The PES and its women’s organisation PES Women are working to achieve the gender equality objectives enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights. The Pay Transparency Directive is a necessary and long-awaited step to bring us closer to a more equal, just and feminist Europe.
PES Women President Zita Gurmai said:
“I want to commend progressive Commissioner Dalli for her strong efforts to put pay transparency on the EU agenda. Her proposed directive is a major step forward. It will ensure we can enforce a fundamental EU value: equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between women and men. This ambition was set out in the Treaty of Rome in 1957, but it is still to be achieved. It is time for women to receive equal recognition, equal treatment and equal value for their work, and this is what Commissioner Dalli is fighting for.
“The approach agreed yesterday by the EU Council brings us closer to this objective. It is a welcome step. But we socialists and democrats are clear: the trialogue and negotiations to come must deliver a progressive, ambitious, outcome. Women have waited too long for action in this area, and we will not accept watered-down proposals.”
The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) are expected to adopt their positions on the draft directive on pay transparency in February.
The directive – a measure from the EU Gender Equality Strategy put forward by Commissioner Dalli – obliges companies to report on gender pay inequalities and gives rights to workers to request information on their pay level. This will help to detect gender pay discrimination and contribute to better laws around pay equality, and must be complemented by gender mainstreaming across EU policies.
For more on equal pay, see the 2021 PES Women Unequal Pay Day campaign. For policy proposals from PES Women, see: A Feminist Economy for Europe.
