European Women’s Lobby calls for a solid gender equality Pillar of Social Rights
February 8, 2017
To include a care guarantee, individualisation of social rights and a forward looking European Social Security/Social Protection System
[Brussels, 7 February 2017] The European Women’s Lobby welcomes the the Commission’s initiative for a European Pillar of Social Rights, which is very timely and offers an opportunity to put a people centered approach back into the heart of the European Union. Six years of austerity policies have taken their toll particularly on women’s rights and gender equality. A European Pillar of Social Rights is therefore an opportunity to restore trust in the EU.
Responding to the European Commission’s public consultation which ended on the 31 December 2016, the EWL considers the Social Pillar to be an opportunity to reinstate the long standing commitment of the EU to gender equality. In recent years, this commitment has taken back stage, despite the legal obligations of the treaties (the EU celebrates its 60th anniversary this year), with the result that progress has been slow in achieving gender equality. The withdrawal of the maternity leave directive, the stalling of the Women on Boards directive, the downsizing of the Strategy for equality between women and men from a full-fledged political strategy to a Commission staff working document, the failure to integrate a gender dimension into the Europe 2020 Strategy and the European Semester all bear witness to the way in which gender equality has been addressed.
The European Pillar of Social Rights therefore should be gender mainstreamed throughout the set of rights proposed in the consultation document and beyond. This is crucial to avoid the creation of further gender gaps in social rights and social security/protection systems. A gender lens provides an opportunity to shape the European society we all want, one that puts women and men on an equal footing to determine and reaffirm the European social model.
