Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Gender Equality Strategy’

(COM(2020) 152 final)

(2020/C 364/11)

Rapporteur:	Giulia BARBUCCI
Co-rapporteur:	Indrė VAREIKYTĖ

Referral	European Commission, 22.4.2020
Legal basis	Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
Bureau decision	18.2.2020
Section responsible	Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship
Adopted in section	17.6.2020
Adopted at plenary	16.7.2020
Plenary session No	553
Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions)	171/38/7

1.   Conclusions and recommendations

1.1.

The EESC is aware that the COVID-19 pandemic produces a gender impact and has strongly highlighted the gender dimension of social and economic inequalities. This issue must be fully taken into consideration in the new Gender Equality Strategy. The European Commission should implement the Gender Equality Strategy in tandem with tackling the impact of COVID-19, through tailor-made and targeted policy responses.

1.2.

The EESC recommends adopting gender mainstreaming strategies in all programming and governance bodies and infrastructure and calls on the Commission to strongly encourage the Member States to adopt the same approach. Furthermore, the Committee advocates the adoption of an intersectional approach to gender equality, also when addressing multiple forms of discrimination.

1.3

The EESC urges the Commission and Member States to ensure gender-balanced participation in advisory and technical bodies set up to discuss policy measures to relaunch the economy and to prevent social and economic marginalisation, in the context of COVID-19.

1.4.

The EESC additionally encourages Member States to ensure that the gender perspective is fully integrated in COVID-19 recovery measures, to tackle long-term gender inequalities by means of a strategic and structural approach, and to promote and improve women's participation at every level of the labour market.

1.5.

The EESC calls for a stronger commitment to gender equality in the forthcoming Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027. This approach also needs to be integrated into the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Commission's six priorities for 2019-2024, as well as the recommendations of the European Semester.

1.6.

The EESC supports the Gender Equality Strategy drawn up by the Commission and asks it to establish a coordination mechanism involving all Member States, social partners and civil society organisations (CSOs).

1.7.

The EESC calls upon the Member States to adopt specific measures to improve educational and careers guidance as a means of strengthening gender awareness and to provide adequate resources and tools, leading to a more-gender sensitive approach and reduced gender segregation in education and employment.

1.8.

The EESC calls for action to remove the digital gender gap and to fully embed the gender perspective in the digital and AI agendas, at EU and Member State level, by setting a specific agenda together with a gender-sensitive monitoring mechanism supported by indicators and sex-disaggregated data collection.

1.9.

The gender pay gap remains one of the main forms of gender inequality and discrimination, as has been further highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis. The EESC calls on the Commission to urgently proceed with the proposal to introduce binding measures on gender pay transparency, and is ready to play a leading role in promoting a gender mainstreaming strategy for achieving equal pay.

1.10.

The EESC urges the Commission and Member States to promote an effective approach to prevent any form of violence against women and provide women with protection. The EESC advocates measures to support and adopt international and European initiatives to eradicate violence against women. The EESC can work with social partners and CSOs to ensure swift implementation of such initiatives.

1.11.

The EESC plays a key role in raising awareness by collecting and disseminating good practice among the social partners and CSOs regarding tools and organisational infrastructure to prevent and provide protection from sexual harassment at home and at work.

1.12.

The EESC recommends a systematic approach to care policies, which include several other policy dimensions (pay transparency, public services, infrastructure, taxation, transport, the digital and AI agendas and EU funds). EU Member States should continue their efforts to increase the supply, affordability and quality of places in early childhood education and care.

1.13.

The EESC calls the Commission to support Member States in enhancing the labour market participation of women with disabilities, thereby implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as well as any other vulnerable groups of women (including Roma and migrant women).

1.14.

Equal opportunities in participation is essential for representative democracy at all levels — European, national, regional and local. The EESC supports equal participation and gender balance in decision-making and in political, economic and social life, including in social and civic dialogue structures. Positive actions based on legislative, budgetary, voluntary, organisational and cultural measures are necessary in order to address the issue of low representation and participation of women in decision-making bodies.

1.15.

The EESC once again asks the Council to proceed with the discussion on the directive on improving the gender balance on corporate boards.

1.16.

The EESC encourages the media and advertising sector to support more balanced participation of women in decision-making positions and to contribute to dismantling gender stereotypes in media content by adopting codes of conduct and mechanisms to ensure gender balance in decision-making bodies.

