

Everyone agrees that we need to combat unfair pay differences between women and men, but very few concrete measures are being taken. This may be because the causes of the problem are so complex. Discrimination involves a number of different factors, including social issues, undervaluing women’s work, inequality in the work-life balance, traditions and stereotypes.

For this reason, the Member States must invest in social services, such as child care, care for the elderly and parental leave for both mothers and fathers. The EU should be able to help ensure that progress is made in this area.

  Seán Kelly (PPE). – (GA) Madam President, firstly it is a pity that more men are not taking part in this debate. Be that as it may, I must say that it surprised and disgusted me to read about the salary differences between men and women for the same work. Women receive 17.5% less salary for the same work. That is not right at all and we must put an end to that bias.

But it is not only in salaries that the bias is visible: a couple of weeks ago we discussed the dearth of women on the boards of companies. And even if you look at universities – and you would think that they would be on the side of freedom and so forth – 60% of students are women, but they only get 18% of the bigger jobs. Therefore it is clear that there is bias in every aspect of life, and we must put an end to that bias.

Specifically there are three areas we should concentrate on: (1) enforcing gender equality legislation; (2) introducing quotas, even as an interim measure, where there is under-representation of women; and (3) introducing more specific policies and more generous policies in relation to child care, maternity leave, and reconciling work and personal life.

  Frédéric Daerden (S&D). – (FR) Madam President, I want to begin by congratulating the rapporteur on her report.

In 1966, a strike broke out in Herstal, the town of which I am mayor. This strike went on to make history: 3 000 women working at the National Arms factory went out on strike for 11 weeks. These workers were simply calling for the application of the Treaty of Rome, which provided for equal pay for men and women for the same work. That is the famous principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’. That was the first time that this slogan had been used by civil society.

Forty-six years later, equal pay remains a topical issue. At the present time, in the European Union, women continue to earn 16 to 17% less than men, a figure re-confirmed by the Organisation of Economic and Social Development (OECD) quite recently. This state of affairs is all the more unacceptable insofar as there is a legal framework which expressly includes the principle of pay equality, due to the greater risk of poverty as a direct effect of pay inequality.

We must strengthen wage transparency, broaden women’s career prospects, enable them to play a more active part in decision making at all levels in the economic sector, and also encourage those businesses which take steps to encourage pay equality. These are just some of the measures which could allow us to tackle the pay gap, which also affects pensions. These are some of the matters that I raised through amendments and that I have been pleased to find in the report.

I hope that with this report and the initiatives that the Commission is due to take by strengthening the legislative framework, particularly in relation to the importance of collective bargaining and the sanctions system, people will no longer need to resort to social confrontation, as happened in Herstal in 1966, to advance this cause in Europe.

  Elena Băsescu (PPE). – (RO) Madam President, first of all, I should like to congratulate Ms Edit Bauer for her report and for the balanced views she takes every time we approach such a topic. Equal work should receive equal pay, regardless of gender. Gender pay gaps persist in too many countries and they must be tackled. I believe that by focusing on wage transparency, the approach of the report in this respect is the right one. From this perspective, additional measures are required, including at Member States level, as proposed in Articles 20 and 21.

At the same time, I believe additional attention should be paid to the use of civil, administrative and legal mechanisms in order to tackle pay gaps, but women themselves play an important role in this process. If they feel they are discriminated against, that they receive lower wages than their male colleagues, they should refer the matter to the competent bodies and, in some cases, to court.

I have always maintained that women should fight first of all for their rights and to obtain what they are entitled to. The same principle applies equally to women representation in politics and management positions in companies and with regard to pay gaps. If women show that they are not only capable and competent, but also aware of their rights and determined to defend them, no employer will ever offer them wages that are inferior to the work they put in.

  Barbara Matera (PPE). – (IT) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the gender pay gap still has a major effect on workers in the European Union. Women today still earn 17.1% less than men for the same work. That figure is both alarming and unacceptable in the European Union, which rates itself as the world leader in the fight against discrimination and in respect for fundamental rights.

This gap causes countless women workers in the EU great difficulty in their professional and personal development. I am also referring to the difficulty facing women in returning to work after having children, which results in gender differentials as well as a pension gap.

I therefore congratulate Ms Bauer on having tackled this serious form of discrimination by identifying concrete measures to solve the problem, given that the percentage pay gap has remained constant year after year. As a great many of my fellow Members have remarked, we have been struggling to eliminate this problem for 50 years now.

There should be mandatory pay monitoring in companies, and workers should be informed of their rights. When negotiating their employment contracts, women should be given appropriate information and assistance in order to assert their rights. I therefore support the national and local equality promotion and monitoring bodies, which should be given legal powers.

We cannot remain indifferent to this kind of discrimination against women, which has direct consequences for society and the economy and hinders the creation of future businesses.

