Debate: Gender aspects of the rising cost of living and the impact of the energy crisis
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Nicolas Schmit
Language: EN

As highlighted by your report and your presentation, women are indeed disproportionately affected by these developments. Almost half of lone mothers are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Women represent 85% of all one-parent families in the EU. This means also that their children are affected by the same risk of poverty and exclusion. And your report calls for taking this gender aspect into account while addressing the cost-of-living crisis and especially the energy crisis. And we have to and we must agree. Indeed, women and men experience energy poverty in different ways and are unequally affected by energy poverty due to the gendered indicators such as income differences, housing conditions, care for dependent family members, and age. The gender pay gap remains an unacceptable reality, with big differences across the EU. Women’s gross hourly earnings are on average 12.7% below those of men, and for women aged over 65, their pensions are on average 29% lower than those of men. These are the main structural causes you also mentioned of women’s higher risk of energy poverty, underlining the importance of the directive on pay transparency. Energy and transport poverty are indeed a particular concern for women, and especially for groups of vulnerable women, which I have already mentioned – single mothers or elderly women. In line with the European Pillar of Social Rights, particularly its principle 20 regarding access to essential services, as well as in line with the gender equality strategy, we are strongly committed to support equal access to energy. The obligation to report on energy poverty was unfortunately only partly addressed by Member States in their updated national energy and climate plans. Let me take this opportunity to call on the Member States to set a clear definition of energy poverty, carry out an assessment of the number of vulnerable households, taking into account gender aspects, and outline structural policies to address these issues when submitting their final updated plans in June 2024. Structural policies will be key to ensure that the exceptional action taken by Member States to deal with the recent energy price spikes – such as emergency income support, tax reductions and temporary price caps – can have lasting effects. In addition, the renovation wave should improve overall living standards for Europeans next to its goals of reducing emissions and create more green jobs in the construction sector. This also links to the challenge of women being under-represented in the sectors that are at the heart of the green transition. For example, only 10% employees in the construction sector are women, and whereas their participation in the renewable energy sector is higher than in the overall energy sector, it still only reaches 32%. Another important initiative in this regard is the directive on adequate minimum wages, that Member States are currently transposing. Given the over-representation of women in low-paid jobs, improving the adequacy of minimum wages will contribute to gender equality by closing the gender pay gap and pension gap, as well as by lifting women and their families out of poverty. Many women work part time not because they like it, not because they want it, but because there are not sufficient child or elderly care institutions. Furthermore, the Council recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality outlines comprehensive policy packages with the aim of not leaving – as you mentioned – anyone behind. This recommendation aims to ensure equal access to education, training and lifelong learning, notably for women, promote women’s entrepreneurship and strengthen the social economy, and also adapt social protection systems. Finally, your report highlights that the clean energy transition is key to reducing energy poverty and that women can be powerful agents of change in this transition. We can only agree the energy transition absolutely has to rely on women’s active participation, and on the recognition of their role and contribution. In this context, I would also like to highlight the energy communities: these initiatives, which are often rooted in the social economy, provide an important entry point for citizens, and notably women, to engage locally and concretely with the clean energy transition and promote a socially fair transition in communities. And we all know that developing renewables should reduce overall energy prices and therefore also decrease energy poverty. To conclude, EU funding provides strong support to address the rising cost of living and the impact of the energy crisis, starting from the NextGenerationEU to more targeted instruments like the European Social Fund Plus. Our ambition is thus not only to leave no woman behind in the energy transition, but also to ensure that women are equipped to actively participate and shape the fair transition we are working for. And I just have to mention our objective to reduce poverty by 15 million, at least 15 million, among them at least 5 million children. And this is also the best way: reducing poverty to reduce energy poverty.