Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Tackling the pay gap between women and men COM(2007) 424 final
Date: 2008-04-22
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: equal treatment, gender equality, labour market, position of women, remuneration of work, women's rights

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Communication from the
the European Economic and Social
Commission to the European Parliament,

the Council,

Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Tackling the pay gap between women and men’

COM(2007) 424 final

(2008/C 211/16)

On 18 July 2007 the Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Tackling the pay gap between women and men.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 2 April 2008. The rapporteur was Ms Kössler.

At its 444th plenary session, held on 22 and 23 April 2008 (meeting of 22 April), the European Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 128 votes with 3 abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

men and women in terms of their involvement in the labour
market and position of power and status.

The EESC welcomes the Commission's political resolve
1.1
to continue to fight against the pay gap between women and
men. Like the Commission, the EESC takes a very serious view
of the fact that pay differentials show no sign of narrowing.
They remain in spite of the measures that have been imple-
mented and the resources already made available. It is therefore
important that all stakeholders should be involved in this effort
and show themselves willing to achieve real change. The
European Union's growth and employment strategy, which is
anchored in the Lisbon Treaty, is an important instrument to
increase labour market equality and to cut pay differentials
between women and men. Pay must be equalised in order to
achieve the goals of
the Lisbon strategy, guarantee public
welfare and secure global competitiveness. This is important for
the future of both women and men.

The EESC makes the following recommendations for
1.2
promoting equalisation of pay to the EU institutions, national
governments, national equal opportunities bodies and the social
partners.

1.2.1
The EESC considers that every Member State must
ensure that the principle of equal pay for male and female
workers for equal work or work of equal value is applied in
national
in accordance
with the Equal Pay Directive (75/117/EEC).

legislation and collective agreements,

1.2.2
The EESC believes that Member States should focus
their efforts on tackling the causes of pay differentials, which are
related to the fact that men's and women's work are valued
differently,
labour in the labour
market based on gender and that there are differences between

there is a division of

that

1.2.3
sary that:

As far as existing legislation is concerned, it is neces-

— it be used effectively to tackle pay discrimination;

— the legal scope for positive discrimination measures under
EC Treaty Article 141(4) be retained and applied effectively
in order to make it easier for the under-represented gender
to pursue a professional activity;

— employers make annual checks and reviews of wages and
wage trends to identify the problems of gender discrimina-
tion in job classification systems and implement the appro-
priate solutions by establishing an equal opportunities plan,
including transparent pay systems;

— Member States must ensure easy access to mechanisms to
appeal and report cases of discrimination and it shall be for
the respondent to prove before a court or other competent
authority that there has been no breach of the principle of
equal
in accordance with Council Directive
97/80/EC on the burden of proof in cases of discrimination
based on sex (1).

treatment,

1.2.4
need to ensure:

In agreements between the social partners, there is a

— that social dialogue and collective bargaining be strength-
ened at all levels as one of the main instruments for elimi-
nating unequal pay for men and women;

— a careful study of current criteria of job classifications —
their explicit and implicit implications, progression of work
in the context of time, availability and home responsibilities;

(1) Article 4: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:

L:1998:014:0006:0008:EN:PDF.

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— that there be transparency when it comes to provisions on
notification and consultation of employees and their repre-
sentatives on the pay and pay trends of women and men
within same organisation;

— to adopt measures to prevent gender-stereotyping when

setting pay scales for women and men;

— to offer the possibility of flexible working hours.

1.2.5
tackling the pay gap between women and men, it is important:

As equal opportunities in the labour market are key to

— to take measures to provide equal access to the labour
market, to increase participation by both sexes throughout
the labour market and to exploit Structural Fund support
for this;

— to provide children and young people of both sexes with
good models which encourage the take-up of non-traditional
jobs;

— to achieve gender equality in terms of participation and

influence at work;

— to adopt combined, and consistent measures to ensure
mutually integrated balance between private and working
life, thereby making it possible to combine family responsi-
bilities and professional activity;

— that paid parental leave be introduced in countries where it
for example, by adopting the
does not exist at present,
provisions applied in EU institutions, and that parents be
given the possibility to take longer periods of paid parental
leave. Member States need to take effective measures to facil-
itate access
for men and women in sharing parental
leave (2);

— to offer well-developed and subsidised childcare facilities,
enabling parents to continue working with shorter career
breaks, and to extend quality and affordable forms of
support for those in need of care and their families (3);

— to provide extensive and publicly subsidised facilities for the

elderly and other care-dependent people.

