Brussels, 3 March 2009
EU launches campaign to tackle gender pay gap
The European Commission has today launched an EU-wide campaign to help tackle the gender pay gap. Across the EU economy, women earn on average 17.4% less than men. The simple concept of 'equal pay for work of equal value' is at the heart of the campaign being launched in the context of International Women's Day on 8 March to raise awareness of the pay gap, its causes, and how to tackle it.
"The gender pay gap has multiple causes and needs multiple solutions. Tackling it requires action at all levels and a commitment fromeveryone concerned, from employers and trade unions to national authorities and every citizen. Our campaign will make people more aware of why women in Europe still earn so much less than men and what we can do about it," said EU Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimír
pidla. "In today’s economic climate, equality between women and men is more important than ever. Only by reaping the potential of all our talents can we face up to the crisis," he added. Equal pay for equal work is one of the European Union’s founding principles. Enshrined in the Treaty of Rome in 1957, it was already the subject of a 1975 directive which prohibits all discrimination in all aspects of pay between women and men for the same work or for work of equal value. As a result, "simple and visible" cases of direct discrimination – differences in pay when a man and a woman are doing exactly the same job, with the same experience and skills, and same performance – have fallen a lot thanks to the effectiveness of European and national legislation on equal pay. But why then is there still a gender pay gap of 17.4% across the EU?
The gender pay gap represents the difference between average hourly pay for women and men before tax across the economy as a whole. It reflects ongoing discrimination and inequality in the labour market which, in practice, mainly affects women. For example, women's work is still often seen as less valuable than the work that men do and women often work in sectors where wages are, on average lower than those dominated by men, for example in a supermarket female cashiers usually earn less than the store men.
The pay gap also reduces women's lifetime earnings and pensions causing poverty in later life. 21% of women aged 65 and over are at risk of poverty compared to 16% of men. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the pay gap and how it can be tackled. To reach out to citizens, employers and workers, the campaign will promote good practices on the pay gap from around Europe and distribute a campaign toolbox for employers and trade unions at European and at national level. Other activities include the campaign website, advertising in European press and a poster campaign. It comes as a follow-up to the Commission's 2007 policy communication on the pay gap, which analysed the causes of the gap and identified courses of action at EU level. The Communication underlined the need to raise awareness of the pay gap and how it can be tackled by acting at all levels, involving all stakeholders and focusing on all contributing factors.
Annual report on equality
The 2009 report on equality between women and men – also presented by the European Commission today – confirms that despite some progress on gender equality, significant gaps still remain in several areas. While the employment rate of women has been steadily rising over the last years (now 58.3% for women against 72.5% for men), women still work part-time more often than men (31.2% for women and 7.7% for men) and they predominate in sectors where wages are lower (more than 40% of women work in health, education and public administration – twice as many as men). However, women represent 59% of all new university graduates.
Women and men in decision-making
Meanwhile, a new expert report prepared for the Commission confirms that women are also highly under-represented in economic decision-making and in European politics. The central banks of all 27 EU Member States are led by a male governor. The under-representation of women at the top level is heightened in big business where men account for nearly 90% of the board members in leading companies (constituents of the blue-chip index in each country) - a figure which has barely improved in recent years. The proportion of women members of national parliaments (single/lower house) has risen by around half over the last decade, from 16% in 1997 to 24% in 2008. The European Parliament is just above this figure (31% women). On average, men outnumber women among ministers in national governments by around three to one (25% women, 75% men).
MEMO/09/91
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/91&for
mat=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en>
Further information:
Pay gap campaign website
http://ec.europa.eu/equalpay
2009 annual report on equality between women and men
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=418&langId=en
Women in European Politics - time for action
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publications/booklets/equality/pd
f/ke8109543_en.pdf
Video News Releases on the gender pay gap and women and men in
decision-making
http://www.tvlink.org
************************************
IP/09/341
Brussell, 3 ta' Marzu 2009
L-UE tniedi kampanja biex titratta d-differenza fil-pagi bejn l-irġiel
u n-nisa
Il-Kummissjoni Ewropea llum nediet kampanja mal-UE kollha ħalli tgħin
biex jiġu ttrattati d-differenzi fil-pagi bejn l-irġiel u n-nisa.
