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Reconciling Employment and Family Life and Gender Equality
Statement of EWLA, 12 May 2007
The General Assembly of the European Women Lawyers Association (EWLA), held on 12 May 2007 in Zurich, Switzerland, unanimously adopted the following
SECOND RESOLUTION ON RECONCILING EMPLOYMENT AND FAMILY LIFE AND GENDER EQUALITY
Having regard to
● the principle of substantive equality between men and women, which is one of the constitutional principles upon which the European Union is built and a positive obligation of its institutions and Member States, as proclaimed by Articles 2 and 3(2) EC (See also the preamble to Directive 2002/73, 4th recital, [2002] O.J. L 269/15) and reaffirmed by Article 23 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Articles 3 and 4 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which binds all EU Member States and is a source of fundamental rights to be respected by the EU as well;
● the Recommendation of the Council of the EU formally recognising a balanced participation of men and women in family and working life to be a substantive condition of gender equality (Recommendation 96/694/EC of 2 December 1996, [1996] O.J. L 319/11);
● the Directive 96/34 formally recognising the role of both working parents in the assistance of young children (of 3 June 1996, para. 3, [1996] O.J. L 145/4);
● the Commission’s Communication “Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men for the Period 2006-2010” (COM(2006) 92 final (1 March 2006)) and EWLA’s Statement on it issued in April 2006 (as published on www.ewla.org );
• the Commission’s “Report on Equality Between Women and Men ? 2007”(COM(2007)49 final (7 February 2007));
• the General Assembly Resolution of EWLA on the Reconciling of Employment and Family Life and Gender Equality of 20 May 2006;
Given
• the persisting ineffectiveness of measures taken so far to implement the principle of substantive gender equality in the area of work and employment;
• that an unbalanced participation of women and men in family responsibilities has long been recognised as one of the factors responsible for this lack of effectiveness;
• the ensuing need for integrating maternity and paternity provisions in the broader issue of reconciling employment and family life;
• the demographic change in the EU Member States and the resulting increasing need for care services for elderly family members;
Welcomes the intention of the present Team Presidency of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia to support the implementation of the Commission’s “Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men for the Period 2006-2010”;
Stresses that men and women have equal family responsibilities and that, therefore, measures concerning the reconciliation of employment and family life must aim at men and women alike; and
therefore, EWLA calls upon the Member States
1. to ensure that all parents can freely choose between the different options for reconciling employment and family life, in particular by ensuring sufficient, flexible and affordable child care corresponding to the demand of parents and the needs of children;
2. to ensure that children receive a meal at school when classes take place in the afternoon;
3. to introduce incentives for enterprises to facilitate the reconciliation of employment and family, in particular by providing for flexible work on all levels, including higher management, and by taking effective measures against a corporate culture that expects its employees to be always available;
4. to oblige enterprises with more than 30 employees to establish a gender equality plan based on an annual assessment of the gender equality situation including pay differences and to review annually the results of the previous year's plan;
5. to develop accessible and affordable care services for dependants and to create the right to “filial leave” equally attractive for men and women.
EWLA also calls upon the Commission to
1. give priority to revising the Pregnancy and Maternity Directive (Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992, [1992] O.J. L 348/1) and the Parental Leave Directive (of 3 June 1996, para. 3, [1996] O.J. L 145/4) and in particular to ensure that the right to parental leave is non-transferable, financially attractive and shared by both parents;
2. to prepare a study
a) on best practices in European States on ways of improving the fathers’ role in child care and of fighting against stereotypes adverse to such fathers’ role;
b) on measures taken within European States to maintain the employability of employees on parental leave;
c) on best practices in European States on the provision of flexible working opportunities in all sectors of the economy, both large and small organisations;
d) on experience in European States on the commercial advantages to organisations of implementing flexible working opportunities for their staff;
and to make recommendations to the EU Member States based on this study.
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