1.2.6
for ensuring:

In addition, Member States must take the responsibility

— that information on the causes of gender pay differentials
and gender discrimination is disseminated to all stake-
holders;

(2) This issue is on the agenda of the European Social Partners, as proposed
during the second consultation of the European Social Partners on
reconciliation of professional, private and family life.

(3) The Committee refers to the recommendations presented in previous
opinions, most recently the EESC opinion of 13 February 2008 on the
‘Proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for the employment
policies of the Member States (under Article 128 of the EC Treaty)’,
rapporteur: Mr Greif, CESE 282/2008 (SOC/303), and specifically
point 2.3.

— the exchange of effective methods and increased dialogue

between countries;

— that both the general public as well as representatives of
employees and employers and legal experts are informed
about the rights of those who suffer discrimination.

The Committee urges

the European Institute for
1.2.7
Gender Equality to give priority to the issue of the gender pay
gap in carrying out its tasks.

1.2.8
The Committee is very concerned with the findings of
the Commission Report on ‘Equality Between Women and Men
— 2008’ (4). The report states that there is an under-representa-
tion of women in sectors crucial for economic development
that are usually well remunerated and therefore a major chal-
lenge should be to boost the qualitative aspect of equality.

The Committee also supports The European Platform
1.2.9
for Women Scientists (5), urging all stakeholders at European
and national level to give special focus to women in science and
research. Only 29 % of scientists and engineers in the EU are
women.

The Committee expects government

institutions and
1.3
political
leaders in Member States to set a good example
through their practices and conduct in implementing the princi-
ples discussed in this opinion.

1.4
The EESC recommends that special attention is given to
the influence of mass media to eliminate stereotypical images of
men and women and to promote a representation of both sexes
more accurately reflecting their contribution to society in all
spheres.

2. Introduction

‘Roadmap for

2.1
The Commission communication notes that, in the EU,
women continue to earn an average of 15 % less than men.
Closing the gender gap is one of the key concerns highlighted in
equality between women and men
the
2006-2010’ (6). The gender pay gap extends well beyond the
question of equal pay for equal work. One of the main causes is
linked to the way women's competences are valued compared to
men's. Jobs requiring similar qualifications or experience tend to
be paid less when they are dominated by women.

(4) COM(2008) 10 final, 23 January 2008.
(5) See www.epws.org.
(6) EESC opinion of 13 September 2006 on ‘A Roadmap for equality
rapporteur: Ms Attard,
between women and men 2006-2010’,
(OJ C 318, 23.12.2006). Other opinions that can be mentioned in this
context are: EESC opinion of 28 September 2005 on the ‘Creation of a
European Institute for Gender Equality’, rapporteur: Ms Štechová,
(OJ C 24, 31.1.2006) and EESC opinion of 29 September 2005 on
‘Poverty among Women in Europe’, rapporteur: Ms King, (OJ C 24,
31.1.2006). See also the ETUC Charter on Gender Mainstreaming in
Trade Unions, adopted by the ETUC Congress in Seville, 23 May 2007,
and the European Commission Manual for Gender Mainstreaming of
Employment Policies, July 2007.

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2.1.1
The pay gap also reflects inequalities on the labour
market mainly affecting women — in particular the difficulties
in reconciling work with private life. Women have greater
recourse to part-time work and more frequent career breaks,
which limit their opportunities to take part in lifelong learning
and negatively impact on their professional development. They
still lag behind when it comes to holding managerial positions
and they encounter more obstacles and resistance as they
proceed along their career paths. As a consequence, women's
career paths are more often interrupted, slower and shorter, and
hence less well paid than men's. Statistics show that the pay gap
grows with age, education and years of service — differences in
pay are over 30 % in the 50-59 age group and 7 % for the
under 30s; it is over 30 % for those with third-level education
and 13 % among those with lower level secondary education.

