European Union: Social partners agree joint text on gender equality
On 22 March 2005, the EU-level social partners concluded a new joint framework of actions on gender equality. This new text aims to improve gender equality at the workplace, by focusing on concrete measures to achieve this. It also gives details of 20 best practice case studies.
The joint text is entitled Framework of actions on gender equality, and was concluded by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) (including representatives of the EUROCADRES/CEC Liaison Committee), the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME) and the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP). This joint text is the culmination of work on gender equality, carried out within the framework of the social partners' three-year work programme, covering 2003, 2004 and 2005 (EC: Social partners set out their three-year work programme). As part of this work, the social partners held a series of seminars between January and September 2004, at which 20 case studies of social partner agreements and practices from around the EU at national, sectoral and/or company level were presented. Together, they outline a range of good practice in various areas of equality actions and are drawn from a variety of public and private sector organisations, from sectoral and national agreements. For details of these case studies, see the box below.
The signatory parties state that integrated strategies are needed to promote gender equality and tackle the remaining inequalities on labour markets. These strategies include actions to desegregate labour markets and to address gender roles in society. Further, the need to improve women's labour market participation is a core goal of the EU's Lisbon strategy, which aims to increase women's average employment rate in the EU to 60% by 2010. The Lisbon strategy also aims to provide childcare by 2010 to at least 90% of children between three and the mandatory school age, and at least 33% of children under three.
The joint text sets out some of the progress made in the area of equality over the past three decades. This includes: an increase in the length of time that young women spend in education and initial vocational training; an increase in the female employment rate from 50% in the first half of the 1990s to the current rate of 55.6%; a narrowing of the gaps between women and men in employment, education and research; and an increase in the number of women in managerial positions.
However, the parties also note that a number of difficulties persist and that women are still more vulnerable than men to unemployment and economic inactivity. Specific problems are as follows:
- a continuing difficulty in reconciling family responsibilities with full-time employment;
- despite progress in the area of education, traditional patterns remain in higher education. Further, the educational choices of both men and women tend to reproduce gender stereotypes;
- the persistence of a high level of occupational and sectoral gender segregation in the labour market, with women dominating in low-paid and low-skilled jobs or in sectors such as healthcare and social services, education, public administration and retailing. A disproportionate number of men work as technicians, engineers, finance professionals and managers; and
- the average gender pay gap in the EU is 16% and only some countries have taken effective steps towards reducing this significantly.
In an attempt to tackle these problems, the text highlights four priorities on which the signatory parties want the national social partners to focus over the coming five years. These are:
- addressing gender roles;
- promoting women in decision-making;
- supporting work-life balance; and
- tackling the gender pay gap.
The text states that these priorities are "interconnected and of equal importance". Also, any action taken at national, sectoral and/or company level will be most effective if these priorities are tackled in an "integrated approach".
Addressing gender roles
The text states that traditional gender roles and stereotypes have a strong influence on the division of labour between men and women at home, in the workplace and more widely in society, which tends to "continue a vicious circle of obstacles for achieving gender equality". Although the rate of employment for women has increased significantly over the past three decades, the increase has not been equal in all sectors and occupations. The signatory parties believe that it is crucial to desegregate labour markets if occupational gender equality is to be achieved.
On a positive note, they acknowledge that some EU companies already check their internal practices and policies to encourage particular groups of people to enter and remain in employment. Further, there have been a range of initiatives in this area, undertaken by the social partners at company, sectoral and national levels.
In order to make further progress in this area, the text singles out the following elements as key in the fight against stereotyped gender roles on the labour market:
- promoting non-gender-biased education in schools and universities and providing efficient and non-stereotyped careers advice services. It is also important to encourage pupils, students and parents to consider all available career options for girls and boys at an early stage. Practical measures could include: organising open days in companies for girls; encouraging parents to promote companies as a place for their daughters to pursue careers; establishing cooperation programmes with public and/or education authorities to raise awareness of labour market needs; and encouraging participation in careers fairs;
- making a special effort to attract girls and young women into technical and scientific professions. This could be achieved by: setting targets to increase the number of girls taking up apprenticeships in technical and scientific professions; and sending women who are engaged in technical or scientific occupations into schools as "ambassadors";
- promoting the recruitment and retention of women and men with adequate skills at enterprise level in sectors and occupations where they are under-represented. Further, the skills content of female occupations should be acknowledged and, where possible, enriched, so as to offer better career paths and opportunities for women in female-dominated sectors. This could be achieved by: reviewing the way in which job titles, job descriptions and advertisements are formulated, to enhance their attractiveness to women; adapting the workplace to enable a greater gender mix at work; and providing information about internal job offers and career prospects on the intranet;
- raising awareness of middle managers in companies on ways to promote equal opportunities for all employees. This could be achieved by: using all available means of communication to highlight top managers' commitment to a diverse workforce; training on the benefits of diversity management and making them accountable for the implementation of the company's diversity policy; ensuring a good flow of information between the designated contact persons for staff grievances on equal opportunities issues; and highlighting cases of women breaking new ground;
- promoting entrepreneurship as a career option for both women and men at sector and/or national level. One way of promoting this would be to identify potential female business starters and/or top managers and give them the necessary training; and
- encouraging competence development for adults so that men and women can develop in their careers throughout their life. This could be achieved by ensuring transparency and transferability of competences and qualifications; promoting the participation of low-skilled workers and those in non-standard employment in further education, training and life-long learning; and setting gender-balance goals at sectoral level in the area of access to vocational training.