‘Catch-the-eye’ procedure

  Iosif Matula (PPE). – (RO) Madam President, gender pay gap goes as far back as school years, when girls are rather guided towards humanities, unlike boys, who focus on scientific studies. As a result, women not only end up being paid less in their profession, but they also choose specific professions which are traditionally less paid.

This is an offensive inequality in our century, when we are talking about integrating minorities of all kinds; yet, we do not ensure fair treatment to 50% of the population, not to mention the discrimination based on maternity. There are still employers who condition employment on a commitment not to conceive for a number of years after employment. What should worry us is the poverty risk arising from these practices, which is a phenomenon that may stigmatise generations of children.

  Anna Hedh (S&D). – (SV) Madam President, there are currently more women than men in Europe and yet women are not valued as highly as men. How can this be possible in 2012? How can it be that we are once again asking for something which was enshrined in a treaty more than 40 years ago? How can it be that a man who does a typical woman’s job is often paid more than a woman, while a woman who does a typical man’s job is paid less than a man? How can it be that the Member States have not succeeded in introducing equal pay for equal work despite their equality laws?

My answer to these questions is perhaps a controversial one: it is down to men. Men in positions of power must take action. Men must become accountable and share the wage pool with women. Men must take equal responsibility for the home and for children. Look around you and see how many men are taking part in this debate. We will never have equality unless men and women are fighting for it side by side.

(Applause)

  Lena Kolarska-Bobińska (PPE). – (PL) Madam President, the European Commission is currently discussing parity for corporate boards. This is to be welcomed, since there are very few women on such boards, but how can the Commission and Parliament be regarded as credible institutions when we have failed for decades to solve the problem of the pay gap? It is very difficult to draft a new policy when we cannot enforce the outcome of our discussions over many, many years. I therefore very much welcome the fact that this report emphasises monitoring and cooperation not only at Commission level, but primarily at the level of all the Member States and representatives for women’s rights, gender equality and non-discrimination in the individual Member States, and also at company level. I believe that something which is key at the lowest level is public scrutiny entailing the participation of trade unions, and this is something new which the report introduces. Trade unions should work to prevent pay discrimination instead of merely interfering in politics the whole time.

  Sergio Gaetano Cofferati (S&D). – (IT) Madam President, if, after 55 years, discrimination is still the huge problem that we have described, it means that the policies adopted to date have not been effective enough.

That is why I believe it is vital to introduce the innovative elements presented in the report; above all, however, we must strengthen the system of incentives for good practice and sanctions for acts of discrimination. With regard to sanctions, all that is needed is to prevent companies that do not respect equality from bidding for public contracts, for example.

I would also like to point out another important and worrying element, which has already been mentioned but perhaps deserves greater attention. All European countries are changing their social security arrangements from a ‘pay-as-you-go’ system to a ‘funded’ system. Any interruption in a woman’s career or any wage discrimination becomes a penalty that she will carry with her for the rest of her life.

That is why the problem we are facing deserves our greatest attention, so that we do not put women at risk of poverty at an age when they would have no other means of protecting themselves.

  Romana Jordan (PPE). – (SL) Madam President, in terms of pay, today is 24 May for men and, yet, only 30 April for women. This is of course unacceptable, an unacceptable difference. Why is this happening? Are women less educated? No. In all the Member States, there are more women with a tertiary education than men. Even if we look at university education, there are 145 women with a university degree for every 100 men with a university degree.

So what is the reason for this gap? Is the reason that women work less? No, that is not the reason either. According to a survey done for Slovenia, men have an average of 27 hours of free time a week while women have 21.

Solutions do exist, so we cannot say that there is no solution. Ms Bauer has addressed this issue in a very systematic fashion and spelled out the solutions in her report. In my opinion, this is a bit too detailed for Europe as it introduces too much administration. We need to focus on the essence.

Having said that, this offers us gender-neutral legislation and payment systems; it is legislation which clearly prohibits discrimination and which provides for supervision and sanctions in the event of a breach.

  Monika Flašíková Beňová (S&D). – (SK) Madam President, despite the fact that various steps are constantly being taken and funds are being spent to eliminate the pay gap, we are only making extremely slow progress. It is unbelievable that, even today, this gap is almost 28% in some EU Member States and, moreover, that it is still widening in many countries. This year, for example, women had to work until 2 March on average in order to earn as much as men had earned on average in the calendar year up to 31 December. Incredibly, this is more than two months. These differences arise from direct and indirect discrimination and from many other factors. However, we need to improve and simplify the procedures and mechanisms that defend the principle of equal pay for equal work, and prohibit any form of gender discrimination. The Commission should also review Directive 54 of 2006, in particular because it does not lay down any penalties for employers. Also, Member States should aim to make pay more transparent. Commissioner, women are among the sections of society worst affected by insecure employment and the consequences of the economic and social crisis. I would therefore be delighted if the Commission adopted, as quickly as possible, measures to eliminate such discrimination.

  Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz (PPE). – (HU) Madam President, it is quite incredible that in 2012, over 60 years after the birth of European integration and 55 years after the principle of equal pay for equal work was set down, after several wars, and after economic crises past and present there still is a 16 per cent pay gap between male and female employees.

The Bauer report is excellent. It thoroughly examines problematic issues such as job classification, social dialogue, potential sanctions and, what I am particularly pleased about, the inclusion of collective redress.

I am convinced that publicity and increased transparency can serve to significantly reduce the pay gap. What I am thinking about here, Commissioner, is quite simply that statistical analysis of the pay gap should be made part of companies’ annual reports, thus soliciting the assistance of publicity to eliminate that gap. I congratulate the rapporteur and support this report.

  Raül Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE). – (ES) Madam President, I think things are clear. Equal pay is not merely a goal, and it is not just a goal for the Member States but clearly for the whole European Union. It is stated in the Treaties.

Many legal, judicial, supervisory, sanctioning and educational measures have been proposed, and they are in the report. We cannot tackle the pay gap if we do not address another gap, which is the shared responsibility men have in their private lives as well.

We cannot address the gap in the public sphere if we do not also organise society so that we men take on our responsibilities in our private lives and thereby guarantee that women can have access to a public and working life on the same terms. This aspect is crucial if we truly want to implement these measures from a political, legal and sanctioning standpoint. This is a preliminary measure, but it goes hand in hand with this debate.

  Jaroslav Paška (EFD). – (SK) Madam President, it is sad that, even after many years of efforts made by the European Parliament, there is still discrimination in many EU States against the fairer sex in employment relations. The fact that employees should receive the same pay for the same work regardless of age, race or gender is, it seems, still unknown to many employers. It is therefore right to continue to seek effective mechanisms that will help eliminate unjustified differences in pay between men and women. However, it has long been agreed that imposing excessive administrative burdens on small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU is tantamount to bullying. I would therefore like to propose that we refrain from using this report to impose further administrative obligations on small and medium-sized enterprises, and that we transfer responsibility for the fulfilment of the measures proposed in point 2.3 of Analysis of the situation and transparency of results to the state institutions, tax authorities and social insurance agencies, which should now have all necessary data on the wage policies of employers and employment contracts of their employees.

End of the ‘catch-the-eye’ procedure

  Janez Potočnik, Member of the Commission. − Madam President, I would like to thank all the speakers for their contributions. I can assure you that they will be noted, including the more critical comments.

The gender pay gap is a complex phenomenon and goes far beyond the issue of equal pay for equal work. As you know, and as illustrated by the life-cycle approach to the problem, there are various factors that can explain this inequality between women and men. In addition to undervaluation and horizontal segregation, women and men’s choices of studies and careers are often influenced by traditional stereotypes. This leads to gender segregation in labour markets, where female-dominated occupations are undervalued; to vertical segregation, whereby it is more difficult for women in the labour market to reach higher positions; to inequality in the burden of caring, or, as one speaker rightly put it, different private-public alignment of lives; and, indeed, to direct discrimination within the same job.

The consequences are lower pensions and, as was mentioned, a higher risk of poverty for women than for men. Obviously, this should not be acceptable in the 21st century, at least not in Europe. So the problem deserves all our attention, and I agree with the rapporteur, Ms Bauer, that we need a holistic, multi-level approach. Yes, we need legislation, but we also need implementation of the legislation. Yes, we need public awareness campaigns, best-practice sharing, better statistics, better information and more research. We are working in all these areas and we need the efforts of all the stakeholders to achieve solutions.

Let me reiterate that the Commission intends to present a report to Parliament on the application of the 2006 directive, reviewing the operation of that directive with a specific focus on the application of the principle of equal pay in practice. Obviously, this will be informative for future steps.

The Commission is constantly monitoring whether the existing legal framework is being correctly applied in practice at national level. It is our job to do this for all types of legislation, and it includes considering whether Member States are applying the appropriate sanctions as required by the directive. We are also preparing a study assessing several legislative and non-legislative actions to tackle the gender pay gap, and that will feed into the implementation report on the 2006 directive. It is scheduled to be published in 2013 but the exact date of publication has not yet been determined.

I would also like to mention, in answer to some of your questions about the introduction of quotas for women on company boards, that the public consultation on this issue is currently running until the end of May. The results of the consultation will then feed into the decision on whether to introduce legislation.