1.17.

The EESC asks EIGE to include in the Gender Equality Index a thematic focus on gender equality in the media, to highlight gender inequalities.

2.   Introduction

2.1.

Gender equality is not only a core value of the European Union (1), but is also a binding mandate to act (2). The Commission has made equality between women and men a guiding principle as well as one of the goals of its mandate, yet the evidence (3), (4), (5) shows that progress in achieving gender equality in the EU is very slow. This EESC opinion has been drafted in response to the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 launched by the Commission in March 2020, before the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The EESC is aware that the COVID-19 pandemic produces a gender impact, which has to be taken into consideration in the Gender Equality Strategy. It is important to underline that this emergency is exacerbating gender-related inequalities that already existed prior to the crisis. Women are increasingly at risk of violence, poverty, multiple forms of discrimination and economic dependence and we recommend that the Commission take prompt action to implement the Gender Equality Strategy in tandem with tackling the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls, through tailor-made and targeted policy responses. The strategy refers as follows to its areas of intervention:

2.1.1.

Violence against women represents one of the worst forms of discrimination based on sex.

2.1.2.

The Commission calls for systematic analysis, for stronger measures to dismantle stereotypes and eradicate gender-based violence, harassment, bullying and mobbing, and for the introduction of measures to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable. Domestic abuse has increased during the COVID-19 crisis, with women more exposed to violence at the hands of their partners at home.

2.1.3.

Women's employment. Evidence shows that gender gaps in the economy — and the persistent imbalance in terms of care responsibilities — strongly limit the full social and economic empowerment of women, as well as access to fair pay, income and pension. The risk of economic marginalisation is also determined by persistent stereotypes as well as by intersectional forms of discrimination. Skills mismatch in the labour market is a consequence of several structural factors, widely gender-related. These factors not only limit the impact of economic policies, but also deprive our societies and economies of the existing pool of female skills and talent.

2.1.4.

Gender-balanced participation in decision-making is a major goal and a persistent shortcoming. To address the complexity of economic and social challenges, it is necessary to increase the participation of women in the leadership positions. Legislative measures are one option for addressing gender gaps in the short term.

2.1.5.

Gender mainstreaming is the strategy for achieving gender equality by integrating a gender perspective into all stages of policy-making. In all EU Member States, dedicated gender equality infrastructure (6) is responsible for implementing gender mainstreaming and supporting the integration of the gender perspective into the policy agenda. Such institutional mechanisms should be better equipped with a stronger political mandate and enhanced skills to deploy relevant tools (evidence-based analysis, systematic collection of sex-disaggregated data, gender budgeting (7), gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation).

2.1.6.

The EU 2021-2027 funds represent an opportunity to support gender equality. The EESC has issued an opinion (8) in which it calls on the Parliament and the Council to introduce new and adequate indicators to better monitor the EU's financial contribution to meeting gender equality goals. The aim is to increase women's participation in the labour market (in particular those belonging to vulnerable groups (9), such as women with disabilities (10) and those subject to multiple forms of discrimination) and to improve work-life balance measures, childcare and long-term care services and infrastructure. The COVID-19 crisis underlines the need to finance measures in favour of work-life balance, to invest in quality and accessible public care services and to maintain employment levels as well as income support.

2.1.7.

The EESC also takes the view that EU funding should be allocated in a more gender-sensitive manner, that gender equality should be a stand-alone goal, rather than being merged with anti-discrimination objectives, and that the gender perspective should be better integrated among all other specific objectives, following a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach.

3.   General comments on the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and proposals for implementation

3.1.

The EESC supports the Commission's approach of relaunching gender mainstreaming as the strategy for achieving gender equality, and asks for the specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women to be considered. The dual approach — positive actions and integration of the gender perspective — needs to be fully embedded in the governance of finance programming mechanisms. This approach also needs to be integrated into the implementation of European Pillar of Social Rights and the Commission's six priorities for 2019/2024 (11), as well as the recommendations of the European Semester.

3.2.

The existing institutional infrastructure for gender equality at EU level (DG JUST, EIGE, the European Parliament and the EU institutions, as well as the advisory bodies (12) and the Task Force for Equality (13), supported by data provided by Eurofound and EUROSTAT), should be better incorporated into the EU policy governance process. Beyond the specific confines of gender equality, this institutional infrastructure should be an integral part of the policy mechanism addressing the current main dossiers (Digital Agenda, Skills Agenda, EU Green Deal, European Youth Goals (14), among others).

