More effort is needed to boost the quality of jobs and reduce violence against women, says an own-initiative report on equality of men and women in the EU, the first to cover all 27 EU Member States, adopted in the Women's Rights Committee on 16 July.

MEPs welcome a European Commission report on the same subject and back a twin-track approach to equality of the sexes, which on the one hand ensures equality between men and women in all EU policy areas and on the other puts in place targeted measures to reduce discrimination. The report by Iratxe García Pérez (PES, ES) also underlines the importance of combating violence against women in the context of equality of the sexes.

Qualitative challenges

Although quantitative progress in women's employment is undeniable - the female employment rate has risen each year to 57.2%, i.e. 3.5 points higher than in 2000, qualitative progress remains problematic.

The male-female wage gap in the EU has remained stable at 15% sine 2003, and sector-specific and job-specific segregation is not declining - in some countries, it is increasing. The proportion of company directors who are women is stagnating at 33%, and in politics, 23% of MEPs and 33% of MEPs are women.

More effort is also needed to reconcile family and professional life, say MEPs, noting a substantial decline in the employment rate of women with young children (down 13.6 points on average). Furthermore, three quarters (76.5%) of part-time workers are women.

Wage inequalities

MEPs are "worried" by the lack of progress in closing wage gaps between men and women. They back the proposal by the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities to strengthen EU legislation by requiring employers to do wage audits and develop action plans to reduce the wage gap. They also call on Community institutions and Member States to declare 22 February an "international wage equality day".

Women's participation in decision-taking

MEPs consider that the participation of women in decision-taking at local, national and European levels is inadequate. They call on the Commission, Member States and political parties to "envisage positive action to improve the situation". The report also notes that the use of electoral quotas has had a positive impact on the representation of women.

Reconciling family and professional life

Among the measures proposed to reconcile family and professional life, MEPs propose improving the framework agreement on parental leave by introducing incentives for fathers to take it, strengthening the rights of workers taking parental leave and making the rules on the duration of parental leave and payment more flexible.

Violence against women

Violence against women is a major obstacle to equality between men and women and is the most widespread human rights violation, say MEPs, who call on the Commission and the Council to put in place a clear legal basis for combating all forms of violence against women, including trafficking.