Fl-ekonomija kollha tal-UE, in-nisa jaqilgħu medja ta’ 17.4 % inqas
mill-irġiel. Il-kunċett faċli ta’ ‘pagi l-istess għal xogħol
tal-istess valur’ qiegħed fil-qalba tal-kampanja li qed titnieda
fil-kuntest tal-Jum Internazzjonali tan-Nisa fit-8 ta' Marzu biex
titqajjem kuxjenza dwar id-differenza fil-pagi, x'qed jikkawża dan u
kif tista' tiġi ttrattata.
“Id-differenza fil-pagi ġejja minn diversi kawżi u teħtieġ ħafna
soluzzjonijiet. Biex tiġi ttrattata teħtieġ azzjoni fil-livelli
kollha u impenn minn kull min huwa involut, minn dawk li jimpjegaw
in-nies u t-trejdjunjins sal-awtoritajiet u kull ċittadin. Il-kampanja
tagħna se twassal biex in-nies ikunu iktar konxji dwar għaliex
in-nisa fl-Ewropa għadhom jaqilgħu daqshekk inqas mill-irġiel u dwar
x’nistgħu nagħmlu dwar dan" qal il-Kummissarju
għall-Opportunitajiet Ugwali tal-UE, Vladimír pidla. "Fil-klima ekonomika tal-lum, l-ugwaljanza bejn in-nisa u l-irġiel hija iktar
importanti minn qatt qabel. Huwa biss bis-saħħa tal-ġbir
tal-potenzjal tat-talenti kollha tagħna li nistgħu niffaċċjaw din
il-kriżi" żied jgħid.
Ħlas indaqs għall-istess xogħol huwa wieħed mill-prinċipji
fundamentali tal-Unjoni Ewropea. Stabbilit fit-Trattat ta’ Ruma
fl-1957, diġa' kien is-suġġett ta’ direttiva li ħarġet fl-1975
li tipprojbixxi kull diskriminazzjoni fl-aspetti kollha tal-pagi bejn
l-irġiel u n-nisa għall-istess xogħol jew għal xogħol tal-istess
valur. B’riżultat ta’ dan, il-każijiet ta' diskriminazzjoni
diretta ”sempliċi u viżibbli” – differenzi fil-pagi meta mara u
raġel qegħdin jagħmlu l-istess xogħol, bl-istess esperjenza u
ħiliet, u l-istess prestazzjoni – naqsu ħafna grazzi
għall-effettività tal-leġiżlazzjoni nazzjonali u Ewropea dwar pagi ugwali. Iżda allura għaliex għad hemm differenza fil-pagi
tal-irġiel u n-nisa ta' 17.4 % madwar l-UE?
Id-differenza fil-pagi bejn is-sessi tirrappreżenta d-differenza bejn
il-pagi medji fis-siegħa għan-nisa u l-irġiel qabel it-taxxa madwar
l-ekonomija kollha. Hija tirrifletti d-diskriminazzjoni u
l-inugwaljanza li għaddejja fis-suq tax-xogħol li, fil-prattika,
taffettwa l-iktar lin-nisa. Per eżempju, ix-xogħol tan-nisa għadu
jidher bħala ta' valur inqas minn dak li jagħmlu l-irġiel u ħafna
drabi n-nisa jaħdmu f’setturi fejn il-pagi huma, fuq medja inqas
għall-effettività tal-leġiminn dawk iddominati mill-irġiel, pereżempju f’supermarket,
il-kaxxiera nisa normalment jaqilgħu inqas mill-irġiel li jaħdmu
fil-maħżen.
Id-differenza fil-pagi tnaqqas il-qligħ u l-pensjoni ta’ mara matul
ħajjitha u hija l-kawża tal-faqar iktar tard fil-ħajja. 21% tan-nisa ta’ età ta’ 65 u iktar huma fir-riskju tal-faqar meta mqabbel
ma’ 16% tal-irġiel.
Il-kampanja timmira li tqajjem kuxjenza dwar id-differenza fil-pagi u
kif din tista’ tiġi ttrattata. Sabiex jintlaħqu ċ-ċittadini,
l-impjegati u l-ħaddiema, il-kampanja għandha tippromwovi prattiki
tajba dwar id-differenza fil-pagi minn madwar l-Ewropa u
tiddistribwixxi l-għodda għall-kampanja lil dawk li jħaddmu u
t-trejdjunjins fil-livell Ewropew u fil-livell nazzjonali. Attivitajiet
oħra jinkludu l-websajt tal-kampanja, ir-riklamar fl-istampa Ewropea u
kampanja bil-powsters.
