A4-0283/96

Resolution on implementation of equal opportunities for men and women in the civil service

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the motions for resolution by:

(a) Mr Ligabue and others on the implementation of equal opportunities for women in the civil service (B4-0165/95),

(b) Mrs Sornosa Martínez and others on equal opportunities in the European Community institutions (B4-0357/95),

(c) Mrs Colli Comelli on equal opportunities for women in the Italian civil service (B4-0564/95),

- having regard to Directive 76/207/EEC on equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions ((OJ L 39, 14.2.1976, p. 40.)),

- having regard to the agreement on social policy attached to the Protocol on social policy in the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 6 (3) thereof,

- having regard to the Council Recommendation of 13 December 1984 on the promotion of positive action for women (84/635/EEC) ((OJ L 331, 19.12.1984, p. 34.)),

- having regard to the fourth medium-term Community action programme on equal opportunities for women and men (1996-2000) (COM(95)0381) ((OJ L 335, 30.12.1995 p. 37.)),

- having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and in particular Article 4 thereof,

- having regard to the report of the fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing (A/CONF. 177/20),

- having regard to its resolution of 11 February 1994 on women in the decision-making process ((OJ C 61, 28.2.1994, p. 248.)),

- having regard to its opinion of 24 May 1996 on the proposal for a Council Recommendation on the balanced participation of women and men in decision- making ((OJ C 166, 10.6.1996, p. 269.)),

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Women's Rights and the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights (A4-0283/96),

A. whereas women make up a high proportion of civil service employees, over half of civil service staff in some Member States,

B. whereas, however, women are grossly under-represented at senior, decision- making grades in all Member States and in the European civil service,

C. whereas women in public service tend to be disproportionately affected by the public spending cuts required to achieve monetary union,

D. whereas the public sector can play the role of catalyst and model for development of equal opportunities and positive action in favour of women in all areas of society, including the private sector,

E. whereas it is essential to involve women in decision-making in all policy areas at national and European level in order to implement the principle of mainstreaming equal opportunities into all national and Community activities,

F. whereas women represent more than half the population; whereas equal representation of men and women in decision-taking is essential for democracy and to mirror society as a whole,

G. whereas positive action is designed to combat indirect discrimination against women as a group which already exists in society at large,

H. whereas quotas and target figures for the numbers of women or men to be appointed and promoted in areas and at grades where they are under- represented are not therefore discriminatory, but on the contrary help to remove existing discrimination,

I. whereas, in systems where preference is given to the under-represented sex in recruitment and promotion, clauses obliging employers to consider the individual circumstances of each candidate will tend in most cases to favour the male candidate,

J. whereas child care, flexible working arrangements and non-transferable parental leave should not be considered as positive action in favour of women since they should be regarded as available and of benefit to both men and women,

K. whereas vertical and horizontal segregation in the labour market is mirrored in the civil service, since many more women work and occupy senior posts in some departments than in others where, in a number of cases, they are largely absent,

L. whereas it is often those departments where women are severely under- represented that fail to produce equal opportunities plans or to give effective implementation to existing equal opportunities plans even where this is expressly required in the Member State or institution concerned,

M. whereas equal opportunities programmes and plans must be backed up by regular evaluation against measurable indicators,

N. whereas the quantity and quality of statistics on women and men in the civil service varies considerably between Member States; whereas, in some cases, statistics are virtually non-existent,

O. whereas an understanding must be gained of the problems which stand in the way of attainment of equal opportunities for women and men in areas and at grades where, even if there is an equal opportunities plan, the under- representation of women persists,

P. whereas professional training programmes in the civil service should aim both to improve women's possibilities of career development and to raise awareness among existing senior managers of the importance of promoting equal opportunities,

Q. whereas women will continue to be at a disadvantage professionally until there is a redistribution of family responsibilities between men and women alongside measures to reconcile professional and family life,

1. Calls on Member States at the Intergovernmental Conference to establish in the revised treaty a new legal basis for equal treatment and rights for women and men providing for the legality of positive action aimed at promoting equality of opportunity between women and men;

2. Considers that there is a need for a positive definition of positive action in Community law, and that the amended Directive 76/207/EEC referred to above should explicitly include this definition, thus establishing a general framework for positive actions within the Union;

3. Firmly believes in the principle of subsidiarity with regard to positive action and believes therefore that Member States may not be prevented from carrying out the positive action measures they deem most suitable within the general framework established in Community law and which fit in best with national culture and traditions;

