2. EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK AND WORK OF EQUAL VALUE
The principle of equal pay for men and women for work of equal value is enshrined in the EU Treaties. Despite that, the gender pay gap (the average difference between men’s and women’s hourly gross earnings across the economy as a whole) in the EU remains at 17.8%, with Estonia at 30.9%, the CzechRepublic at 26.2%, Austria at
25.5%, and Germany at 23.2% against Italy at 4.9%, Slovenia at 8.5%, and Belgium and Romania at 9%. Clearly this is a situation which the spirit of the EU Treaties requires to be changed over time. The root causes of the gender pay gap extend well beyond the question of equal pay for equal work. There is a gap between women's educational attainment and professional development, thus special attention should be paid to the transition between education and the labour market. The causes of the pay gap also derive from segregation in the labour market as women and men still tend to work in different sectors/jobs. On the one hand, women and men are often over-represented in certain sectors, with ‘female’ jobs (mostly in health care, education and public administration) being in general less valued than typically male professions. On the other hand, within the same sector or company the jobs done by women tend to be of lower value and less well paid. The pay gap also reflects other inequalities on the labour market mainly affecting women – in particular their disproportionate share in family responsibilities and the difficulties in reconciling work with private life. Many women work part-time or under atypical contracts: although this permits them to remain in the labour market while managing family responsibilities, it can have a negative impact on their pay, career development, promotion prospects and pensions.
Key actions
The Commission will:
- With the European social partners, and respecting the autonomy of the social dialogue, explore possible ways to improve the transparency of pay as well as the impact on equal pay of arrangements such as part-time work and fixed-term contracts.
- Support equal pay initiatives at the workplace such as equality labels, ‘charters’, and awards, as well as the development of tools for employers to correct unjustified gender pay gaps.
- Institute a European Equal Pay Day to be held each year to increase awareness on how much longer women need to work than men to earn the same.
- Seek to encourage women to enter non-traditional professions, for example in "green" and innovative sectors.
