Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Commission noted that women do not earn as much as men on average and stressed the importance of closing the gap.
In a statement released on the occasion of Equal Pay Day, the body pointed out that women’s average annual earnings are 13% lower compared to men’s, noting that the gap stood at roughly 15% one decade ago.
Věra Jourová, Vice President of the EC for Values and Transparency, and Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for Equality, pointed out that “equal work deserves equal pay.”
They claim that the difference between average annual earnings of men and women presents “injustice” and added that “solving the injustice of the gender pay gap cannot come without change to the structural imbalances in society.”
“That is why this Commission doubled down efforts on gender equality and the root causes of pay inequality,” the two EC officials noted.
“We are now in the final steps to see gender balance on corporate boards becoming a reality across the EU,” they continued and added “we have already put new rights in place for women and men to have more choice and to better share caring responsibilities and work.”
Equality of outcomes
According to the EC, EU member states must do more to close the gap by providing “accessible, affordable and high-quality early childhood education and long-term care,” which the body says is necessary “to support women’s participation in the labour market.”
The two EC officials expressed belief that more pay transparency would lead to a smaller gap in average annual earnings of men and women.
“Transparency contributes towards ending gender bias in pay from the outset and empowers workers to enforce their right to equal pay for the same work or work of equal value,” they stated.
They concluded that “everyone benefits when all are equal” and called on the EU Parliament and EU Council to adopt the EC’s proposal on pay transparency.
According to the EC, the difference between average annual earnings of men and women is a “symptom of more structural imbalances between men and women in economic representation, access to education and household care responsibilities.”
