“Lines of action to reduce the disparity in pay between men and women”: the Barroso Commission has intervened with a document that tackles the causes and proposes interventions in the member states to counter the differences in wages in the EU to the disadvantage of women. According to the Executive, women “earn on average 15% less than their male colleagues” for the same jobs “and nothing indicates a reversal of this trend”. The Commission’s findings were based on an analysis of gross hourly pay in various economic sectors in all member states. But according to the economists in Brussels, “this difference reflects the many other forms of discrimination and inequality” that tend to weaken the position of women in the world of work”. “Women have more recourse to part-time work and more often interrupt their career. They are disadvantaged when it comes to obtaining managerial posts”. “Reducing the disparity in pay – explains Commissioner Vladimir Spidla – forms part of the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy for growth and employment”. To tackle the question, the Commission has identified four fields of intervention: “applying the existing legislation more effectively”; efforts to reduce the disparity in pay as an integral part of policies in favour of employment of member states (also by exploiting EU funds such as the European Social Fund); “promoting wage parity among employers”; supporting the exchange of exemplary practices throughout the EU and involving trades unions and social partners.
