Priority will be given to gender equality during the Belgian Presidency
Tuesday afternoon Deputy Prime Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities Joëlle Milquet attended a meeting of senior officials and experts of the European Union concerning gender equality, organised within the framework of the Belgian Presidency. She presented the Belgian Presidency’s programme concerning equality between women and men. For the Presidency, gender equality must be considered an absolute priority in all areas of society. Our programme fits into that of the Trio (Spain-Belgium-Hungary) and hinges on four priorities.
Ensuring gender equality in employment
The Belgian Presidency is the first to implement the Europe 2020 Strategy for employment and intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth. One of the major objectives of this Strategy concerns increasing the employment rate of men and women between the ages of 20 and 64 to 75% by 2020. Currently, the average rate of employment of 20-64 year olds amounts to 69%: 76% for men and 63% for women. The overall employment objective can therefore be achieved only if the European Union and the Member States commit themselves to increasing the rate of employment of women and adopt a voluntary strategy regarding the subject.
Within the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the Belgian Presidency will encourage the Member States to include targets in their national reform Programmes, accompanied by a timetable. This timetable must contain the rates of employment and training of women, the elimination of the salary gap and the increase in supply of childcare services for pre-school aged children. This supply must be higher than or at least equal to the objectives set by the Council of Barcelona 2002.
Fighting against the salary gap within the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy
The salary gap still amounts to an average of 17.8% in Europe. Joëlle Milquet has decided to make reducing the salary gap one of her political priorities within the framework of this Presidency because it constitutes a reflection of all the occupational inequalities that women suffer from on the labour market. For this reason on 25 and 26 October 2010 she will organise a Conference during which a European report on the salary gap between women and men in the 27 Member States will be presented, which will allow the identification of its causes. This Conference will be the occasion for the Belgian Presidency to mobilise all the key actors so that the Member States establish targeted and consistent approaches to fighting against the salary gap. The conclusions will be submitted to the EPSCO Council on 6 December.
The battle against violence against women
Between 20% and 25% of women are, even today, victims of violence connected with sex: domestic violence, harassment, rape, sexual exploitation, genital mutilation, forced prostitution, crimes connected with honour, etc. The Belgian Presidency is continuing the work carried out by the Spanish Presidency by planning two major events in the struggle against violence done to women:
-
Conference, with the European Commission, on violence done to women
The Belgian Presidency will support the European Commission in the development of an overall European Strategy to combat gender violence. Within this framework, with the European Commission, a Conference will be devoted to violence against women on 25 and 26 November. -
Summit of Women Ministers of the European Union
It is essential that all the women who have high-level responsibilities be made aware of this cause. For this reason, on 24 November Joëlle Milquet will invite all the women Ministers in the European Union in order, at the end of their meeting, to deliver a strong declaration on the subject of the struggle against violence done to women.
Underpinning the new Commission Strategy for gender equality
On 21 September the European Commission will present its new Strategy for gender equality (2010-2015). Concerning this matter, on 26 October 2010 Joëlle Milquet will organise an informal Meeting of the ministers in charge of gender equality in order to consider its concrete implementation. The Belgian Presidency hopes to win the Member States over to the conclusions that are adopted by the EPSCO Council in December and to aim for strengthening the commitments of the Member States concerning equality between women and men.
