I firmly believe this. Let me give you examples to demonstrate how, even before the Treaty has been ratified, equality and mainstreaming have been put firmly on the Union's agenda as priority issues. The new European employment strategy and the reform of the Structural Funds. Put quite simply, equality is one of the pillars of the new employment strategy. Equality of opportunity at work is and remains an important question of social justice.
Gender gaps persist in and around the world of work.
They show themselves in higher rates of unemployment and within work the earnings gap is still there but now added to the imperative of social justice is a powerful economic imperative. Women are vital to the future European labour force. The size of the working age population is beginning to grow more slowly and ultimately it will begin to diminish. This demographic will mean that many more women must be attracted into taking up economic activity if the EU is to realise its capacity for growth and successful economic performance. And this will mean adopting policies which make it easier to combine work and family responsibilities and which encourage men to take an equal share of family and household responsibilities.