3.3.

The EESC shares the view that gender equality requires a multidisciplinary and intersectional policy approach, targeting the social and economic pull factors that lead to gender inequality and investing in enabling factors that enhance gender equality. The EESC (15) calls for a strategic approach to monitoring the integration of the gender perspective into all thematic objectives set in the new regulatory financial framework 2021/2027.

3.4.

The Committee draws attention to the fact that a slowdown in economic growth in the EU is already a fact, due to the COVID-19 virus. It is important for the gender effects of macroeconomic policies to be fully assessed and taken into account when implementing the Strategy, to avoid further exacerbating existing gender inequalities (16).

4.   Specific comments

4.1.

The EESC calls on the European Commission to address the existing coordinating mechanism on gender equality to monitor implementation of the strategy, with a view to reporting on achievements from a gender perspective. The coordinating mechanism could also address gender-specific considerations in the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and in the recommendations of the European Semester.

4.2.

The EESC has already asked the European Commission to recommend that EU countries set national targets and indicators to monitor the situation through an annual scoreboard.

4.3.   Ending gender-based violence

4.3.1.

At home as well as in the working environment, women are still more likely to report exposure to adverse social behaviours and violence (17). The EESC can play a key role in promoting wider knowledge of the phenomenon to prevent any form of violence against women. The social partners and CSOs can support the prevention of violence against women and the promotion of a gender-sensitive culture, by raising awareness and by collecting and sharing good practice.

4.3.2.

The 2007 European framework agreement of the social partners on harassment and violence at work represents an instrument to guarantee a workplace free from harassment and violence, to be applied everywhere in Europe and in any workplace irrespective of the size of the company.

4.3.3.

International and European initiatives to eradicate violence against women must be supported and adopted. The EESC can provide solid support with regards to the ILO Convention on violence and sexual harassment in the workplace. ILO Convention 190 of 2019 on violence and harassment should be ratified and enforced by all governments at international and European level as well as by the European Union. The EESC also welcomes the initiative of the Commission to propose, in 2021, measures to achieve the objectives of the Istanbul Convention.

4.3.4.

Cyber-bullying (18) is one of the obstacles women face in participation in online activities and social networks. The EESC has asked the European Commission to strengthen the previous ‘Women in Digital’ Task Force and the follow-up to the ‘Digital4her’ initiative (19). The European Commission must align these voluntary measures with legislative frameworks on violence against women.

4.3.5.

The EESC has repeatedly called on the Commission to update the recommendation on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online and the Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online, which was agreed upon by the European Commission and global IT companies, by adding online harassment and mobbing of women to the definition of illegal hate speech (20).

4.3.6.

The EESC proposes establishing an emergency legal fund at EU level, which would provide support to CSOs that challenge legislation that violates women's rights in court (21).

4.4.   Closing gender gaps

4.4.1.

Education. Education gender gaps persist and lead to gender segregation in the labour market, employment and income as well as to skills mismatch (22), (23). Specific measures should address the system of educational guidance (24). Education plays an important role in eliminating stereotypes and breaking down prejudice, starting from primary school.

4.4.2.

Digital and AI technologies and skills must be accessible to everyone, irrespective of gender, age or socio-economic background. It is important to increase the number of women and girls in STEM and ICT sectors, to remove the digital gap at the root of their low representation and to provide more female digital role models to overcome stereotypes, in particular in view of the impact of the current COVID-19 emergency.

4.4.3.

Promoting the number of women and girls in ICT developer jobs may help overcome the gender bias included in the design of a given technology. It is therefore vital to ensure universal access to upskilling in STEM, ICT and AI, as well as labour protection for women at risk of losing their jobs on account of having a low level of proficiency in ICT.

4.4.4.

Specific attention and measures should also be addressed to the gender perspective in financial education.

4.4.5.

Employment. Gender gaps in employment have led to long-term gaps in income, access to credit, pay and pensions, and it also exacerbates the risk of experiencing poverty, social exclusion and/or homelessness. Regardless of the EU-led legislation on equal treatment in employment, the gender pay gap is still one of the main widespread forms of gender inequality and discrimination.

4.4.6.

Collective bargaining could play a leading role in this regard. All measures should address gender gaps in order to enhance access to social protection, improve quality of work and increase the robustness of the labour market.

