Download Comm Andor Keynote Address

Keynote address by Commissioner for Employment, European Commission,
Mr. László Andor at
Ireland’s EU Presidency Conference
‘Women’s Economic Engagement and the Europe 2020 Agenda’
Title: "Gender balance in Europe's economy"
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honoured to be with you here today to discuss the role of women in the economy and how the policies
for equality between men and women are needed in Europe, specifically in this time of crisis.
I can assure you that gender equality remains high on the agenda of the European Commission. Rightly so,
as important gender gaps persist with regard to labour market participation and progress.
Equality between women and men is not only a question of fairness, but also an economic objective. In fact,
increasing women employment is crucial to ensure that the EU can achieve its goals set out in the Europe
2020 Strategy: smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. One objective is that 75% of the working-age
population shall participate in the labour market by 2020.
For this to happen, women's participation in the labour market must indeed significantly increase. In all
Member States women employment rates are lower than those for men - with big variations across the EU.
In the EU27 as a whole, the employment rate for men was 75% in 2011, while for women it was only 62.3%
in the same year. In other words: the employment target is already met – but only for men. Moreover, while
on average 1 man out of 10 worked part-time, the average for women was 3 out of 10.
Over the past period, the gender gap in employment, unemployment, wages and poverty has decreased.
However this is mainly a consequence of the overall lower performance of our economies and labour
markets due to the crisis.
It is also connected to the persisting sectoral segregation in the labour market between women and men.
During the first years of the crisis, labour market segregation effectively sheltered women’s employment,
labour market activity and pay, given that the services sector in which women are overrepresented was less
affected than for instance manufacturing and construction where the workforce is predominantly male.
Between 2008 and 2011, male employment suffered a loss of over 4 million, while the number of employed
women decreased by less than half a million.
A Commission expert group has examined the impact of the economic crisis on the situation of women and
men and on gender equality policies.
The findings, published in November 2012, suggest that the specific impact of fiscal consolidation on
gender equality varies considerably among countries. While in some countries the impact is modest and not
necessarily harming gender equality objectives, in others considerable retrenchment in employment, social
transfers and social services may be rolling back past progress.
It also concluded that disparities in gender equality within Europe may widen back as a consequence of the
crisis and fiscal consolidation.
Statistics show that austerity measures have a relative larger effect on women, as they use to a larger extent
transfers and public services. Therefore, reductions of care-related facilities or allowances, the cuts in
housing benefits or family benefits can disproportionately affect women.
The shrinking availability and affordability of care services, childcare in particular, creates difficulties
reconciling work and family life, limiting the possibilities for women to work.
And those women who work still earn considerably less in average hourly earnings, and are concentrated in
jobs that pay less, such as in the public sectors that are either being downsized or suffering wage freezes.
These gaps in terms of women's participation and progress in the labour market are problematic, not only in
terms of gender equality, but also in economic and social terms.
Women face a higher risk of poverty, in particular at pensionable age. Moreover, since women are
increasingly highly qualified, even surpassing men in educational achievements, their low labour market
participation and underemployment represent a waste of human capital.
After having painted this rather grey picture, the question arises what can be done to improve the situation
and how can the European Commission help?
It is clear that our first task is to overcome the crisis. This means that the economic and financial situation
should be improved. And, the employment and social aspects need to be addressed with the same
determination.
The functioning of our labour markets is at the core of our economies. This is why the Commission
presented last year an employment package on a job-rich recovery. The package pays a particular attention
to gender equality and calls for:
o
providing equal pay,
o
adequate childcare,
o
eliminating all discrimination and tax-benefit disincentives that discourage female participation,
and
o
optimizing the duration of maternity and parental leave.
The crisis has also increased the urgency to reform our social systems. These reforms should be undertaken
in such a manner as to improve performance and reduce inequalities, including those between men and
women. The Commission has provided guidance on these reforms in the Social Investment Package adopted
last February. The basic principle is that Member States' social policies need to learn from the best
performing European welfare states, to be simpler, to adopt a life-cycle approach, and to work more
coherently against gender inequalities. The Package also consists of a Recommendation on child poverty.
