"Despite progress made in recent years, we are still far away from equality between men and women in employment, work and pay, and from equal representation of women in decision-making processes. Likewise, there have recently been serious attempts to curtail women's sexual and reproductive rights in some Member States such as Poland, where the conservative backlash is taking a heavy toll on women's rights", stressed PES Group President Catiuscia Marini ahead of the International Women's Day.
"It is the responsibility of grassroots politicians to not only make sure that EU gender equality legislation is properly implemented on the ground but also to break taboos, fight sexism and contribute towards empowering women", she pointed out.
She was joined in her call by PES Group member Sanchia Alasia, Member of the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (UK), who represents the CoR PES Group within the Executive of PES Women, and who expressed the Group's full support to the 2017 campaign "Start sooner to get equal pay later", which denounces the fact that women would have to work ten years longer - or start working ten years earlier - to match the lifetime's earnings of men.
The campaign calls on the EU to take concrete steps to close the gender pay gap by 2% per Member State per year for all age groups, by monitoring the reduction of the gender pay gap through audits at European level and clear and dissuasive sanctions in the European legislation in case of non-fulfilment of the objective. "Low earning also means low pensions and an increase of the poverty risk for women", stressed Sanchia Alasia.
A strategic roadmap to carry forward the PES main goals entitled "A Progressive Vision for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in Europe" was adopted in Malta on 2 February 2017 by PES Gender Equality Ministers.
Regarding the local and regional level, there are many regions all over Europe that are taking action against women's discriminations. A few days ago in Piedmont, Italy, a new and enforced law against gender-based violence was passed in the local administration, proving that awareness on the topic is also rising at a local level. A strategic roadmap to carry forward the PES main goals entitled "A Progressive Vision for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in Europe" was adopted in Malta on 2 February 2017 by PES Gender Equality Ministers.
"Remove the gender gap", together with the fight against violence towards women, is also a central point of the International Women's Day campaign, which slogan for 2017 is #BeBoldForChange. According to the World Economic Forum, the global gender gap will not close entirely before 2186. This is why it is time to act and to move closer to gender parity.
