Gender Equality Committee

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The Lisbon General Assembly 2000 established the Gender Equality Committee. It meets at least once a year. The Gender Equality Committee aims at equal representation of men and women within the decision making bodies of EPSU and gender mainstreaming of internal and external EPSU policies. The Gender Equality Action Plan and the Gender Equality Committee are presented in the first of a number of Gender Equality Circulars.

* List of the Committee members

Update on possible work/life balance negotiations at cross-sectoral level

Reconciliation of work, family and personal life: Social partners’ progress report to the European Tripartite Social Summit, 13 March 2008 (EN/FR)

Gender Pay Gap: new report by the ITUC on the gender pay gap, February 2008

The Global Gender pay Gap
Informe sobre la Brecha Salarial de Género
Rapport sur l’écart salarial entre hommes et femmes

Time to Care: towards a Better Deal for Care workers in Europe

EPSU WORKSHOP, 07 MARCH 2008, Brussels.

On the eve of International Women’s Day, 07 March 2008, EPSU organized a workshop on pay and working conditions in the care sector to discuss trade union strategies towards a better deal for care workers, a majority of whom are women.

The care sector is an important employer of women. It is caracterised by full of precarious and low-wage jobs, irregular working hours and does not (...)

“Diversity through Equality in Public Administrations in Europe”

“Diversity through Equality in Public Administrations in Europe” Conference, 17-19 October 2007, Copenhagen
TUNED PRESS RELEASE, 2 October 2007, Brussels
On 17-19 October 2007, EU social partners in the state sector will hold their first joint conference “Diversity through Equality in Public Administrations in Europe” in Copenhagen. The conference is hosted by Denmark’s State Employer’s Authority. It is organised in close cooperation with the EU network of Directors (...)

WORK/LIFE BALANCE: Commission’s consultation of social partners

ETUC’s Position on the Second Stage Consultation of the Social Partners at Community level on the Reconciliation of Professional, Private and Family Life(July 2007) + Joint letter
(in English and French):
EPSU circular 12 enclosing a summary of the ETUC response
(in English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish):
EPSU response to Commission’s 1st stage consultation
(in English, French, German, Spanish and (...)

ETUC response to the Commission’s consultation on work/life balance

(31 August 2007) On 30 May 2007, the European Commission launched the second phase of consultation of the European social partners on the issue of reconciliation of professional, private and family life. The document summarizes the replies of the European social partners to the first stage consultation document, issued on 12 October 2006 and asks their opinions about proposals for further action at EU level.
to read (...)

Equal pay questionnaire

The EPSU’s Gender Equality Committee has agreed that we need to assess the implementation of the EPSU equal pay resolution 2002-2007 and so we are carrying out this survey. Your replies will help us evaluate the progress made over the past 5 years to close the gender pay gap in EPSU’s sectors and help revise the EPSU equal pay resolution accordingly.
They will also be useful in view of the Commission’s pending Communication on the gender pay gap due to be published before the summer. The (...)

Trade unions care about caring women: campaigning for better conditions in care services

(Press Communication, 8 March, Brussels) Today is international Women’s day, but in the Care Sector is there much cause for celebration? “Care service workers, a majority of whom are women, continue to be undervalued and underpaid. And working women are facing more and more barriers in the access to care. So where is the official response? “Promises of gender equality and better work/life balance are undermined by the lack of any real action to improve public care services (...)

Water, Women and Workers - Internation Days of Action 8 - 22 March 2007

Water, Women and Workers : Sources of Life
PSI’s World Women’s Committee will celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th 2007 with the theme Water, Women and Workers : Sources of life. This theme will also link to the ITUC and global unions campaign on the right to safe maternity.
To strengthen our campaign, we propose two weeks of action - between 8 March, International Women’s Day and 22 March, World Water Day. The interdependence of women and water runs deep, and PSI women can (...)

Workshop Equality through quality public services, 13 February 2007

Workshop Equality through quality public services
13 February 2007, 09h30, ITUH, Room AUD, Brussels
We are pleased to invite you to a joint meeting of the EPSU Gender Equality Committee and PSI European Women’s Committee on 12 February followed by an EPSU workshop “Equality through quality public services” on 13 February 2007 (initially scheduled for 19-20 October last).
Both meetings will take place at the International Trade Union House - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 - (...)

ETUC QUESTIONNAIRE ON EQUALITY ACTION PLAN - EPSU replies 3 October 2005

Belgian Trade Unions organise 2nd Equal Pay Day 31 March

(Brussels, 29 March)
31 March 2006 will be the second equal pay day in Belgium. It symbolises the fact that on average women have to work three more months to earn a man’s average annual pay. The European Commission’s recent report (2005) on the equality of women and men shows that the wage gap in Belgium widened between 1996 and 2003. The day is organised by the Belgian trade union confederation FGTB. Actions have been planned to take place in all major cities across Belgium.
For more (...)

Internal Market problems ‘bypassed’ in European Commission’s gender equality roadmap

Click here to see EPSU President’s address
(Brussels 8 March 2006) On the occasion of International Women’s Day, EPSU regrets that the European Commission continues to ignore the negative impact of internal market policies on working women’s’ lives. The Commission’s ‘Gender Equality Roadmap 2006-2010’ does not propose to acknowledge mounting evidence that unchecked liberalization will lead to increased gender inequality.
“The roadmap’s fails to go anywhere near the EU’s fast lane, (...)

Mid-term review ETUC Equality Plan 2003 - 2007

The ETUC Secretariat is undertaking a mid-term review of the state of implementation of the ETUC Equality Plan 2003 - 2007, adopted at the ETUC Congress 2003 in Prague.
The EPSU Secretariat will submit a reply on behalf of EPSU. The purpose of this circular is to invite you to get involved in the discussions within your confederations.
ETUC Letter Mid-term review Equality Plan 2003-2007
ETUC Questionnaire Mid-term review Equality Plan (...)

Equal Pay Works!

Achieving pay equity for women in Europe’s public services
A joint conference by PSI/EPSU and EI Geneva 7-8 October 2004
Joint Media Release, 8th October 2004
“Despite equal pay legislation, equal pay for work of equal value between women and men is yet to become a reality in Europe. Women continue to be concentrated in public services, and, more often than not they are trapped in low paid, undervalued jobs. As public sector leaders from all over Europe, we are calling for (...)

Equal Pay Works!

Achieving pay equity for women in Europe’s public services
A joint conference by PSI/EPSU and EI Geneva 7-8 October 2004
Joint Media Advisory (file attached) 4th October 2004
On 7th-8th October, public service and education trade unions from across Europe will meet at the ILO to discuss strategies to achieve equal pay.
The conference forms part of Public Services International week of global action to promote pay equity, 4-8 October 2004. It is organised by PSI/EPSU and EI that have all (...)

PSI/EPSU Gender Equality Conference, 7-8 October 2004

Vera Morgenstern addresses the 7th EPSU Congress: activity report of Gender Equality Committee, Monday 14 June

Dear sisters and brothers, it gives me great pleasure to present the very first report on the activities of the EPSU Committee for gender equality.
The Committee was set up following our last Congress in 2000 as a consultative body to assist the Steering and Executive Committees and support implementation of gender equality policies. Its members are drawn from the EPSU Executive Committee.
The decision to establish a gender equality Committee, and not a women’s committee, as is more common (...)

EPSU Gender Equality Circular GE No. 2 (2002)

EPSU Resolution on Achieving Equal Pay

EPSU Resolution on ACHIEVING EQUAL PAY
as discussed at the Collective Bargaining Conference 13-14 May 2002
EPSU urges each of its affiliates to agree to set as a priority objective the aim of reducing the gender pay gap within the next five years. In discussions at national, sectoral or local level, on devising the most effective wage bargaining system to meet the objective of reducing the gender pay gap, affiliates should consider the following elements:
adopt gender-mainstreaming (...)

EPSU Gender Equality Circular GE No. 1 (2002)

EPSU Gender Equality Circular GE No. 1 (2001)

EPSU Gender Equality Action Plan 2001 - 2004

Adopted by the Executive Committee 12 June 2001
Basis
The Gender Equality Action Plan is based on the EPSU Policy Statement on Gender Equality (2000) which includes main issues from the Budapest Conclusions (1999), the EPSU Constitution and the AIMS of the EPSU Gender Equality Committee (GEC). The Action Plan is designed to implement and develop EPSU’s gender equality policies, and set realistic goals on the achievement of these up to the EPSU Congress in the spring of 2004.
Responsibility (...)
European Federation of Public Service Unions
Representing 215 unions - 8 million public service workers