The Recommendation calls on Member States to provide accessible quality early childhood education and
care services in view of increasing female employment on a full-time and part-time basis – as well as
tackling childhood disadvantage at an early stage.
Finally, the Commission has published other social policy guidance, such as the White Paper on Pensions in
2012, setting out a policy framework to help Member States ensure adequate, safe and sustainable pensions.
The White Paper stressed that equalising pensionable ages for women and men can make a significant
contribution to raising the labour force participation of older workers and contribute to improving income
for women.
The specific guidance set out in the Employment Package, the Social Investment Package and the White
Paper on Pensions fits into the Commission's commitments on gender equality as described in its Strategy
for Equality between Women and Men. This is the European Commission's work program for the period
2010-2015 to promote gender equality. It is based on six priorities:
o
Economic independence for women;
o
Equal pay;
o
Equality in decision-making;
o
Dignity, integrity and ending gender-based violence,
o
Promoting gender equality beyond the EU,
o
Integrate gender mainstreaming in all EU policies
The Commission is monitoring the situation in the different Member States as regards these priorities in an
annual report, called "Progress on Equality between Women and Men". This analysis illustrates how gender
issues should be addressed notably in the Europe 2020 Strategy and in the European semester.
Already, in the last two years, Country-Specific Recommendations have sought to improve gender equality
in areas such as providing affordable and adequate childcare services, removing financial disincentives to
work, reducing the gender pay gap, and harmonising the pension ages and pension rights for men and
women.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The EU not only assists the Member States with policy guidance and recommendations. EU funds, and in
particular the European Social Fund, bring a strong added value to the promotion of gender equality in the
Member States. A thorough evaluation conducted in 2010 concluded that the ESF played a key role in
making most Member States aware of gender equality as a field for active policy action, creating and
preserving a space for gender equality.
Let me quote some examples.
In 2012 I visited an ESF-financed project near to Rome. There a company launched an initiative to improve
the working condition through organizational changes in order to improve work processes and to support
teleworking. They aim to promote work-life balance and to reduce stress at workplace.
The "Better future for women" project in Romania, aims at creating chances and changing attitudes to
women. It promotes a more active role for disadvantaged women in their local economies by helping them
set up and manage their own businesses and associations. Four thousand women participated to this threeyear project.
The Commission's proposal for the next ESF programming period contains important elements on gender
mainstreaming.
The new ESF Regulation also foresees that Member States implement specific actions aiming at gender
equality. In this respect, we need to give due importance to gender equality concerns when drafting the
Partnership Contract and the Operational Programmes. This should be done in a dialogue with the
Commission services.
At a smaller scale, the current PROGRESS programme is also important. Within its framework a number of
exemplary projects have been funded to test new approaches and Member States' policy responses, notably
on the role of women in the economy and how gender issues should be taken into account when designing
the responses to the economic crisis.
Finally, I would like to highlight the Commission's initiatives to ensure progress in women's involvement in
political and economic decision making processes.
Women are under-represented in the decision-making process, both in parliaments and national
governments and on management boards of large companies, despite making up half of the workforce and
more than half of new university graduates in the EU.
On the political level, the Commission's Women's Charter reaffirmed its commitment to pursue the fairer
representation of women and men in positions of power in public life and the economy.
In the Strategy for Equality between Women and Men, we have also committed ourselves to improve the
gender balance within the Commission, and promote greater participation of women in European Parliament
elections.
On the economic level, to address the under-representation of women in management positions in
companies, the Commission has proposed legislation which sets a target of appointing women to at least
40% of non-executive board-member positions in publicly listed companies by 2020.
A European Network to Promote Women’s Entrepreneurship (WES) exists since 2000 where members
provide advice, support, information and contacts for female entrepreneurs in 31 European countries.
To conclude, equality between women and men is a fundamental value of the EU, which must not be
jeopardized by the economic crisis.
The European Commission will continue to promote gender equality, to monitor the situation and propose
concrete solutions to improve the situation.
I very much look forward to hearing your insights and ideas.
Thank you for your attention.