Promoting women in decision-making
The text acknowledges that the number of women who are in decision-making positions is growing. However, only 30% of managers are women, only 10% of members of boards of directors are women and only 3% of CEOs or equivalent positions are held by women. Therefore, the signatory parties believe that the social partners have a responsibility to ensure that the overall working environment supports a more balanced participation of women and men in decision-making.
The text highlights the following areas as key to improving female participation at all levels within companies:
- promoting competence-based gender-neutral recruitment in enterprises. This could be achieved by: putting into place transparent and gender-neutral recruitment, selection and promotion criteria; and checking that the recruitment of women is proportionate to the number of female applications;
- retaining women in enterprises, to avoid loss of competence. Employers need to discuss with all employees, at an early stage, their career expectations and work-life balance needs. Further, conducting exit interviews with women would help employers to understand why they are leaving, and to further refine the company's human resources policy. Employee satisfaction should also be monitored by regular surveys;
- encouraging career development for both men and women. This could involve measures such as: developing networks, mentoring and self-confidence building schemes across the company; setting targets for the promotion of women; identifying possibilities for non-linear career development paths, alternating periods of higher professional involvement and periods of greater family responsibility, as an alternative to a long hours culture; and facilitating the geographical mobility of managers by helping partners to find a job in the new region;
- promoting female entrepreneurship as a complementary way of increasing the number of women in decision-making and increasing women's participation in the labour market. This could be achieved by establishing regional programmes for female entrepreneurs and supporting projects designed to ease generational handover to women in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs); and
- promoting women's role in the social dialogue at all levels and on both the employer and the trade union side. In particular, special attention should be paid to enabling women to take up responsibilities in the area of worker representation, by means of the scheduling of meetings and the availability of facilities.
Supporting work-life balance
The joint text maintains that work-life balance can enhance employee satisfaction, promote workplace equality, contribute to an organisation's reputation as an employer of choice and benefit both employers and workers. It notes that successful policies must take account of the needs of both the employer and the worker, with the best results being achieved by means of dialogue. It highlights the following areas as key in supporting a good work-life balance:
- flexible working arrangements that can be taken up on a voluntary basis by both men and women. They should be designed in a way that does not undermine workers' long-term participation and position on the labour market. These could include measures such as making available a mix of various working arrangements that allow for flexibility in working time or the organisation of work; and the introduction of career breaks and arrangements such as ad hoc home working;
- promoting a more balanced take-up of options designed to ease work-life balance. This could include encouraging take-up by men and encouraging parents to share leave periods more equally; and
- jointly approaching public authorities to develop instruments that help increase the availability of accessible and affordable childcare facilities. This could include measures such as: the provision of travel offices, shops, banks and insurance offices on site; childcare centres or the financing of a part of nursery costs; and creating funds to mutualise the costs of maternity or parental leave allowances to ensure that women are not a more costly source of labour than men.
Tackling the gender pay gap
The text points out that there is a strong EU legal framework supporting equal pay for equal work and work of equal value. However, there is a persistent gender pay gap across Europe, which the signatory parties believe may signal labour market dysfunction. They also feel that the reasons for the gender pay gap are not always well understood. However, they acknowledge that important work has been done in areas such as equal pay reviews, equality plans and benchmarking, following recognition of the link between labour market segregation and the gender pay gap. They identify key areas of action as follows:
- giving information on existing legislation on equal pay and guidance on how to help close the gender pay gap at different levels. This could include: practical guides for companies, in particular for SMEs; and the conclusion of national, sectoral or framework agreements;
- developing clear and up-to-date statistics at sector and/or national level to enable the social partners to analyse and understand the complex causes of pay differentials. For example, a joint method could be established that gives a detailed and analytical picture of the underlying causes of wage differences between men and women; and
- ensuring that pay systems, including job evaluation schemes, are transparent and gender-neutral. Attention should also be paid to the possible discriminatory effects of secondary elements of pay. For example, job descriptions could be screened to make sure that they do not contain discriminatory elements. Pay criteria could be reviewed to check that they are not discriminatory, toolkits could be developed to give information to negotiators dealing with gender equality issues, and existing online tools could be used to provide information on wage formation and enable individuals to compare their salaries with those of other employees.
Actions and follow-up
The signatory parties state that their member organisations will promote this text at all appropriate levels. It will also be transmitted to all relevant bodies at European and national levels. At national level, the social partners will draw up an annual report on the actions carried out in member states in each of the four priority areas identified above. After four annual reports, the European social partners will evaluate the impact on companies and workers. This may then lead to an update of the text's priorities and/or an assessment of whether additional action is needed in one or more of the priority areas. This text will also be taken into account when the next EU social dialogue work programme is prepared.
This is not a legally binding agreement, but the signatory parties hope that their national member federations will implement it in their own countries in line with national customs and practices.
