Beyond the purely symbolic aspect, growing participation of women in decision-making is a fundamental step towards gender equality. This report, the fourth annual report on equal opportunities for women and men, presents the main trends in the field of equal opportunities between the sexes at European and national level in 1999 and the outlook for 2000. Although much remains to be done in certain fields, it appears that the Community strategy of gender mainstreaming has been made substantial progress in several sectors. This strategy, which consists in applying the policy of equal opportunities for the sexes in all the Union's policies and programmes, has proven particularly effective in such key sectors as education , employment policy or in the struggle against violence . The recent statistics reproduced in the report highlight the inequalities in the private sector where, for example, women's earnings on average are 28 per cent less than men's.
Women are still unemployed more and longer than men.
In parallel with this integrated approach, more specific measures are being developed. The Daphne programme should also be mentioned because it is aimed at protecting women and young people against violence.