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Women earn 15% less than men in the EU and are still
finding work/ life balance difficult - Commission
reportBrussels 24-02-2006. Women in the EU earn 15%
less than men and progress has been slow in closing gender
gaps with men, according to a new European Commission's
report. The 'Report on equality between women and men 2006'
calls on EU countries to provide better ways to help women
deal with home and work pressures. It will be submitted to the
European leaders at the Spring European Council on 23/4
March.
The report found that difficulty in managing
a work/life balance means that many women leave the labour
market. Their employment rate, at 55.7%, is 15% lower than
men's. Women who do work are often confined to a limited
number of sectors - more than 40% work in education, health or
public administration, compared to less than 20% of men. Part
time work accounts for over 32% of women's jobs, but just over
7% for men. Women earn 15% less than men partly because they
are concentrated in lower paid professions. And women still
fill relatively few top posts. On the positive side, the
report found more than 75% of new jobs created in the EU in
the last five years have been filled by women.
Vladimir Spidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social
Affairs and Equal Opportunities, said more needs to be done to
address gender inequality. 'It's not acceptable that half of
the EU's population still gets a worse deal than the other
half. We need commitments at the highest levels to close the
gender gap. This is not just an equality issue, but is
fundamental if we are to reach the targets set out in the
Lisbon strategy, which is designed to boost Europe's economy.'
Work-life balance tensions, combined with stereotypes and
gender-biased pay and evaluation systems continue to hold
women back in the job market. Women account for just 32% of
managers. Only 10% of members of the boards and 3% of CEOs of
larger EU enterprises are women.
The lack of a good work/life balance has not only adversely
affected women's position in the labour market, but has
contributed to lower fertility rates - which also impacts on
the EU's economy. The report invites EU Member States to help
both men and women to balance work and private life, such as
through more and better childcare, innovative and adaptable
working arrangements or better equality policies. It also
urges them to reduce employment and pay differences between
men and women and to make full use of EU Structural Funds in
addressing gender issues.
The EU made advances in promoting gender equality in 2005
with its proposal for new European Institute for Gender
Equality last year, which will raise awareness of gender
issues while more EU gender equality legislation also came
into force last year leading to the creation of new national
gender equality bodies. The European Commission will present
on March 3 a 'Roadmap for equality between men and women'
Communication in the coming days, which will set out concrete
actions designed to help bridge the gender gap. The launch of
the roadmap will lead up to this year's International women's
day on March 8.
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Press Release IP/06/224 : |
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Report on equality between women and men
2006 : |
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Gender Equality website : |
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