Debate: Gender Equality Strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2020
Speaker: Helena Dalli
Language: EN

The European Union and its citizens need your full support in making Europe an equal place for women and men in all their diversity. Gender equality is a founding principle of the European Union. Europe is a good place to live for many, but it would be an understatement to say that we are still not there yet when it comes to gender equality. Women are still being underpaid compared to men. One in three women in the EU have experienced physical or sexual violence, or both since the age of 15 – and that’s millions of women. We cannot accept these appalling inequalities. President von der Leyen, Vice-President Jourová, and the whole College support me and this fight for equality. Gender equality is a key theme in the mandate of this Commission and the first key milestone will be the launch of the Gender Equality Strategy. The adoption is foreseen for the week of International Women’s Day in early March. The strategy will underpin the political commitment to gender equality and support strategic and systematic work for gender equality in the Union and beyond. We are aiming at an ambitious strategy. In the context of a visible and organised movement opposing progress in women’s rights and gender equality which has emerged in recent years in Europe and internationally, it is more important now than ever to restate in the strongest of terms the Commission’s continuing commitment to gender equality. There has been a wide consultation on the strategy, including a public consultation that gathered more than 1 300 responses. As gender equality is a cross-cutting issue, the strategy will strengthen the Commission’s dual approach of gender mainstreaming combined with targeted actions on specific topics. We aim to introduce a more systematic approach at an early stage of policy design to include a gender perspective in all EU policy areas. As regards content, we intend to present a positive future-oriented vision for a gender equal Europe – a Europe where women and men, girls and boys, in all their diversity, are free from gender-based violence and gender stereotypes, where they have the opportunity to thrive in the labour market, lead our businesses, politics and participate equally in all sectors. Important horizontal considerations that will be emphasised in the strategy are challenging gender stereotypes and intersectionality. In terms of topics, the strategy will address the priorities highlighted in the President’s political guidelines – increasing women’s economic-empowerment by closing the gender pay gap, including by introducing binding pay-transparency measures, getting better gender balance on company boards and improving parents’ and carers’ work-life balance. We also continue our efforts to combat violence against women. EU accession to the Istanbul Convention therefore remains a priority. If EU accession remains blocked in the Council, despite our joint efforts, we will table legislative proposals to strengthen the Victims’ Rights Directive and include or add specific forms of gender-based violence to the list of EU crimes. We shall also address other important and emerging aspects of gender equality, such as online violence against women or the gender perspective in digitalisation, including an artificial intelligence to avoid bias. Together with the adoption of the strategy, we will launch a wide-ranging and inclusive consultation process on binding pay transparency measures which we aim to table by the end of the year. I am aware that introducing binding pay-transparency measures can be challenging, and I want to find the right balance for such EU intervention, taking into account the interests of employers, employees and national administrations. I look forward to hearing your views and discussing with you. I sincerely hope to get your support so we, as the EU, can make the so much needed leap towards a gender equal Europe in a more gender equal world.