20 Roadmap for equality between men and
women
| (27332)
7034/06
COM(06) 92
+ ADD 1
| Commission Communication: a Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-10
Commission staff working document: impact assessment
|
| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 1 March 2006
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 9 March 2006
|
| Department | Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 23 March 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
20.1 In November 2000, a previous Committee considered a Communication
from the Commission called Towards a Community Framework on
gender equality (2001-2005).[80]
It set out the Commission's five-year work programme for gender
equality. It identified five areas for intervention: economic
life; equal participation and representation; social rights; civil
life; and gender roles and stereotypes.
20.2 Article 2 of the Treaty establishing the European
Community (the EC Treaty) makes the promotion of equality between
men and women part of the Community's task. Article 137(1)(i)
of the EC Treaty provides that the Community is to support and
complement the activities of Member States on equality between
men and women in employment. Article 141 requires Member States
to ensure that the principle of equal pay is applied; it also
requires the Council to adopt measures to ensure the application
to employment and occupation of the principle of equal opportunities
and equal treatment of men and women.
The Commission' Roadmap for 2006-10
20.3 The Commission says that its Roadmap builds
on the Framework Strategy for 2002-05. It contains proposals for
new activities and plans for the reinforcement of existing ones.
It outlines six priorities for action over the next five years.
20.4 The staff working document (ADD 1) provides
detailed supporting information on the six priorities. It also
assesses three policy options: taking no new EU action to improve
gender equality; or taking a "sectoral approach" to
the promotion of equality (for example, gender equality through
the Structural Funds would be promoted by the Commission staff
dealing with the Structural Funds independently of action to promote
equality by the staff concerned with EU immigration policy); or
adopting the Roadmap approach, coordinating and "joining
up" all European-level activity on gender equality. Finally,
ADD 1 gives an assessment of the likely impact of the Commission's
preferred option, the Roadmap.
20.5 The Roadmap has three Annexes:
- indicators for monitoring progress
(such as employment rates of men and women; at-risk-of-poverty
rates by gender);
- existing Commission structures to promote gender
equality (such as the Commission's Advisory Committee on equal
opportunities for women and men; the Helsinki Group on women and
science); and
- the Commission's policy and rules for equal opportunities
for its own staff.
20.6 The Roadmap not only sets out the Commission's
priorities for EC action; it also specifies objectives for each
priority and lists "key actions" to be taken. The priorities
are as follows.
1. ACHIEVING EQUAL ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE FOR
WOMEN AND MEN
20.7 The objectives under this heading include:
- reach the Lisbon strategy employment
targets (for example, a 60% employment rate for women of working
age by 2010);
- eliminate the gender pay gap (on average, women
currently earn 15% less than men for comparable work);
- increase the proportion of EU entrepreneurs who
are women; and
- tackle discrimination on multiple grounds (against,
for example, women who are immigrants).
20.8 Among the key actions the Commission will take
in support of these objectives are: promoting gender equality
in the EC's Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs; promoting
equal economic independence during the 2007 European Year of Equal
Opportunities; and presenting a Communication on the gender pay
gap in 2007.
2. ENHANCING RECONCILIATION OF WORK, PRIVATE
LIFE AND FAMILY LIFE
20.9 The objectives the Commission aims to achieve
under this heading include:
- flexible working arrangements
for men and women;
- more and more accessible facilities for the care
of children and other dependents; and
- encouraging men to share family responsibilities
for child care.
20.10 Among the key actions the Commission will take
are: the presentation of a Communication in 2006 on reconciling
work and family life; and supporting the use of the Structural
Funds to develop childcare facilities.
3. PROMOTING EQUAL PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN AND
MEN IN DECISION-MAKING
20.11 The Commission has three objectives under this
heading:
- encourage women's participation
in civic life, in public administration at senior levels and in
politics;
- promote balanced participation of men and women
in economic decision-making; and
- foster progress towards the achievement of the
target for women to fill 25% of leading positions in public sector
research.
20.12 The key actions the Commission will take include:
using the Education and Training 2010 Programme to promote women's
access to careers in science and technology; setting up a network
of women who are economic and political decision-makers; supporting
awareness raising activities and the exchange of good practice,
particularly with a mind to the elections to the European Parliament
in 2009.
4. ERADICATION GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND TRAFFICKING
20.13 The Commission notes that women and children
who are living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to trafficking
for prostitution and other forms of exploitation. The objectives
the Commission will pursue reflect the EU Action Plan on trafficking
in human beings.[81]
20.14 The Key Actions the Commission will take include:
supporting the work of Member States and NGOs to prevent violence
to women through awareness-raising campaigns, exchanges of good
practice and research; using EC programmes, such as the European
Social Fund, to help women who have been the subject of trafficking
or violence to integrate with society.
5. ELIMINATING GENDER STEREOTYPES
20.15 The Commission's objectives under this heading
include:
- eliminating gender stereotypes
in education, training and culture by, for example, reducing the
number of children who leave school at too early an age, a problem
which affects more boys than girls;
- eliminating gender stereotypes in the labour
market through, for example, encouraging women to enter occupations
that are traditionally filled by men and have high status and
pay, and by the enforcement of the law on equal treatment and
non-discrimination; and
- eliminating gender stereotypes in the media by,
for example, encouraging them to avoid portraying women in a degrading
way.
20.16 The key actions the Commission will take include:
supporting the exchange of information and good practice on countering
gender stereotypes at work and at school; and providing support
through the EC's education and culture programmes for action to
counter stereotypes.
6. PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY OUTSIDE THE EU
20.17 The Commission has two objectives under this
heading:
- ensure that countries acceding
to the EU — or which are candidates to join it — transpose,
implement and enforce EC legislation on equal treatment; and
- promote gender equality in the European Neighbourhood
Policy and in the EU's external and development policies.
20.18 The key actions the Commission will take include:
presenting a Communication later this year on a European Vision
of Gender Equality in Development Cooperation; incorporating the
promotion of gender equality in EC humanitarian aid programmes;
and running a Euromed Ministerial Conference this year on gender
equality.
20.19 The Commission also says that major progress
on gender equality will depend on better governance at the
EU-level, in Member States and in civil society. To this
end, the Commision will: help set up the proposed European Institute
for Gender Equality; create a new network of national gender equality
bodies; encourage and support the work of NGOs and the social
partners on gender equality; examine the possibility of developing
"gender budgeting"; monitor the implementation of existing
EC legislation on equal treatment; and propose amendments to modernisation
the legislation, if necessary.
20.20 In 2008, the Commission will make an interim
report on the implementation of the Roadmap and will conduct an
evaluation of it in 2010.
The Government's view
20.21 The Deputy Minister for Women and Equality
at the Department of Trade and Industry (Meg Munn) tells us that
the Government welcomes the Roadmap with its strong focus on the
Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. It also welcomes the Commission's
wish to make progress through non-legislative action.
Conclusion
20.22 We draw the Communication to the attention
of the House because of the importance of striving for equality
between men and women. The Commission has set itself an ambitious
programme of work. We look forward to scrutinising the detailed
proposals the Commission will make in its planned Communications
on, for example, the gender pay gap and on gender equality in
development co-operation. Meanwhile, we are content to clear the
Roadmap from scrutiny.
80 See (21438) 8638/00: HC 23-xxx (1999-2000), para
8 (22 November 2000). Back
81
See (26985) 12402/2/05: HC 34-x (2005-06), para 24 (16 November
2005). Back
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