Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-24-Speech-4-060-000"
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"en.20120524.5.4-060-000"2
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"− Madam President, I would like to thank all the speakers for their contributions. I can assure you that they will be noted, including the more critical comments.
The gender pay gap is a complex phenomenon and goes far beyond the issue of equal pay for equal work. As you know, and as illustrated by the life-cycle approach to the problem, there are various factors that can explain this inequality between women and men. In addition to undervaluation and horizontal segregation, women and men’s choices of studies and careers are often influenced by traditional stereotypes. This leads to gender segregation in labour markets, where female-dominated occupations are undervalued; to vertical segregation, whereby it is more difficult for women in the labour market to reach higher positions; to inequality in the burden of caring, or, as one speaker rightly put it, different private-public alignment of lives; and, indeed, to direct discrimination within the same job.
The consequences are lower pensions and, as was mentioned, a higher risk of poverty for women than for men. Obviously, this should not be acceptable in the 21st century, at least not in Europe. So the problem deserves all our attention, and I agree with the rapporteur, Ms Bauer, that we need a holistic, multi-level approach. Yes, we need legislation, but we also need implementation of the legislation. Yes, we need public awareness campaigns, best-practice sharing, better statistics, better information and more research. We are working in all these areas and we need the efforts of all the stakeholders to achieve solutions.
Let me reiterate that the Commission intends to present a report to Parliament on the application of the 2006 directive, reviewing the operation of that directive with a specific focus on the application of the principle of equal pay in practice. Obviously, this will be informative for future steps.
The Commission is constantly monitoring whether the existing legal framework is being correctly applied in practice at national level. It is our job to do this for all types of legislation, and it includes considering whether Member States are applying the appropriate sanctions as required by the directive. We are also preparing a study assessing several legislative and non-legislative actions to tackle the gender pay gap, and that will feed into the implementation report on the 2006 directive. It is scheduled to be published in 2013 but the exact date of publication has not yet been determined.
I would also like to mention, in answer to some of your questions about the introduction of quotas for women on company boards, that the public consultation on this issue is currently running until the end of May. The results of the consultation will then feed into the decision on whether to introduce legislation.
To conclude: the Bauer report sends clear and important signals, and the Commission appreciates the support of this House in tackling this challenging issue. We all agree that equal pay is no longer just a matter of fairness: it is also a necessary condition from an economic point of view. The Commission counts on the support of the European Parliament to make further progress and successfully tackle the gender pay gap."@en1
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