International Women’s Day: Continue progress for gender equality

“I am pleased that last year has seen significant progress in gender equality policy at the EU level. A new directive on binding quotas for women in the boards of large companies was agreed on and a new directive with mandatory provision for pay transparency is forthcoming. Both will bring more equal opportunities for women in labour markets. They will help break glass ceilings and improve on the economic independence of women.”

“The Council also seems to have broken its deadlock on an accession of the EU to the Istanbul Convention. An application of the Convention by the EU could greatly reduce violence against women. Every case of violence is a case too much and I hope that the ratification will be concluded swiftly. A complementary EU directive on gender-based violence should be adopted soon to fill gaps that the Istanbul Convention from 2011 has, such as in the field of recent phenomena like gender-based cyber bullying.”

“The road for equal opportunities and non-discrimination continues nevertheless. The scope of the forthcoming pay transparency directive is still too limited. The directive on women quotas needs further flanking measures to help women effectively break glass ceilings. And even if the EU accedes to the Istanbul Convention: This will only relate to areas of EU competence. National competences remain untouched. Six EU Member States have so far not ratified the Convention. We need to keep up pressure on them to conclude the ratification. We must arrive at a full implementation of the Istanbul Convention across the entire EU. Today, on March 8, we reiterate that much remains to be done for women.”