Dan huwa segwitu għall-komunikazzjoni tal-politika tal-Kummissjoni
tal-2007 dwar id-differenzi fil-pagi, li analizzat il-kawżi
tad-differenza u identifikat x’azzjonijiet għandhom jittieħdu
fil-livell tal-UE. Il-Komunikazzjoni enfasizzat il-ħtieġa li
titqajjem kuxjenza dwar id-differenza fil-pagi u dwar kif din tista’
tiġi ttrattata permezz ta’ aġir fil-livelli kollha, billi jiġu
involuti l-partijiet kollha interessati u jkun hemm fokus fuq
il-fatturi kollha li jikkontribwixxu għal din.
Rapport annwali dwar l-ugwaljanza
Ir-rapport tal-2009 dwar l-ugwaljanza bejn l-irġiel u n-nisa –
ppreżentat ukoll mill-Kummissjoni Ewropea llum – jikkonferma li
minkejja li sar xi progress fuq l-ugwaljanza bejn is-sessi, għad hemm
differenzi sinifikanti f’diversi oqsma. Filwaqt li r-rata ta’
impiegi tan-nisa ilha tiela’ b’mod kostanti matul is-snin (issa
qiegħda 58.3 % għan-nisa kontra s-72.5 % għall-irġiel), in-nisa
għadhom jaħdmu part-time iktar mill-irġiel (31.2 % għan-nisa u 7.7
% għall-irġiel) u dawn jippredominaw f’setturi fejn il-pagi huma
inqas (iktar minn 40 % tan-nisa jaħdmu fis-saħħa, l-edukazzjoni u
l-amministrazzjoni pubblika – darbtejn aktar mill-irġiel f’dawn
is-setturi). Madankollu, in-nisa jirrapreżentaw 59 % tal-gradwati
ġodda kollha mill-università.
In-nisa u l-irġiel fit-teħid tad-deċiżjonijiet
Sadanittant, rapport ġdid mill-esperti mħejji għall-Kummissjoni
jikkonferma li n-nisa huma wkoll għandhom rappreżentazzjoni ferm
nieqsa fit-teħid ta’ deċiżjonijiet ekonomiċi u fil-politika
Ewropea. Il-banek ċentrali tas-27 Stat Membru tal-UE huma mmexxija
minn gvernatur raġel. In-nuqqas ta’ nisa f’karigi għolja jidher
iktar fl-intrapriżi l-kbar fejn l-irġiel jgħoddu għal kważi 90 %
tal-membri tal-bord f’kumpaniji ewlenin (kostitwenti tal-indiċi
blue-chip f’kull pajjiż), ċifra li bilkemm tjiebet fis-snin
riċenti.
Il-proporzjon ta’ membri nisa ta’ parlamenti nazzjonali (kamra
tad-deputati) żdied b’madwar nofs f’dawn l-aħħar għaxar snin,
minn 16 % fl-1997 għal 24 % fl-2008. Il-Parlament Ewropew qiegħed
biss ftit ogħla minn din iċ-ċifra (31 % nisa). Bħala medja,
l-irġiel jgħaddu lin-nisa fost ministri fi gvernijiet nazzjonali
b’madwar tliet irġiel għal kull mara (25 % nisa, 75 % rġiel).
MEMO/09/91
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/91&for
mat=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en>
Għal aktar tagħrif:
Websajt tal-kampanja dwar id-differenzi fil-pagi
http://ec.europa.eu/equalpay <http://ec.europa.eu/equalpay>
Rapport annwali tal-2009 dwar l-ugwaljanza bejn n-nisa u l-irġiel :
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=418&langId=en
In-Nisa fil-Politika Ewropea – iż-żmien għall-azzjoni
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publications/booklets/equality/pd
f/ke8109543_en.pdf
<http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publications/booklets/equality/p
df/ke8109543_en.pdf>
Stqarrijiet tal-Aħbarijiet fuq Vidjo dwar id-differenzi fil-pagi bejn
is-sessi u n-nisa u l-irġiel fit-teħid tad-deċiżjonijiet
http://www.tvlink.org http://www.tvlink.org