4.4.7.

The EESC welcomes the Commission's initiative on binding measures on gender pay transparency, which have to be introduced as soon as possible and can play a leading role in promoting a gender mainstreaming strategy for equal pay. Women represent 70 % of all workers in the health and social care sector in 104 countries (WHO) and 58,6 % worldwide of workers in the service sector (ILO), something that is posing a risk to their health due to the pandemic. The preponderance of women segregation in low-paid sectors and precarious jobs puts them in the front line in terms of the risk of job loss and health problems.

4.4.8.

Jobs and tasks performed in the care, cleaning, commercial and health sectors make a great contribution to society and to the economy, as also highlighted during the COVID-19 crisis. These jobs and sectors, which traditionally employ many women, are often underpaid, undervalued and characterised by precarious working conditions. It is, therefore, essential to give greater social recognition and corresponding economic value to these occupations, which would contribute to reducing pay and other gender gaps, and enhancing the economic and social value assigned to those jobs.

4.4.9.

Increasing investment in the digitalisation of the public sector allows for greater and better participation of women and men in the labour market and can assist those who have care responsibilities or who need help in overcoming obstacles related to bureaucracy and access to public services (25).

4.4.10.

Female entrepreneurs still represent only a small proportion of the total number of entrepreneurs in the EU. Facilitating access to investment capital for female entrepreneurs and promoting gender balance in decision-making positions of finance institutions, where decisions on investments are made (26), support both female entrepreneurship and gender equality.

4.4.11.

Care and work-life balance. Women still undertake a larger share of unpaid work, be it care for children, for the elderly or housework (27). Work-life balance measures, either via legislation or collective bargaining, can better reconcile the needs of both women and men, as well as workers who are also acting as carers. The pandemic has added to the burden of unpaid care work, especially in times when schools, nurseries and workplaces are closed due to the quarantine.

4.4.12.

The EESC calls for the implementation of the Work-life Balance Directive particularly with regards to paid leaves, to ensure that both women and men can benefit from their right to care. Moreover, the EESC encourages Member States to make further efforts to achieve the current unmet target of having 33 % of children under the age of three in formal care arrangements and to add a target for after-school childcare, to allow parents to work full-time if they wish to. The Commission should work together with Member States to ensure that the targets are fully reached.

4.4.13.

The EESC calls on Member States to use EU funds to increase the supply, affordability and quality of services and infrastructure for early childhood education and care.

4.4.14.

It is also necessary to enhance the labour market participation of women with disabilities, implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

4.4.15.

Due to the ageing of the population, there should be a stronger focus on care of the elderly when designing measures for reconciling needs and achieving work-life balance.

4.4.16.

A systematic approach to care policies is required, something that includes several other policy dimensions (infrastructure, taxation, transport, digital agenda, health and skills, AI and EU funds), where social dialogue, the social partners and CSOs can play a leading role.

4.5.   Achieving gender equality in decision-making

4.5.1.

Equal opportunities in participation is essential for representative democracy at all levels — European, national, regional and local. The EESC supports equal participation and gender balance in decision-making and in political, economic and social life, including in social and civic dialogue structures. Positive actions based on legislative, budgetary, voluntary, organisational and cultural measures are necessary in order to address the issue of low representation and participation of women in decision-making bodies.

4.5.2.

Gender gaps in the labour market also cause gender imbalance in decision-making. Men outnumber women in management positions by two to one in the EU. Women are underrepresented as managers in almost all economic sectors. Management is most gender-balanced in the public sector (28).

4.5.3.

Legislation can help, but this alone is unlikely to influence culture and organisational mechanisms. Gender balance in decision-making, in political, economic and social life, can also be pursued by adopting a gender mainstreaming approach, aimed at ensuring positive conditions and greater gender awareness to increase women's participation at decision-making level.

4.5.4.

The EESC calls on the Council to proceed with the discussion on the directive on improving the gender balance on corporate boards (29). The Committee also calls on businesses to take a leading role and to significantly increase the participation of women in top decision-making positions.

4.5.5.

The Committee has recommended (30) that consideration be given to effective strategies and tools (e.g. legal, budgetary and voluntary measures, gender quotas) to achieve gender balance in elected and nominated posts in major political structures and suggests that the Commission continue to support Member States in taking action in this area. The Committee calls again (31) on the Council to review its guidelines for the appointment of EESC members in order to take account of economic, social and demographic developments within the Union.