2.1.2

The communication identifies four fields of action:

— ensuring better application of existing legislation (analysing
how current laws could be adapted and better implemented
and raising awareness);

— fighting the pay gap as an integral part of Member States'
employment policies (exploiting the full potential of EU
funding, in particular the European Social Fund) (7);

— promoting equal pay among employers, especially through

social responsibility;

— supporting exchange of good practice across the EU and

involving the social partners.

2.1.3
The communication aims to analyse the causes of the
pay gap and identify courses of action at EU level. It highlights
that the pay gap can only be tackled by acting at all levels, invol-
ving all stakeholders and focusing on all the factors that cause it.

The

that national

EESC considers

3.1.2
governments,
national equal opportunities bodies and, in particular, the social
partners in all Member States have a clear obligation to work to
reduce existing structural differences such as segregation in
various sectors, professions and working patterns, and to ensure
that the wage systems adopted reduce existing pay differentials
between women and men.

The progress women have made, not least in important
3.1.3
is not reflected in pay
areas such as education and research,
structures and income ratios. An important reason why women
have lower incomes than men is that women take career breaks
to care for the children and the family. It is the woman who
gives birth and also devotes disproportionately more time to
looking after the children than men do. Parental leave means
shorter periods in work, less overall professional experience and
fewer continuing education opportunities; and the longer the
absence from the labour market,
salary
prospects. Women also bear
the primary responsibility for
looking after the elderly and other care-dependent people.

the poorer

the

3.1.4 Women's unfavourable labour market position and the
resulting pay gap have an impact on their pension rights. Conse-
quently, pension systems should be changed to ensure that
women who take career breaks for maternity or parental leave
are not disadvantaged, and that pension systems guarantee
equality between the sexes alongside the long-term objective of
securing individual systems (8). Men and women should share
family responsibilities and parental
responsibility must not
entail any worsening of pension rights.

4. Specific comments

3. General comments

The Committee agrees that it is important that all stakeholders

3.1
should be involved in efforts towards closing the pay gap.

4.1
As early as 1957, Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome laid
down the principle that men and women should receive equal
pay for equal work. This article, which has become Article 141 of
the Treaty, now stipulates that each Member State must ensure
that the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for
equal work or work of equal value is applied.

3.1.1
The progress made by women within education,
research and enterprise is not reflected in their position on the
labour market. The employment rate for women is lower than
for men (55,7 % compared to 70 %) and much lower for
women in the 55-64 years age group (31,7 %). Moreover, unem-
ployment is higher for women than for men (9,7 % against
7,8 %).

(7) See footnote 3.

Article 141(4)

therefore allows the Member States,
4.1.1
‘with a view to ensuring full equality in practice between men
and women in working life’, to maintain or adopt measures
providing for specific advantages in order to ‘make it easier for
the underrepresented sex to pursue a vocational activity’.

(8) EESC opinion of 29 November 2001 on ‘Economic Growth, Taxation
and Sustainability of Pension Rights in the EU’ (OJ C 48, 21.2.2002),
rapporteur: Mr Byrne; co-rapporteur: Mr van Dijk.

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4.1.2
The legal scope for positive discrimination measures
should remain and in some cases be extended as there are still
big differences between women and men in managerial posi-
In 2000 only 31 % of high-level appointments were
tions.
taken up by women and by 2006 this had only increased by
one percentage point to a total of 32 % (9).

4.1.3
Directive 75/117/EEC, adopted by the Council in 1975
established, inter alia, that the principle of equal pay for men
and women means that there may be no discrimination on the
grounds of sex for equal work or for work of equal value. This
legislation has provided the basis for most Member States' equal
pay legislation and collective agreements, thereby strengthening
women's position in the labour market.

4.1.4
According to the EC Treaty Article 141 ‘pay’ means
‘the ordinary basic or minimum wage or salary and any other
consideration, whether in cash or in kind, which the worker
receives directly or indirectly,
in respect of his employment,
from his employer’.

if they are discriminated against (10). The Committee considers it
important
to continue to inform the public, employee and
employer representatives and legal advisers about these rights.

