Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-17-Speech-4-015"
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"en.20080117.3.4-015"2
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"Mr President, the role of women in industry is clearly conditioned – this has already been stated, and I wish to remind you of it – as in many other cases, by a number of stereotypes, some of which are clearly pernicious.
We need to make headway on overcoming such stereotypes and that is precisely why I feel the Figueiredo report is a fundamental and important concept and, similarly, why it enjoys the support of our group.
There is much evidence to justify this report and the submission of a number of proposals, which we trust will be welcomed not only by the Community institutions, but by business itself, which, after all, has to adopt them and implement them.
One such piece of evidence is the fact that the European Union average in terms of women employed in industry is a mere 14%. It must nevertheless also be borne in mind that, of this percentage, 21% accounts for part-time employees; indeed, women account for 65% of part-time employees in the industrial sector. I feel that this is one of the key aspects, and by no means a minor issue in this debate.
The second piece of evidence is the fact that it is precisely women with precarious employment conditions, women working part-time, carrying out temporary employment in atypical conditions, that are most frequently affected by wage discrimination or, when they wish to take maternity leave, have fewer possibilities in terms of basic, permanent and vocational training.
Thus the proposals in this report include the proposal for urgent measures to be adopted for full and effective application of Directive 75/117 EEC on the principle of equal pay for men and women as a means of opposing wage discrimination. We have been calling for this for some time now, and hope to see it implemented as soon as possible.
Secondly, we want incentives to be provided for initiatives, positive courses of action and policies for human resources to promote equality. We want the Member States and the Commission to provide more and better tax breaks for companies in terms of compliance with codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility criteria in their day-to-day business. We want to see better working conditions, with particular emphasis on working hours, and maternity and paternity leave – here responsibility is shared on both sides by the couple or the family – thereby guaranteeing working men and women the opportunity to take up their posts again after such leave. Attention must also be paid to reconciling work and family life. Thus, for all this to be transformed into reality, the report calls for these rights to be implemented in legislation across the European Union.
Finally, I beg to differ with Mr Dover on the subject of quotas. For some of us, female and male, these constitute a necessary instrument, and thus we feel the point must be made that the European Union ought to follow the Norwegian example of applying measures to increase the numbers of female board members of public utilities to at least 40%, and use regulations to impose a 40% quota of female representation on boards of private companies.
It is obvious that this is not the solution, but I must insist that this is a path and a means that is proving useful in other aspects, which we would like to see copied within the European Union."@en1
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