Commissioner Spidla acts to close gender pay gap

 

19 June 2007

The Party of European Socialists today congratulated Commissioner Vladimir Spidla for proposing new action to close the gender pay gap – and enforce European equal pay legislation which has been law since 1975.

“It is time to shut the pay gap between women and men” said Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women. “Conservatives no longer dare to criticize the principle of equal pay for women and men but it still falls on social democrats to do something about it.”

“Women have had to wait thirty years since equal pay entered EU law for the Commission to take renewed action." 

“I congratulate Commissioner Spidla for his proposal, and for highlighting the absurdity of the continuing differences in the pay of women and men. He is right to acknowledge that the problem is complex, but this has not deterred him from taking a strong stance. He deserves strong backing from the Parliament and the member states.”   

The PES held a Day of Action on February 22 – the day women would have to work until to earn what men earned in the previous year - to highlight the 15 per cent difference in the average pay of men and women in Europe. That day PES Women discussed the gender pay gap with PES Employment Ministers, including Franz Münterfering and José Vieira da Silva as well as with Commissioner Spidla (see photos) – now the Commissioner has issued a communication with proposals for action to close the pay gap.  

In an article published in Hungarian newspaper Nepszava in February Zita Gurmai wrote “That women consistently earn less than men is wrong. It is also economically counter-productive. The difference in pay between men and women – the gender pay gap – is a strong disincentive for women to work. But with an ageing population and falling birth-rates Europe needs as many adults of working age to be in employment, earning a wage and paying taxes.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Julian Scola, Communications Advisor - Media & Campaigns
Party of European Socialists, Rue du Trône, 98, B-1050 Brussels
Mobile +32 486 117 394