4.6.   Gender mainstreaming

4.6.1.

Gender mainstreaming is the best approach for integrating the gender perspective among all actors and at all levels, but its operational dimension and how it is implemented need to be improved.

4.6.2.

For the 2021-2027 programming period, the EESC calls for a stronger commitment to gender equality. The enabling conditions for gender equality set to ensure the relevance and coherence of programmes, projects and funds must be effectively implemented and assessed.

4.6.3.

The EESC supports the Gender Equality Strategy drawn up by the Commission and calls on it to address the existing coordination mechanisms (Advisory committee on equal opportunities for women and men, High-Level Group on Gender Mainstreaming and Task Force for Equality) to monitor the sound implementation of the Strategy, to report on achievements and to facilitate the exchange of approaches and experience at EU level.

4.7.   Gender in the media

4.7.1.

The impact of the media on gender equality has long been underestimated, even though it plays a vital role in shaping society. The media industry should take a leading role to ensure that advertising has a positive rather than a negative impact in terms of representing and promoting gender equality in society.

4.7.2.

To improve gender equality in the media industry, it is crucial to enhance the participation of women in top decision-making positions (32) (33), to adopt codes of conduct as well as other measures (34) (35) that outlaw sexism and stereotypes, and that support the integration of the gender perspective into the organisational transformation of the media sector and the content it makes available.

4.7.3.

It is important to acknowledge the impact of gender stereotypes in media content. The EESC calls for a new thematic focus — Media and Advertising — to be included in the next EIGE Gender Equality Index.

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(1)  Article 2 TEU.

(2)  Article 8 TFEU: ‘In all its activities, the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality between men and women’.

(3)  EIGE (2019) Gender Equality Index 2019 in brief: Still far from the finish line.

(4)  European Commission (2019) New vision for Gender Equality.

(5)  Eurofound (2020) Gender equality at work.

(6)  EIGE (2019) Beijing +25 policy brief: Area H — Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women: reduced efforts from Member States.

(7)  https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/toolkits/gender-budgeting

(8)  OJ C 110, 22.3.2019, p. 26, point 1.8.

(9)  OJ C 110, 22.3.2019, p. 26, point 1.6.

(10)  EIGE (2017) The European Pillar of Social Rights as an Opportunity for Gender Equality in the EU, p. 6.

(11)  https://ec.europa.eu/info/priorities_en

(12)  Article 300 TFEU.

(13)  The Commission has set up a Task Force for Equality composed of representatives of all Commission services and the European External Action Service to ensure concrete implementation of gender mainstreaming at operational and technical level, in addition to the key actions listed in the Gender Equality Strategy. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_357

(14)  https://youthforeurope.eu/european-youth-goals-2019-2027/

(15)  OJ C 240, 16.7.2019, p. 3.

(16)  See footnote 15.

(17)  Eurofound (2020) Gender equality at work, European Working Conditions Survey 2015 series, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

(18)  EIGE (2017) Gender equality and youth: opportunities and risks of digitalisation — Main report

(19)  OJ C 440, 6.12.2018, p. 37.

(20)  See footnote 15.

(21)  See footnote 15.

(22)  Source: Eurostat; Early leavers from education and training (code: SDG_04_10); Adult participation in learning (code: sdg_04_60); Tertiary educational attainment (code: sdg_04_20).

(23)  Cedefop (2020) 2020 European Skills Index.

(24)  Cedefop (2019) Briefing Note, Not just new jobs: digital innovation supports careers.

(25)  OJ C 440, 6.12.2018, p. 37, point 1.12.

(26)  Eurofound (2019) Female entrepreneurship: Public and private funding, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

(27)  EIGE (2017) The European Pillar of Social Rights as an Opportunity for Gender Equality in the EU, p. 8.

(28)  Eurofound (2018) Women in management: Underrepresented and overstretched?, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

(29)  OJ C 240, 16.7.2019, p. 3.

(30)  OJ C 240, 16.7.2019, p. 1.

(31)  See footnote 30.

(32)  Gender Equality Index, EIGE (2019).

(33)  Gender Statistics Database, EIGE (2020).

(34)  https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/good-practices/denmark/kvinfo-expert-database

(35)  http://www.womeninnews.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Gender%20Balance%20Guidebook_FINAL_RGB%20(1).pdf