WUNRN
FEMM – European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights & Gender Equality
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/femm/home.html
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.10.8.html
FACT SHEETS ON THE EUROPEAN UNION
Equality Between Men & Women
Equality between women and men is one of the objectives of the
European Union. Over time, legislation, case-law and changes to the Treaties
have helped shore up this principle and its implementation in the EU. The
European Parliament has always been a fervent defender of the principle of
equality between men and women.
Legal
Basis
The principle that men and women should receive equal pay for
equal work has been enshrined in the European Treaties since 1957 (today:
Article 157 TFEU). Besides, Article 153 TFEU allows the EU to act in
the wider area of equal opportunities and equal treatment in matters of
employment and occupation. Within this framework, Article 157 TFEU
furthermore authorises positive action to empower women. In addition,
Article 19 TFEU enables legislation to combat all forms of discrimination,
including on the basis of sex. Legislation against trafficking in human beings,
in particular women and children, has been adopted on the basis of
Articles 79 and 83 TFEU, and the Rights, Equality and Citizenship
programme finances, among others, measures contributing to the eradication of
violence against women, based on Article 168 TFEU.
Objectives
The European Union is founded on a set of values, including
equality, and promotes equality between men and women (Articles 2 and 3(3)
TEU). These objectives are also enshrined in Article 21 of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights. Besides, Article 8 TFEU gives the Union the task of
eliminating inequalities and promoting equality between men and women through
all its activities (this concept is also known as ‘gender mainstreaming’). The
Union and the Member States have committed themselves, in Declaration
No 19 annexed to the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference which
adopted the Treaty of Lisbon, ‘to combat all kinds of domestic
violence […], to prevent and punish these criminal acts and to support and
protect the victims’.
Achievements
A.Main legislation
EU legislation, mostly adopted by the ordinary legislative
procedure, includes:
·
Directive 79/7/EEC of 19
December 1978 obliging Member States to progressively implement the principle
of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security;
·
Directive 92/85/EEC of
19 October 1992 introducing measures to improve the safety and health at work
of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are
breastfeeding; the Commission has proposed a revision of this directive (see
below);
·
Directive 2004/113/EC of
13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between women
and men in the access to and supply of goods and services;
·
In 2006, a number of
former legislative acts were repealed and replaced by Directive 2006/54/EC of
5 July 2006[1] on the
implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of
men and women in matters of employment and occupation (recast). This directive
defines direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment.
It also encourages employers to take preventive measures to combat sexual
harassment, reinforces the sanctions for discrimination, and provides for the
setting-up within the Member States of bodies responsible for promoting equal
treatment between women and men. At present, Parliament is seeking the revision
of this directive as regards provisions on equal pay[2] and has
adopted an implementation report on the basis of several studies commissioned
by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS);
·
Council Directive
2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 implementing the revised Framework Agreement on
parental leave concluded by BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC and repealing
Directive 96/34/EC;
·
Directive 2010/41/EC of
7 July 2010 laying down objectives for the application of the principle of
equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity, including
agriculture, in a self-employed capacity, and on the protection of
self-employed women during pregnancy and motherhood, and repealing Council
Directive 86/613/EEC;
·
Directive 2011/36/EU of
5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and
protecting its victims. This directive replaces Council Framework Decision
2002/629/JHA and provides for the approximation of sanctions for trafficking in
human beings across Member States and of support measures for victims, and
calls upon the Member States to ‘consider taking measures to establish as a criminal
offence the use of services which are the objects of exploitation […] with the
knowledge that the person is a victim [of trafficking]’ in order to discourage
demand; it also establishes the office of the European anti-trafficking
coordinator; the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) will
prepare an implementation report on the directive later in 2015;
·
Directive 2011/99/EU of
13 December 2011 establishing the European Protection Order with the aim of
protecting a person ‘against a criminal act by another person which may
endanger his/her life, physical or psychological integrity, dignity, personal
liberty or sexual integrity’ and enabling a competent authority in another
Member State to continue the protection of the person in the territory of that
other Member State; this directive is reinforced by Regulation (EU)
No 606/2013 of 12 June 2013 on mutual recognition of protection
measures in civil matters, which ensures that civil protection measures are
recognised all over the EU;
·
Directive 2012/29/EU of
25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and
protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision
2001/220/JHA.