To conclude: the Bauer report sends clear and important signals, and the Commission appreciates the support of this House in tackling this challenging issue. We all agree that equal pay is no longer just a matter of fairness: it is also a necessary condition from an economic point of view. The Commission counts on the support of the European Parliament to make further progress and successfully tackle the gender pay gap.

  Edit Bauer, rapporteur. − (HU) Madam President, I would like to thank the speakers for their valuable input, as well as the shadow rapporteurs for their active contribution.

Please allow me to address some of the comments. Thank you very much, Commissioner, for pointing out that the issue of the pay gap is also related to economic growth, and I would like to stress that even in 1957, equal pay was included in the Treaty of Rome not in the context of equal opportunities or human rights but as an expression of equal conditions for economic competition.

Beyond that, however, this is not just an economic issue, not just a social issue and not primarily an issue of human rights, but one that has, in fact, a very far-reaching consequence which I also attempted to point out in the report, namely that the first major difference arises after the birth of the first child. Even though these days we are concerned day in and day out with the economic crisis, we rarely mention that Europe also suffers from a deep demographic crisis.

What kind of message are we sending if the law addressing the pay gap, which has been in effect for fifty years, is not working? I can understand the scepticism of the conservative Members, but the main issue here is that we have a law more than forty years old and a basic principle more than fifty years old, which are not working. It is evident that they are not working.

Even though all actors have their own responsibilities in this field, it is our task to look at what can be done in terms of legislation. I believe that we cannot evade addressing this issue here.

  President. – The debate is closed.

The vote will take place on Thursday, 24 May, at 12.00.

Written statements (Rule 149)

  Zuzana Brzobohatá (S&D), in writing. – (CS) Women always receive less pay than men for doing equal work and with equal qualifications, regardless of their education. In the EU, there is an average pay gap of about 17.5%. The situation in the Czech Republic is much worse, with women receiving 19% less pay than men in 2010, according to the Czech Statistical Office. The greatest differences were found in people who had completed secondary school without the relevant qualifications, and in university graduates with a masters degree or higher, where women earned up to 27.5% less than men. Equal pay for equal work was already enshrined in the Treaties in 1957. I welcome the fact that Parliament is aware that, 60 years after the establishment of that legislation, this issue still remains to be resolved. The stereotypes about so-called male and female jobs still persist. Possible solutions are available even in primary schools, where we should work to eliminate prejudices and encourage children’s talents regardless of their gender. For example, girls should be given more encouragement to take up technical professions or boys to work in social services. I do not believe that women should work as miners whatever the cost, or that men, on the other hand, should work as nannies, but I do find it unacceptable that there should be any difference in average pay in professions that can be performed equally well by both sexes – and these account for the vast majority.

  Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D), in writing. – According to the latest provisional, although incomplete, figures, women across the EU earn on average 16.4% less than men for work of equal value. The gender pay gap varies between 4.4% and 27.6% among EU Members, and progress to reducing the disparity is extremely slow. (At EU level, the pay gap fell by only 1.3% between 2006 and 2010.) According to preliminary experts’ studies, the recast Directive 2006/54/EC contributed to the improvement of women’s situation at the European labour market, but it has not profoundly changed existing legislation on closing the gender wage disparity in Member States. Parliament has repeatedly called on the Commission to take more initiatives to tackle these issues, including revision of current legislation, but so far the Commission’s actions have not yielded desirable results in this matter. This current report sends another reminder to the Commission to reinforce existing legislation. It also calls on the Commission to introduce and apply appropriate sanctions on Member States if they fail to comply with the required legislation. Bridging the gender pay disparity will not only benefit our economy but will also have a great impact on our society, which must value men and women equally.

  Véronique Mathieu (PPE), in writing. – (FR) Equal pay for men and women is still clearly a problem. We must not lose sight of it. The fact that women to need to work on average until 2 March 2012 in order to earn as much as men had earned by the end of 2011 is not acceptable. We need to be more aware of this. Pay scales must be more transparent. Means of redress must be strengthened to allow women access to justice. Finally, sanctions must be stepped up against employers who fail to respect the principle of equal pay for men and women.

  Jutta Steinruck (S&D), in writing. – (DE) 2007 was the ‘European Year of Equal Opportunities’. Five years later and Europe is still at square one. It is true that we have established the legal principle of the same remuneration for men and women. Nonetheless, wage inequality for men and women still exists. We are making little or no progress. I am pleased, therefore, that, as well as setting targets, the rapporteur has also provided some specific, detailed recommendations in her report. We need collective redress when this principle of equal pay is violated. It must be possible to obtain prosecutions for wage discrimination. We are calling for awareness campaigns dealing with wage inequality for men and women. We need wage equality officers in the various Member States. This will enable progress in the Member States to be monitored more effectively. We need to make specific progress. In this case specific progress means pursuing legal initiatives requiring equal pay for men and women.