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IN RECENT MONTHS THE European Union has published both reports on the past and initiatives for the future in the field of gender equality. The Employment and Social Affairs directorate, known as DGV, is in charge of this area of EU policy. It issued two reports in March: the first reviews progress made during 1999 to improve equal opportunities across the EU, and details action undertaken under the European employment strategy. The second report reviews the implementation of a 1996 European Council Recommendation on the balanced participation of women and men in decision-making processes.
In the area of social affairs, the first report highlights the 'European employment strategy' as a concrete example of the positive consequences of including the issue of gender in high-profile projects: 'In the two-year period since the launch of the European employment process in Luxembourg in 1997, equality between women and men has been integrated into the employment policy agenda. It is now accepted that Europe needs the skills, experience and active involvement of women from all walks of life in the workforce in order to strengthen its growth and cohesion'. The report states that the 1999 National Action Plans on employment (see article below) took up the equality issue in a more dynamic way than in 1998, as a result of a new clause on gender mainstreaming being introduced into the 1999 Employment Guidelines.
Mainstreaming seeks to implement the Community strategy of 'combining the integration of a gender perspective into all of the EU policies and programmes with specific actions in favour of women, as now expressed in the Amsterdam Treaty'. Soon after the nomination of the new Commission in autumn 1999, President Prodi created a new group of Commissioners for Equal Opportunities with four Commissioners as permanent members, but open to all others. The group, chaired by the President with the Commissioner in charge of Employment and Social Affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, as vice-president, will co-ordinate the Commission's actions in the field of equal opportunities.
The second report focuses mainly on women's representation in parliaments, civil services, judiciaries and government committees but also mentions private sector management. It reveals that in spite of a host of different measures adopted by Member States the under-representation of women in governments and Parliaments, as well as in the higher levels of the labour market has not changed considerably. The average percentage of women in the governments of all Member States is 24.5% with 22.5% in the national parliaments, varying from 6.3% in Greece to 43.6% in Sweden
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Romano Prodi and Anna Diamantopoulou: promoting equal opportunities |
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The question of what is to be done about this imbalance and equal opportunities in general is to be addressed by the Commission's new gender equality programme which starts next year. Commissioner Diamantopoulou has outlined proposals for the new package but is making extensive consultations including an 'online mailbox' to which anybody can e-mail suggestions. She suggests that the five strategic objectives of the new programme will be: equality in economic life (fairer distribution of resources), equal representation (balanced participation of women and men in all decision-making bodies), equality in social life (better distribution of responsibilities between women and men in relation to working time, leisure and family), changing gender roles and stereotypes (including those in the media, arts, culture and science) and equality in civil life (law enforcement mechanisms to strengthen fundamental human rights). She sees national governments, the European Commission and the European Council as having a role in co-ordinating the new policies.
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'Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union 1999' can be downloaded from the Internet at |
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equ_opp/report_en.html |
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'Adobe Acrobat Reader' to view it can be downloaded at |
IN FEBRUARY THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL (Council of Ministers) finalised its recommendation to each Member State on their National Action Plans (NAPs) on employment. These were initiated at the Luxembourg meeting in 1997 to try to expand employment in the EU.
For many of the countries involved the advice concerned lessening bureaucracy to aid small businesses starting up and reducing tax on workers whilst reforming benefit systems to encourage participation in the labour market. Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Sweden all received recommendations along these lines. In the case of the United Kingdom the advice was rather different with stress being put on eliminating the gender pay gap, a partnership approach between employers and unions to foster modernisation and expanding and improving the quality of child care provisions.
Ireland was urged to increase the participation of women in the labour market, to exploit the potential for extra jobs in the expanding service sector and to expand and improve in-house training. Portugal needs to improve its education system and modernise work organisation through social partnership; Austria and Finland should both review early retirement schemes to keep older workers active longer as well as addressing gender gaps and segregation in employment.
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