Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-28-Speech-4-012"
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"en.20041028.2.4-012"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by thanking Mrs Záborská and the members of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality for tackling this extremely important issue. Thank you also, Mrs Záborská, for your passionate speech.
I am sure we are all agreed that reliable and specific data are needed if strategies are to be effective and focussed. Data, broken down by gender, are of crucial importance in combating poverty and social exclusion; without them, indicators cannot be watertight. The open method of coordination in relation to social exclusion uses a number of common indicators, supplemented by national data, as a framework for exchange and analysis. The breakdown of all indicators by gender is standard; they must also be divided up by reference to age in order to take special account of children and child poverty. The Commission regularly publishes quantitative information on poverty and social exclusion, and this is broken down by gender and age.
I can assure you that the Commission is aware of the problems of women in poverty. It is also aware that poverty is one of the principal reasons and causes underlying the trafficking in women and other forms of sexual exploitation. I would like to press home the point that none of us – the European institutions, the Member States or society – can tolerate women falling victim to exploitation, whether this be sexual or takes some other form. We must continue to act decisively and make further effort to combat the causes that exist. We must ensure that more economic possibilities are open to women, that they gain greater economic independence and full access to economic resources, to support and assistance and to education.
I cannot, however, go along with your general assertion that the European Union has failed to bring about equality. From the very beginning of the European Union, equality of opportunity has had a major role both in the Treaty and in legislation, and much has been achieved.
It is true, though, that poverty, and consequently social exclusion, are more of a threat to women, including those in Europe’s Member States – whether in or out of work, whether young or old – than to men. Very many women have no secure income of their own and are financially dependent on their families or obliged to rely on minimal incomes. Many women of pensionable age have an inadequate pension or none at all, whether because they have never worked, have stopped working, have been obliged to stop working, or were employed part-time.
What is especially alarming is that, where families are in poverty, the burden falls to a disproportionate extent on women. There are two causes underlying this: one is the gender-specific aspects of working life and the other is the gender-specific division of labour in families. Single-parent families, most of which, as you have said, consist of women with children, very often find themselves in financial need, and we should have particular respect for women bringing up children on their own.
The adverse effects are compounded in the case of women belonging to at-risk or excluded groups such as immigrants, ethnic minorities or the disabled. Such women are very often the victims of multiple discrimination, something that has ceased to be acceptable, and this is where our campaign against poverty and social exclusion must start.
The efforts of the actors at European and national level to combat poverty among women and what you have termed the feminisation of poverty may be observed in the context of the open method of coordination in the field of social inclusion. Even though primary responsibility for this still lies with the Member States, the European Commission and the Social Protection Committee have an important part to play in effectively implementing the principle of gender mainstreaming.
Among the shared goals underpinning the process is gender balance, which is to be taken fully into account when drawing up action plans at national level. Such plans should also provide for measures geared to the specific needs of women, with the Member States being required to ensure the involvement of non-governmental organisations dealing with women’s specific needs in the development, follow-up and evaluation of the national action plans. Along with the open method of coordination in the spheres of poverty and exclusion, there is to be a Community action programme running until the end of 2006, and cooperation between the Member States in combating social exclusion is also to be supported.
It is worth mentioning that one criterion for the granting of financial aid – in the Structural Funds, for example – is the promotion of gender equality. As has already been mentioned, the Commission is aware that it is women in particular who are at risk of poverty when they reach retirement age. It is in relation to this that the open coordination method has also been applied to such issues as the adequacy of pensions and the financial sustainability of pension systems.
A series of initiatives taken at EU level over recent years have helped to give practical expression to the concerns raised by your House in its 1994 resolution on women’s poverty in Europe. These include, for example, not only the measures under the open method of coordination, but also the reversal of the burden of proof in legislation on gender equality and the latest directive based on Article 13 of the Treaty establishing the European Communities. Gender mainstreaming has been included in the European employment strategy, and reform of the Structural Funds involves giving them an even stronger gender equality dimension."@en1
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