4.1.9 Member states must ensure easy access to mechanisms
to appeal and report cases of discrimination and it shall be for
the respondent to prove before a court or other competent
authority that there has been no breach of the principle of equal
treatment (Directive 97/80/EC).

4.1.10
In spite of legislation and collective agreements, the
differences between women's and men's salaries have not been
there are other underlying
levelled out. This indicates that
factors (psychological, social and cultural) behind the pay differ-
entials, for example the difficulty in reconciling family responsi-
bilities with a professional activity. It is important to find a
balance between private and working life. The Committee there-
fore considers that the fight for equal pay must be carried out in
a large number of areas.

4.1.5
There should be more agreement between national
equal rights provisions on employment and pay conditions in
order to avoid direct and indirect discrimination of women.

The statutory option to take social clauses

4.1.11
into
account during public procurement procedures must be
exploited, so that preference can be given to players who aim
for equality and fair pay scales for men and women.

4.1.6
The existing legislation has clearly been inadequately
implemented in terms of ensuring that the principle of equal
pay for equivalent work is applied. This type of discrimination is
difficult to detect. The parties concerned are not always aware
that they are being discriminated against and/or find it hard to
produce evidence for it. The Committee believes that employers
their
their representatives must have effective means at
or
disposal for checking whether they receive the same pay for the
same work or for work of equivalent value.

4.1.7
An active instrument for monitoring and achieving fair
pay scales is for employers in large and medium-sized firms to
make annual checks and reviews of wages and wage trends to
identify the problems of gender discrimination in job classifica-
tion systems and implement the appropriate solutions by estab-
lishing an equal opportunities plan including transparent pay
systems to ensure that the skills, experience and potential of all
staff are rewarded fairly. Equal pay plans should be drawn up
with concrete objectives, e.g. to reduce pay differentials by 1 %
per year. Employers in all Member States should, every year,
provide employees and their representatives with wage statistics,
broken down by gender.

4.1.8
One obstacle to implementing the legislation in full is
that people lack information and knowledge about the current
provisions. Only one third of citizens say they know their rights

The Committee feels that government administration
4.1.12
in Member States must set a good example for all other
employers — not only in relation to issues directly linked to
equal pay and promotion, but also in terms of arrangements
such as flexitime enabling a good life-work balance and of
training policy to ensure equal opportunities.

Public personalities play a key role in raising aware-
4.1.13
ness;
this includes politicians. By setting a good personal
example in their professional and private lives, they can often
have more of an impact than expensive promotional campaigns.

4.2 Fighting the pay gap as an integral part of Member States'

employment policies

The European Union's

4.2.1
growth and employment
strategy, which is anchored in the Lisbon Treaty, is an important
instrument to increase labour market equality and to cut pay
differentials between women and men. The Committee believes
it is important to take measures to provide access to the labour
market, increasing participation at all levels, and to exploit the
potential for Structural Fund support for this.

(9) Eurostat, Labour Force Survey, Managers in the EU — Distribution by

sex 2000 and 2006.

(10) Eurobarometer.

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4.2.2

The Committee suggests the following measures:

— ensure transparency in job classification systems with a set
of criteria that is drawn up and implemented free of gender
discrimination;

— ensure different evaluation criteria that are related to the
nature of the job and not to the person and that do not
contain potential different forms of discrimination;

— encourage take-up of non-traditional jobs in order to influ-
ence and reduce labour market imbalances. The aim is for
women to choose and apply for jobs in science and tech-
nology, and for men to choose and apply for jobs in female-
dominated occupations;

— encourage employers to develop, implement and follow up
equal opportunities plans, one element of which is a pay
survey;

— encourage more flexible education and labour market
training courses in order to reach out to women in rural
and sparsely-populated areas;

— promote women's opportunities for improving their profes-
training during parental

sional skills through vocational
leave and as soon as they return to work.

