The new Article 141 gives equality of treatment between man and women in matters of employment and occupation its own specific legal basis. The Cardiff Summit last June approved the first set of co-ordinated national employment policy plans based on the 1998 European guidelines agreed at the end of last year. Those guidelines identified four major priorities. That equality of opportunity was placed as one of the cornerstones of the European employment strategy should have been no surprise. Equality of opportunity in the labour market has always been and remains an important issue of social justice.
Gender gaps persist in and around the world of work.
They show themselves in higher rates of unemployment for women. Within work the earnings gap is still there. But added to the imperative of social justice is now a clear economic imperative. Over the next 20 years, economic and employment growth in the EU will depend on attracting more women onto the labour market. It is women who have provided the entire growth of the Union's workforce in the last 10 years and this trend will intensify as the EU's demographic scenario unfolds.