B.Progress in case-law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ)
The ECJ has played an important role in promoting equality
between men and women. The most notable judgments have been:
·
Defrenne II judgment of
8 April 1976 (Case 43/75): the Court recognised the direct effect of the
principle of equal pay for men and women and ruled that the principle not only
applied to the action of public authorities but also extended to all agreements
which are intended to regulate paid labour collectively;
·
Bilka judgment of 13 May
1986 (Case 170/84): the Court ruled that a measure excluding part-time
employees from an occupational pension scheme constituted ‘indirect
discrimination’ and was therefore contrary to former Article 119 if it
affected a far greater number of women than men, unless it could be shown that
the exclusion was based on objectively justified factors unrelated to any
discrimination on grounds of sex;
·
Barber judgment of 17
May 1990 (Case 262/88): the Court decided that all forms of occupational
pension constituted pay for the purposes of Article 119 and the principle
of equal treatment therefore applied to them. The Court ruled that men should
be able to exercise their pension rights or survivor’s pension rights at the
same age as their female colleagues;
·
Marschall judgment of 11
November 1997 (Case C-409/95): the Court declared that a national rule which,
in a case where there were fewer women than men in a sector, required that
priority be given to the promotion of female candidates (‘positive
discrimination’) was not precluded by Community legislation, provided that the
advantage was not automatic and that male applicants were guaranteed
consideration and not excluded a priori from applying;
·
Test Achats judgment of
1 March 2011 (Case C-236/09): the Court declared the invalidity of
Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113/EC as being contrary to the
principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply
of goods and services. Consequently, for men and women, the same system of
actuarial calculation has to be applied to determine premiums and benefits for
the purposes of insurance.
C.Latest Developments
Below is an overview of the most recent action taken by the EU
in the field of equality between men and women.
1.The
multiannual financial framework (MFF 2014-2020) and the Rights, Equality and
Citizenship programme
The programme Rights, Equality and Citizenship finances projects
aimed at achieving gender equality and ending violence against women
(Article 4). Together with the Justice Programme
(Regulation 2013/1382), it has been attributed EUR 15 686 million
until 2020 (MFF Regulation 1311/2013) and consolidates six programmes of
the 2007-2013 funding period, among them the Daphne III Programme (Decision 779/2007)
and both the ‘Anti-discrimination and Diversity’ and ‘Gender Equality’ sections
of the Programme for Employment and
Social Solidarity (PROGRESS) (Decision 1672/2006/EC).
The annex thereto specifies that the promotion of gender
equality will be funded together with other anti-discrimination measures under
Group 1, to which a share of 57% of the financial allocations is attributed.
Combating violence against women is included in Group 2, with 43% of the
overall financial envelope of the programme.
For 2015, budget line 33 02 02 (promoting non-discrimination and
equality) has EUR 32 073 000 in commitment appropriations and
EUR 16 321 307 in payments, which represents a considerable
increase in payments compared with 2014 and means that the implementation of
this programme is advancing. In addition, budget line 33 02 01 has
been allocated EUR 24 196 000 to contribute, among other
objectives, to combating and protecting against all forms of violence against
women.
A study published in 2015 at the request of the FEMM committee
provides an overview on the EU budget spent on gender equality[3].
2.The
European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)
In December 2006 the European Parliament and the Council
established a European Institute for Gender Equality, based in Vilnius,
Lithuania, with the overall objective of contributing to and boosting the
promotion of gender equality, including gender mainstreaming in all EU and
national policies. It also combats discrimination based on sex and raises
awareness on gender equality by providing technical assistance to the European
institutions through collecting, analysing and disseminating data and methodological
tools (see the EIGE’s online Resource and Documentation Centre: http://eige.europa.eu/content/rdc).
3.The
Women’s Charter and the Strategy for equality between men and women
(2010-2015)[4]
The Commission’s Women’s Charter of October 2010 and its
Strategy for equality between men and women (2010-2015) adopted on
21 September 2010 provide for a comprehensive framework to promote
gender equality in all EU policies and set out five key areas for action:
·
equality in the labour
market and equal economic independence for women and men, namely through the
Europe 2020 strategy;
·
equal pay for equal work
and work of equal value, to be achieved by working with Member States for a
significant reduction in the gender pay gap over the next five years;
·
equality in
decision-making through EU incentive measures;
·
dignity, integrity and
an end to gender-based violence through a comprehensive policy framework;
·
achieving gender
equality beyond the EU by pursuing the issue in external relations and with
international organisations.
