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Employment Commissioner Spidla, who gave the introductory speech, highlighted that the average gender pay gap remains at 17,4% in the EU. The awareness campaign that the Commission has launched across the EU Member States shows, among other themes, the scale of this pay gap. Commissioner Spidla stressed that even though some might question the appropriateness of having this campaign in the middle of a crisis, he rather sees it as an issue of economic efficiency even more important than before the crisis.

The conference was organised by the organisations in charge of the consultation process and the survey on gender equality bodies across the EU that is currently being carried out. A few of the results from the survey that were presented during the conference show that:

- The legislative framework is in place in most Member States but the pay gap has only shown signs of decreasing in very few.

- Strong equality bodies, collective bargaining and effective means of taking discrimination cases to court are essential for effective implementation.

- Equal pay is explicitly considered as part of the European employment strategy, but it seldom appears as a top priority, especially when compared with labour market efficiency.

- The role of the European Commission is seen as vital in keeping the issue in focus, while at the same time there is also concern that the European Commission is not being persuasive enough and that targets need to be set and enforced within the Lisbon Strategy.

The discussions during the workshops were very much in line with the results presented. In addition it was stressed that there needs to be strengthened transparency in pay structures and that the involvement of trade unions and social partners should be enhanced.

The first report, taking into account the issues highlighted during the conference, will be sent to the Commission on 27 March and the final report is expected in May. This report evaluates the effectiveness of national laws in transposing European Commission legal “acquis”, analyses the effectiveness of Community law and will propose recommendations for amendments of Community law if considered needed.

For more information about the European Commission campaign "Close the gender pay gap" please click here.