4.4 The Committee suggests the following measures to create and
enhance opportunities for women to start and grow their own
business:

— exploit the Structural Funds to get more women to start

their own business (11);

— create and raise equality awareness among managers, direc-

— encourage employers and employees to contribute towards

tors and start-up consultants;

skills development;

— encourage employers and trade unions to come forward
with inspection arrangements to monitor the way pay scales
are determined. This will
involve using labour market
nomenclature, legal proceedings, case law and classification
of occupations;

— encourage and promote changes that encourage women to
apply for and achieve higher managerial positions and direc-
technology and
tors posts in research and development,
innovation;

— support and promote the inclusion of a higher proportion
levels in growth sectors such as
of women at all staff
tourism, the environment and the ecosystem sector, telecom-
munications and biotechnology;

— promote gender-stimulating management practices;

— include a specially designed indicator in the employment
strategy for monitoring pay equalisation at Community
level.

4.3 The Committee suggests the following measures to enhance equal

opportunities in education and vocational training:

— promote the participation and increase the proportion of
women in vocational and labour market training courses in
technology and computer skills, particularly at the higher
levels within the IT sector;

— new focus and design for SME support services (financial
and technical) in order to meet and provide for the needs of
women who want to start and grow their own business;

— provide financial support/loans for women who start and

grow a business;

— provide support for female entrepreneur networks and orga-

nisations and mentoring of women by women;

— provide special support for women to set up and grow busi-
nesses in the telecommunications and high-tech sectors;

— provide support for women who promote and lead social

economy initiatives.

4.5 Women's right to pursue a career and earn a living needs to be
enhanced. It must be possible for both men and women to live
decently on their wages. The Committee suggests the following
measures to make it easier to reconcile working life with family
responsibilities:

— subsidised childcare, which enables parents to continue
working after having children and can lead to shorter career
breaks;

— training support for child- and healthcare staff;

— encourage and promote, through education, work experi-
ence and other labour market measures, a climate in which
more men will apply for jobs in the service and care sector;

(11) EESC opinion of 25 October 2007 on ‘Entrepreneurship mindsets and
the Lisbon Agenda’, rapporteur: Ms Sharma; co-rapporteur: Mr Olsson
(OJ C 44, 16.2.2008).

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— the introduction of paid parental leave in countries where it
does not exist at present,
for example, by adopting the
provisions applied in EU institutions, and enabling parents
leave. It must be
to take longer periods of paid parental
possible to split parental leave between both parents; setting
aside part of parental leave for fathers is an important step
forward in efforts to get fathers to take greater responsibility
in the family. Economic incentives to compensate for any
loss of income should be mobilised to try and get more
men to take parental leave. (This issue is on the agenda of
the European Social Partners as proposed during the second
consultation of the European Social Partners on reconcilia-
tion of professional, private and family life) (12);

— support for teleworking to provide more opportunities for
those who, for various reasons, are unable to commute to
attend training courses and take up employment;

— create opportunities for labour reinsertion courses, using the
tax system, for example. These courses should target women
for extended
who have been out of
periods because they have been on parental leave, looking
after children;

the labour market

— publicly subsidised facilities for the elderly and other care-
dependent people, which make it easier for women in par-
ticular to take part in the labour market.

4.6 The Committee

suggests

the

following measures

to increase

women's participation and influence:

— create a gender balance on committees and decision-making

bodies;

— involve representative equal opportunities organisations and
women's organisations in monitoring committees, partner-
ships and other forums;

— exploit the potential to promote women to leadership and
decision-making positions in structures that are responsible
for management and implementation;

— ensure that women equal enjoy ongoing equality in the
world of work so that they are not only in demand during
an economic upturn and are hit first and hardest when there
is a downturn;

— hold regular discussions with organisations that are active in

the field of equal opportunities.

(12) In Denmark all firms have been legally obliged to pay into a central
equalisation fund for parental leave since 1 October 2006. This means
that no firms are disadvantaged when having to pay out salaries during
parental leave, and that there is no risk of parents on leave becoming
an economic burden on individual employers. There is a similar
scheme in Iceland where all employers and employees pay into a state
fund for parental care. A three-part model is applied where the mother
and father are each entitled to one-third of the nine-month parental
leave period and the remaining third can be divided between them as
they see fit. Following the entry into force of the parental leave law,
nearly 90 % of Icelandic fathers take parental leave.

