Zita Gurmai stated: “I am proud of the proposal that Sarah Champion MP is putting forward today. The pay gap between women and men is often overlooked and excused in times of crisis. In Europe women still need to work two months more per year in order to earn the same salary as men – and governments must finally react and take the necessary steps to end this blatant unfairness. I strongly believe that the Labour Party’s proposal will make a difference in concretely tackling the pay gap, in eradicating poverty among women and strengthen women’s position on the labour market. This is a problem that affects more than half the population and we cannot keep turning a blind eye”.
In the last years, PES Women has been calling for concrete measures to close the wage gaps between women and men. Since the campaign launch in 2013 of “Equal Pay, It’s About Time!”, PES Women has urged the European Union to establish common targets to reduce the gender pay gap by 2% per year, per member state and per age group; to have European Audits and to implement clear and dissuasive sanctions in the European legislation in case of non-fulfilment of these objectives. Last week in Barcelona, PES Women President Zita Gurmai underlined the pivotal role of women as workers and consumers in the economic recovery of Europe as well as in the restoration of growth and employment across the continent.
