Women must be paid the same as men, says EU Parliament
Green Party Senator and European Affairs spokesperson Deirdre De Burca has welcomed a report, adopted this week by the European Parliament, calling on the European Commission to ensure that women in Europe are paid the same as men. MEPs voted by a huge majority to call on the EU’s executive body to redraft equal-pay legislation, to ensure its effectiveness.
Senator De Burca, Green Party candidate for next year’s European Elections said: “Despite 30 years of equal pay legislation, women across Europe still earn around 15% less than a man doing the same job. The Parliament’s call for this legislation represents a real step forward for women, and for equal opportunities.”
Among the ideas discussed are possible fines for employers who are found to be discriminating on pay, mandatory audits of companies’ track record of equal pay in practice, with publication of the audits’ findings, compensation for those who have suffered pay discrimination and the possibility of companies deemed to be underperforming in terms of gender equality, to be denied benefits and subsidies.
The report was adopted with 590 votes for and only 23 against. MEPs have requested the European Commission to come back with proposals for a revision of equal pay law by the end of 2009.
“While women in the EU earn on average 15% less than men across the entire economy, they can earn up to 25% less if working in the private sector. There are also marked differences between the different member states: while women in Belgium earn 7% less than a man doing the equivalent job, in Slovakia they can earn as much as 27% less,” said Senator De Burca. Ireland is one of the countries with the least difference between men and women’s pay, at only 9%.
“Europe has made a huge contribution to workplace equality in Ireland. The fact that women’s earnings here are nearly the same as those of men just highlights the progress we’ve made since the days of the marriage bar,” concluded Senator De Burca.
