Gender equality : still an issue for women at work?
Gender equality is an EU fundamental value, embed in the Treaty as from the very beginning of the European construction (i.e. the Treaty of Rome includes a provision on equal pay). Over the years, further developments, targets and actions have nourished this notion and its implementation within EU Member States. Despite progress in various fields (such as employment of women, measures to ease access to childcare facilities, development of flexible working solutions) the situation is highly variable throughout the EU and some huge challenges remain: unfair career advancement, pay and pension gap, rights and social inequalities, gender sharing out of unpaid jobs and care distribution,… to name a few.
It is worth noting that acting in such challenging fields would have positive consequences on organisations (notably companies) and the society in general. A recent EIGE study reveals that “a more gender equal EU would have strong, positive GDP impacts growing over time, higher level of employment and productivity and could respond to challenges related to the ageing population in the EU. By 2050, improving gender equality would lead to an increase in EU (GDP) per capita by 6.1 to 9.6%, which amounts to €1.95 to €3.15 trillion.”
It seems therefore useful to open the debate on the remaining obstacles for a proper implementation of measures to tackle gender equality, and notably the one related to the conciliation of work and social life which is currently debated due to the recent release by the European Commission of the Initiative to support work-life balance for working parents and carers.
The next Policies and Practices’ session will specifically address the following questions:
- the remaining challenges to tackle gender equality at the workplace and possible ways to answer them (notably through practical examples) and the WLB package
- the visibility and recognition of the returns on investment on gender equality: how to reinforce them to promote the necessity to act?
- the stakeholders to be involved to face such a societal challenge
[1] EIGE, Economic benefits of gender equality in the European Union, Improving Gender equality has many positive impacts on individuals and also on society at larget, 2017, http://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/policy-areas/economic-and-financial-affairs/economic-benefits-gender-equality
Speakers addressing these issues include:
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Maria Noichl (S&D), is a member of the European Parliament representing the Bavarian regions Oberbayern and Schwaben. She is a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development as well as the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. Maria Noichl was the rapporteur of the initiative report on the post-2015 gender equality strategy. The promotion of women's rights and gender equality are very important to her, as she is active in the women's section of the German Social Democrats since more than 20 years. Prior to her decision to run for the European Parliament she was a representative of the Bavarian Parliament and the spokesperson for agriculture and forestry.
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Guillaume Cravero is senior adviser in the fields of social policies, the European social dialogue, EU economic governance, labour market reforms, gender equality and diversity. He graduated from Grenoble Ecole de Management and from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
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Efi Anastasiou is a policy officer in the Social Investment Strategy Unit of DG EMPL, specifically working on the Commission's work-life balance initiative. She previously worked on the country desk for Greece in DG EMPL where she was programme manager of ESF co-financed operational programmes. She completed a Bachelors in Law at the University of Manchester and a Masters in Law from University College London.
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Logistics
When
Friday 5 July, 2024
Where
Virtual Event - Zoom