Role
of the European Parliament
The European Parliament has played a significant role in
supporting equal opportunity policies, in particular through its Committee on
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM). In the area of equal treatment on
the labour market, Parliament acts on the basis of the ordinary legislative
procedure (codecision), for example regarding:
·
the proposal for a
directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of
companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures (COM(2012) 0614)
(see Parliament’s position at first reading, adopted at the end of 2013)[5].
·
the revision of
Directive 92/85/EEC (see above); at first reading[6] Parliament
advocated a longer period of fully-paid maternity leave, namely 20 weeks,
but the proposal is currently blocked in the Council and the Commission has
announced that the proposal will be withdrawn if no agreement is reached by the
Council and Parliament before the end of June 2015[7].
In addition, Parliament contributes to overall policy
development in the area of gender equality through its own-initiative reports,
and by drawing the attention of other institutions to specific issues,
including:
·
combating violence
against women by adopting a legislative own-initiative report requesting a
legislative initiative on the part of the Commission on the basis of
Article 84 TFEU promoting and supporting the action of Member States in
the field of prevention of violence against women and girls (VAWG); this
resolution includes a number of recommendations[8]; the FEMM
committee has established a special working group to follow up this resolution;
·
empowerment of women and
girls through education, as highlighted by an interparliamentary conference on
the occasion of International Women’s Day 2015; the FEMM committee is currently
preparing an own-initiative report on the issue[9];
·
gender equality in
international relations, in particular regarding the developments since the
so-called ‘Arab Spring’ in North Africa[10].
Parliament is also seeking gender mainstreaming in the work of
all its committees[11]. To this end,
two networks on gender mainstreaming have been established, which are
coordinated by the FEMM committee. The network of Chairs and Vice-Chairs for
Gender Mainstreaming brings together MEPs who support the introduction of a
gender dimension into the work of their respective committees. They are
supported by a network of Gender Mainstreaming Administrators in each committee
secretariat. The High-Level Group on Gender Equality promotes training and
awareness-raising about gender mainstreaming among the staff of the European
Parliament and the political groups.
[1]The recast
directive also repeals Directive 76/207/EEC, which had been amended by
Directive 2002/73/EC.
[2]See:
European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2012 with recommendations to the
Council on application of the principle of equal pay for male and female
workers for equal work or work of equal value — Texts adopted,P7_TA(2012)0225.
[3]European
Parliament, Policy Department on budgetary affairs, The EU budget for gender
equality (2015).
[4]The
reflections on the next strategy started in September 2014 with a workshop on a
new strategy for gender equality post-2015, which launched the preparation of
the FEMM committee’s own-initiative report, leading to the adoption of a
European Parliament resolution on 9 June 2015 (Texts adopted, P8_TA(2015)0218).
The compilation of the contributions to the workshop is available on the
homepage of the European Parliament..
[5]See:
European Parliament resolution of 20 November 2013 on gender balance among
non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges — Texts
adopted, P7_TA(2013)0488.
[6]See:
European Parliament resolution of 20 October 2010 on improvements in the safety
and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given
birth or are breastfeeding — Texts adopted,P7_TA(2010)0373.
[7]For a
comparative analysis of the legal provisions in the Member States, please see
the European Parliament’s Policy Department Citizen’s Rights and Constitutional
Affairs report ‘Maternity, paternity and parental leave: Data related to
duration and compensation rates in the European Union’, 2014, available on the
homepage of the European Parliament.
[8]See:
European Parliament resolution of 25 February 2014 on combating violence
against women — Texts adopted, P7_TA(2014)0126
[9]See:
European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2013 on the impact of the economic
crisis on gender equality and women’s rights — Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0073.
[10]See:
European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2013 on the situation of women in
North Africa — Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0075.
[11]See:
European Parliament resolution of 13 March 2003 on gender mainstreaming in the
EP — Texts adopted, P5_TA(2003)0098.
Erika Schulze - 07/2015