New EU campaign to tackle gender pay gap

A new awareness-raising campaign has been launched by the European commission in a bid to close the gender pay gap.

Latest figures show that on average across the EU women earn 17.4 per cent less than men.

Launching the initiative in Brussels on Tuesday, employment and social affairs commissioner Vladimír Špidla demanded action "at all levels" to address the problem.

"In today's economic climate, equality between men and women is more important than ever. Only by reaping the potential of all our talents can we face up to the crisis," he said.

As part of the campaign, which comes ahead of international women's day on 8 March, the commission has launched the results of a new study on representation of women in European politics.

The commission's report shows that women make up just 31 per cent of all parliament's 736 MEPs, 24 per cent of national parliaments and 25 per cent of national governments.

According to the report, the central banks of all 27 member states are led by a male governor and the key decision-making bodies of these organisations comprise 83 per cent men and just 17 per cent women.

It says "under-representation" of women at the top level is heightened in big business where men account for nearly 90 per cent of board members in leading companies - a figure which, it adds, has "barely improved" in recent years.

Addressing a briefing prior to the formal launch of the campaign, Daniel Waterschoot, a policy coordinator in the commission's employment directorate, said there had been progress in closing the pay gap between men and women.

But he added, "However, progress has been too slow and a lot remains to be done. That is one of the main messages of this campaign.

"2009 is going to be an important year with elections to parliament and a new commission. The commission wants to raise the question of 'who decides' when it comes to decision-making at a European level."

The commission says that, as well a gender pay gap, women still suffer "ongoing discrimination" in the labour market and that pay inequalities causes poverty in later life.

Špidla said "significant" gaps still remains in several areas. While the employment rate of women has risen steadily - 58.3 per cent for women against 72.5 per cent for men - women still work part-time more often than men - 31.2 per cent for women and 7.7 per cent for men.

He said, "The pay gap has multiple reasons and causes. Our campaign will make people more aware of why women in Europe still earn so much less than men and what we can do about it."

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