WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

The European Women’s Lobby - 18 October 2010

http://www.womenlobby.org/

The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) is the largest umbrella organisation of women’s associations in the European Union (EU), working to promote women’s rights and equality between women and men.

___________________________________________________________________________

EWL POSITION - EU RIGHTS & ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY AS MATERNITY LEAVE, MUST NOT BE HIJACKED BY BUSINESS INTERESTS, AS OF UK

Brussels, 18 October 2010 - In the run up to the European Parliament vote on the proposed revision of the so-called ‘Maternity Leave Directive’, UK business leaders have been descending en masse on Brussels in an attempt to block legislation designed to protect women’s rights and economic independence throughout the 27 country block. If successful, it is the 26 other member states of the EU which will have to pay the price, gender equality associations are warning.

‘It is absolutely scandalous that short-sighted business interests from one member state should put at risk the human rights of millions of women throughout the EU, as well as the sustainability of European economies’, says Brigitte Triems, President of the European Women’s Lobby. ‘For UK MEPs to vote to block this legislation would be misguided; for the representatives of the peoples of all the other European countries to follow their lead would be a serious democratic failure.’

Under UK law, women are entitled to 39 weeks of paid maternity leave, and a total leave period of 52 weeks. Employers advance 90% pay during the first six weeks, 93% of which is subsequently reimbursed by the state. Increasing the duration of fully-paid leave to 20 weeks would, according to the British Equality and Human Rights Commission, cost the state an extra £1.3 billion.

The long duration of maternity leave (as opposed to parental leave provisions in most member states encouraging a sharing of care responsibilities), combined with the financial burden on employers, has led to high levels of discrimination against women in the UK labour market, and a record-high gender pay gap of 21.4%. According to a 2007 survey cited by the British Equal Opportunities Commission, 70% of employment agencies have been asked by their clients to avoid hiring pregnant women or women of childbearing age. British women are 23% less likely to be employed than men and women with a child under 11 are 49% less likely to be employed compared with men. There is also evidence that in the UK discrimination again women in the workplace – with the loss of tax revenue and increased welfare benefits it causes – costs between £15 billion and £25 billion each year, adding up to as much as 2% of GDP.[1][1]

‘The UK would very much benefit from changing its maternity leave provisions, and EU legislation could be the trigger for this’, says Ms. Triems. ‘In the long run, all member states stand to benefit from increased equality.’

The European Parliament’s Impact Assessment of the proposed legislation unambiguously concluded that 20 weeks of fully compensated maternity leave is a highly sound economic investment. The costs in the immediate term were estimated at less than 0,06% of GDP in all countries studied, and less than 0,01% of GDP in more than half of them. These costs would be offset by an increase of women’s participation in the labour market of just 1%.[2][2]

‘Because of the lack of suitable measures for reconciliation between work and family life, the employment rates of European women are very low – not to mention the fertility rates’, explains Ms. Triems. In 2007, the employment rate for women with dependent children was 65,5%, compared with 91,7% for men.[3][3] ‘This is a human rights issue which just happens to make excellent economic sense. It is time to move beyond tired and skewed economic arguments and really invest in our societies and our futures.’

____________________________________________________________________________

For more information, please contact Myria Vassiliadou, Secretary General of the European Women’s Lobby, T: (+32) 478 13 63 52, or Leanda Barrington-Leach, EWL Communications and Media Officer, barrington@womenlobby.org, T: (+32) 488 41 94 21, and see and www.womenlobby.org. 

---

================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.

---

[1][1] Equal Opportunities Commission, Fairness and Freedom, 2007, page 75 and p.77; http://www.management-issues.com/2007/8/2/research/legislation-making-women-less-employable.asp; Gallagher/O'Leary, Recruitment 2020: How recruitment is changing and why it matters, DEMOS 2007, page 40

[2][2] European Parliament, Costs and benefits of maternity and paternity leave, workshop 5 Oct. 2010, study. European Parliament, Policy department C: citizens’ rights and constitutional affairs, Gender equality. PE 425.629

[3][3] European Commission, Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 92/85/EEC, impact assessment report: SEC(2008) 2526/2

___________________________________________________________________________

STRONG EUROPEAN MATERNITY LEAVE PROVISIONS KEY TO

SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES, SAYS EUROPEAN WOMEN'S LOBBY

15October 2010

[Brussels, 15 October 2010] As the Members of the European Parliament prepare to vote on European maternity leave provisions, women’s organisations from across the EU are mobilising to back European legislation guaranteeing at least 20 weeks fully paid leave for new mothers, and two for fathers. ‘The 736 European parliamentarians are not just being asked to cast a vote on a detail of legislation’, says Brigitte Triems, President of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL). ‘They are being asked to make a fundamental societal choice: whether or not to make it possible for women living in Europe to have children and at the same continue to participate in the labour market and secure their economic independence.’

The vote on the revision of the Maternity Leave Directive is scheduled for 20 October. The 1992 legislation provides for 14 weeks maternity leave but without any binding measures on pay. The amendments proposed in the Estrela Report (so-called after its MEP Rapporteur, Edite Estrela), in particular as regards full pay, have been controversial, with the business lobby vocally claiming the burden on employers will be excessive.

‘These provisions are an imperative to ensure human rights and gender equality, but they are equally an imperative to ensure Europe’s social and economic sustainability’, counters Myria Vassiliadou, EWL Secretary General. ‘With our ageing population, we simply cannot afford to exclude women from the labour market, and we cannot afford ever plummeting birth-rates! Maternity, paternity and parental leave provisions are immediate investments in better, more equal societies, and long-term investments in healthy economies.’

The high return to investment in women’s rights is a widely accepted development principle. According to a report presented by the Swedish Presidency of the EU in 2009, EU GDP would rise almost 30% if gender gaps were eliminated. The growth potential is as high as 35% in the UK, the Netherlands, Greece and Malta.[1]

According to the EWL, the focus on employers is misleading: ‘In 24 out of 27 Member States, it is the state and not employers who takes on the costs of maternity leave provisions’, explains Ms. Triems. ‘This is most certainly a worthwhile investment. European governments spent trillions of Euros in the last years rescuing banks, car and construction companies; the rescue scheme for UK banks alone cost taxpayers up to £850 billion. [2] Investing in mothers and children costs far less and is investing in the future of society as a whole. This is exactly the right time to invest a comparably low amount of money to empower half of the current population – not to mention the next generation.’

The EWL is calling for full pay, without restrictions or ceilings, for a duration of 20 weeks. ‘This time span comes closer to giving women the choice of following international standards on breastfeeding, [3] and more generally empowers women to take as much time to recuperate as they choose to after giving birth, and does not curtail their chances on the labour market’, says Myria Vassiliadou. The OECD found in 2006 that in countries where the maternity leave provisions are the longest, female employment rates were also highest with over 80% in Iceland and over 70% in Denmark and Sweden -well above the OECD average of 57%. 

__________________________________________________________________