4.7 Work to ensure employers implement the equal pay principle and

accept social responsibility

4.7.1
Equal pay for equal work has become increasingly
accepted in Europe, although not as a matter of course in all
27 EU countries. Although the ILO's Equal Remuneration
Convention (adopted in 1951) was ratified by all 27 Member
States more than 50 years ago and stipulates in Article 2 that
‘Each Member shall, by means appropriate to the methods in
operation for determining rates of remuneration, promote and,
in so far as is consistent with such methods, ensure the applica-
tion to all workers of the principle of equal remuneration for
men and women workers for work of equal value’, there is still
an assumption that women can fall back on a man's income,
which is divorced from reality in today's society. It is not easily
accepted that work of equivalent value will also be rewarded
with equal pay. There is an intrinsic difficulty in assessing
whether jobs or professions are equivalent. A number of court
cases can provide guidance in this area.

4.7.2
The Committee believes that employers could use the
following measures to reduce the pay gap between women and
men:

— flexitime improves gender equality in the labour market.
Voluntary part-time work is one way for parents to combine
work with their responsibility for caring for the family. It is,
however, important to ensure that they can return to full-
time work later. Giving parents who are reluctantly working
part time the opportunity to work full time enables them to
be economically independent, which is especially important
for those who have care duties to fulfil;

— working hours must be made compatible with family
responsibilities. The gender-based distribution of home and
care duties must be changed in order to create a better
balance between men and women. The man's role as a carer
in the family and household must be strengthened;

— models for comparing jobs and professional responsibilities
provide a basis for assessing pay, thus constituting an instru-
ment for implementing the equal pay principle. There is also
a need to develop job evaluation schemes which can be used
to determine jobs of equal value across different staff
groups. This would help to ensure that the same pay is paid
for equal work regardless of gender;

— seeing parental leave in a positive light and rewarding this
experience through promotion and pay structures. However,
this should not put people without children in an unequal
position with regard to pay and career advancement;

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— society and employers can help to increase women's employ-
ment and career advancement potential by providing child-
care;

— employers can make it easier and provide more scope to
reconcile family responsibilities with working life by offering
leave during school holidays and when children are sick;

— in countries where there is no statutory right to paternity
leave following the birth of a child or adoption, employers
can lead by example by being socially responsible and
offering such leave (13);

— offering leave to care for close relations who are sick;

— providing further education for women and investing in

career development programmes for women;

— teaching men, and women themselves, to see, understand,

recognise and capitalise on women's skills.

4.8 Promote exchange of good practice throughout

the European

Union and involve the social partners

4.8.1
The Committee believes that concrete progress can be
achieved by exchanging and promoting effective methods and
through strengthened dialogue between the Member States. True
equality and fair pay structures can only be achieved if all

Brussels, 22 April 2008.

Member States take constructive measures and work to elimi-
nate the pay gap between women and men. Employer and
employee organisations and the EU Gender Equality Institute
have an important role to play in achieving this objective.

4.8.2
The social partners must help to reduce pay differen-
tials through targeted initiatives during pay negotiations. A
concrete example of a successful
initiative in this area is the
framework agreement on gender equality adopted by the social
partners at EU level in 2005 where one of the four priorities is
tackling the gender pay gap (14).

4.8.3
Changes of various kinds are needed in statistics on
wages so as to make information on pay differences a more
adequate basis for decisions. The causes of pay differentials need
closer study and sharing the resulting knowledge can be used to
reveal, correct and prevent discrimination.

To this end, the Dublin-based European Foundation for
4.8.4
the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the EU
Gender Equality Institute should compile and present compar-
able statistics from the Member States on women's representa-
tion in management and on boards of directors in both the
public and private sectors, together with statistics showing the
progress in the various Member States with regard to equal pay
for equal work.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

(13) Since 1 July 2006 Sweden has had new parental leave legislation
which lays down that employees on parental leave may not be treated
unfairly by employers. The new law means that those on parental leave
may not be treated differently from other workers. According to the
Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, employees on parental leave must
be treated as if they were at work. Women take, on average, consider-
ably longer periods of parental leave than men, which means they are
more likely to be miss out on bonuses and ex gratia payments.

(14) Framework of Actions on Gender Equality:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2005/mar/gender_equa-
lity_en.pdf.