4. Supports Member States which have established the (non-automatic) principle of preference for women in promotion and recruitment where candidates have the same merits and qualifications and women are under-represented in that particular sector or grade, this principle to apply equally to men where they are under-represented;

5. Urges Member States, where they have not already done so, to establish annual equal opportunities plans for the civil service with instructions on measures to be taken within government departments to promote women's employment and promotion;

6. Calls for Member States and EU institutions to set target figures for the number of women to be appointed by a given deadline to decision-making positions in each department or institution, and if these target figures are not met by the year 2000, for a quota system to be introduced with a minimum percentage for both sexes;

7. Insists that Member States distinguish between short-term and long-term objectives and ensure that the short-term ones are formulated in terms of attainable goals which can be regularly evaluated to ensure that they have been reached;

8. Calls on the Member States in which a system of competitions for recruitment and promotion of staff exists to study the terms of competitions for the admission or promotion of staff with the objective of avoiding, from the outset, situations of discrimination between women and men;

9. Urges Member States also to ensure that each department, ministry or agency prepares its own equality plan with flexible target figures adjusted according to the current level of women in senior posts and the availability of women for promotion;

10. Insists that Member States take measures to overcome hostility or inertia with regard to equal opportunities, including promoting awareness of the importance of equal rights for women and men in the ministries and public bodies concerned and, where necessary, imposing sanctions against ministries and public bodies that do not establish and implement equal opportunities plans for women;

11. Insists that Member States urge ministries and public bodies where, despite the existence of an equal opportunities plan, serious under-representation persists to submit an extensive report on the problems encountered by the promotion of equal opportunities in order to increase the effectiveness of equal opportunities plans;

12. Urges Member States not to use public spending cuts as a pretext for reneging on or not introducing equal opportunities plans and policies in their civil services;

13. Calls on Member States to monitor progress in implementing equal opportunities plans on an annual basis against measurable indicators, including numbers of promotions and appointments compared to candidates, resignation rates, availability of training and flexible working arrangements, and to publish annual statistics on these indicators by grade, department and sector;

14. Believes that proper evaluation can only be carried out by staff assigned specifically to the task, and with the cooperation of civil service trade unions and employers;

15. Calls on all civil service employers, when advertising for posts where women are under-represented, to positively welcome female applicants;

16. Points out that the reconciliation of professional and family life and the redistribution of caring tasks between women and men is essential for the attainment of equal opportunities for women and men, and that, to this end, the opportunities for family and parental leave, child care, flexible working hours and measures to protect people with caring tasks must be increased both for women and for men;

17. Calls on the Commission to submit draft Community legislation requiring Member States to adopt laws on equality for the public sector and taking account of the following key points:

(a) establishment of career advancement programmes for women;

(b) appointment of women's officers or creation of bodies to monitor the application of policies;

(c) reassessment of job descriptions so that they comply in practice with the principle of non-discrimination as regards pay;

(d) rejection of the seniority principle for promotion;

(e) encouragement of equal representation on selection, promotion and recruitment bodies;

(f) promotion on the criterion of merit rather than seniority;

18. Calls on the Council to adopt the draft directive on the burden of proof in the area of equal pay and equal treatment for women and men;

19. Strongly regrets the low level of women in management grades across all EU institution administrations;

20. Calls on all European institutions to carry out a review of all aspects of selection procedures such as advertising of posts, application forms, competition selection panels and methods of assessment to remove any possible indirect discrimination against women in this area;

21. Urges the Commission to continue and step up its policy of preference to women candidates where they are under-represented in a particular sector or grade;

22. Welcomes the Parliament administration's acceptance of the principle of preference for women where they are under-represented in a specific sector or grade, and calls for it to be applied in practice;

23. Calls on the Parliament administration to carry out an annual evaluation of women promoted by Directorate-General and to demand written explanations from senior managers who do not include women on their lists of appointments and promotions;

24. Calls on the European institution administrations to extend the derogations on the age limit for entrance to the written competitions for men and women who have not worked for a period of time, in order to bring up children or who have taken parental or family leave;

25. Calls on the Commission to insist that Member States appoint a balanced proportion of women to advisory committee positions at EU level and when making nominations for senior Commission appointments;

26. Calls on the Commission to update the 1990 study by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) of the different systems and practices in Member States' civil services to promote equal opportunities and to follow up the study with a conference held in conjunction with the EIPA to expose deficiencies and publicise examples of good practice;

27. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, Commission and the governments of the Member States.