Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-31-Speech-4-018"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2001-05-31"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Equal treatment for men and women2
dcterms:Language	"de"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20010531.1.4-018"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2001-05-31-Speech-4-0192
lpv:speaker	lp:Christa Klass2
lpv:spokenAs	member; Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China (1999-10-06--2002-01-14)3 member; Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; EPP-ED (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 substitute; AGRI (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission's proposal brings some improvements. It enhances the protection for employees who file complaints about discrimination. For the first time, it defines sexual harassment in the workplace as discrimination on grounds of sex, and it recognises the special protection granted to women due to their biological condition. One thing is clear, and with all our good intentions we must take this into account: all the rights conferred by the directive must be open to scrutiny by the courts, and therefore the employer can also only be held to account if he was informed, for example, about incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace. There must be scope to include the existing agencies, such as equal opportunities officers or works councils, in the delivery of equal opportunities. They must be able to act within the terms of the amended directive so that there is no need to set up new bodies at substantial staffing and financial cost. Monitoring and building on the results achieved is important, but here too, effective record-keeping can be expanded at national level in line with the directive so that the Commission is able to draw up European statistics. The call for annual equal opportunities reports would impose a disproportionately heavy financial burden on small and medium-sized undertakings. Women who bear children enjoy special protection in law. In this respect, a great deal has been achieved in the Member States of the European Union over the years. The European directive on maternity protection contains clear provisions here. I do not oppose the inclusion of fathers, quite the contrary. However, I do oppose the sloppiness of the approach here, and the fact that maternity rights and paternity rights are treated as identical. There is one minor difference. Children are born to mothers, not fathers. By the very nature of things, we must therefore be able to differentiate. In this respect, the proposal is not very well thought out. We want equal treatment; we want equal opportunities in society, work and employment. Those are our stated goals. However, we must be very careful to achieve a balance so that women's jobs remain attractive now and in future."@en1

Named graphs describing this resource:

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph