Parliament debates an agreement with EU Ministers on new legislation requiring EU companies to disclose salary information of their employees. With the aim of closing the gender pay gap, the new law includes dissuasive penalties for employers that do not comply with equal pay rules. Opening statements by Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL) and by Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteurs. The transcript is the result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

Women's rights / Equal opportunities (T2)

gender balance (T)

PETER-HANSEN, Kira Marie (Greens/EFA, DK)

RAFAELA, Samira (Renew, NL)

Equal pay for equal work between men and women (pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms): Opening statements by Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL) and by Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteurs

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, Thank you, Chair, dear Commissioner, dear and Council dear colleagues. Today we are here voting on a historical and essential piece of legislation. We are here because we stand against pay discrimination. We stand against power abuses. And because equal pay for equal work should not only be a founding principle in our treaties, but also a fact on the ground.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, We are here because we care, we want to make a change, we want to push for gender equality, workers rights and social progress. We want a future where there is inclusion and diversity. Today we are here to vote on the best known tool for closing the gender pay gap, to combat gender pay inequalities and pay discrimination.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, The Pay Transparency Directive is a huge achievement for gender equality and it will help close to the current persistent gender pay gap in the European Union on 14%. Patron's parents has the value of work at its centre, because employees should be valued for their work regardless of their gender. With this vote, we abolish pay secrecy contract. We strengthen workers rights and workers individual rights to information, and we ask employers to report and to fix their pay gaps.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, Furthermore, we ensure that all employers have pay structures in place, ensuring that the treaty based concept of equal pay for equal work is actually enforced. With this vote, we empower workers and we strengthen the role of social partners. This vote also marks the first time in history that our non-binary friends are recognised in legislation and the first time that we take into account intersectional discrimination as an aggravating factor.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, And this is a historical moment, not only because having these tools and mechanisms are a huge achievement, but also because this sends a message to the world. It shows that this is what legislation can look like when you have two young feminists leading the policies. For that, I would like to deeply thank my colleagues at Mira for the hard work and incredible cooperation in the past two years. You are truly an inspiring politician and it's been amazing working alongside you and your team.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, And on behalf of Samira and I, I would also like to give a special thanks to all the shadow rapporteurs and all the teams for your constant fight for gender equality. I would like to thank the Commission as well, for putting forward this legislation and supporting us in getting it over the finish line. Lastly, a special thanks should go to the Czech presidency. Without you and without this presidency, we would not have been able to vote on this important file today.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, And I cannot fully express my gratitude towards the Czech presidency, but I would like to underline that I am extremely grateful that your presidency and your team chose to take on this file and really walk the extra mile to make this a reality. And coming from Denmark, it's also very nice to see that it has once again proven that smaller countries can have a huge impact on European lawmaking.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN (Greens/EFA, DK), Rapporteur, Lastly, I would also like to thank our amazing teams, and the contribution and expertise of NGOs and social partners that participated and worked on this file. Your work was and is extremely essential and valuable. With today's vote, we will be one step closer in ensuring that there are no more glass ceilings and no more pay discrimination. Today, we give more rights for workers and we ensure the concept of equal pay for equal work. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, Thank you very much. And good morning, dear colleagues. Good morning, Commissioner. Today we will make history. I am incredibly proud to stand in this house and to say to all women in Europe, we are here for you. In fact, we can say this to all workers in Europe. This directive says you deserve to be treated equally and you deserve to be paid fairly regardless of your gender, your background, or your physical characteristics.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, With this directive, we have secured the right to information in Europe for all our citizens, and we will finally have the binding legislation we need to tackle pay discrimination in all our Member States. If we had left it up to the markets, the gender pay gap would only correct itself by 2086. How could we justify this to women? How could we explain this to ourselves?

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, We cannot. And for far too long, the economy has been organised with men in mind. Women were not the norm. And you can see this in the representation of women in leadership positions, in the pay gap, in the pension gap. There is a structural problem here and we can't just smash the glass ceiling. We need to rebuild the entire house. And today we are doing exactly that.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, Women in Europe need to be paid in the same manner. It should not be a situation where you find that a man who is receiving more pay for a similar post, for the same post. This is a legal framework to work to fight against the pay gap in a clear and relentless manner, and we will achieve this paradigm shift and we will achieve equality in the workplace. Women who are not paid the same level by the businesses. These businesses will not move forward.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, Businesses need to prove that there has been no pay discrimination. The burden of proof has been put on businesses now, and I am extremely proud of the fact that we have this modern European legislation. For the first time, non-binary people are explicitly quoted as and we also recognise intersectional discrimination and case law will take it into account as a serious factor in pay discrimination.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, It was a very important point for me and I am here in politics to change the rules. And this is a rule that we have changed. We are in politics to ensure that emancipation is a reality. I know there are those in this chamber who will vote against the directive. I know they will hide behind certain words as administrative burden.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, The reality is that women in Europe are looking at is now and they will remember this vote and they will remember that you've put the interests of business before the interests of women. So you need to turn it into account. I'm extremely proud of my colleague Chiara. We have been leading these negotiations with. Thank you very much for your support. Together, we have shown that this is an modern inclusive and legislation.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Samira RAFAELA (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, I thank our excellent negotiation team from all political groups, because today we will make history together and I am glad that we could constructively work together with the French Presidency, with the Czech presidency, with the Commission. We have showed that if we want to reach true equality for all people living in Europe, that we need to work together. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Thank you, President. Honourable Members. Good morning. Today's adoption of the Pay Transparency Directive is a significant step towards addressing the gender pay gap in the European Union and increasing women's economic and financial independence. Equal pay between women and men for equal work or work of equal value is a right enshrined in the treaty and contributes towards the fundamental principle of gender equality in the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Despite the EU's right and our efforts, the gender pay gap has for decades remained a persistent problem with women in the EU, earning an average of 13% less than men. While the gender pay gap has many causes, a large part of it is due to pay discrimination and gender bias.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, We cannot allow women to be paid less for doing the same work or work of equal value as men. We cannot allow women to be discriminated against in the workplace because of our gender. We cannot continue undervaluing women's contribution on the labour market compared to men.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Pay discrimination is often the result of an undervaluation of work done by women or of unconscious bias and deeply rooted gender stereotypes. They all continue to persist in our society. And because of the current lack of pay transparency, they often go unnoticed.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, The Pay Transparency Directive is a crucial tool in our fight for gender equality. This new legal framework will trigger a culture change in the workplace across the union to require employers to provide information on average pay levels broken down by gender for all workers performing the same job or work of equal value.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, And this will enable workers to identify and challenge any pay discrimination based on sex. The directive will also require employers with more than 100 workers to publish information on the gender pay gap in their organisation. It will increase transparency and accountability and encourage employers to take action to close the pay gap.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Having the information on pay or gender pay gap is not enough, of course. Workers must also have the possibility to enforce their right to equal pay if they believe they are being discriminated. This is why the directive provides for stronger enforcement mechanisms. For instance, the Directive will ensure that victims of pay discrimination can be represented in court by relevant associations and bodies such as equality bodies.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, It will also ensure better compensation, shift the burden of proof and set minimum standards for limitation periods. I draw your attention to a transposition period of three years for the entry into application of the new rules on pay transparency. During the negotiations, the Commission underlined that such longer periodm a deviation from a standard two year transposition periodm should not be seen as a precedent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, It only aims at ensuring that employers will have non-discriminatory pay structures in place so as to ensure full application of the new rules at the time of transposition. Such commission statement was included in the minutes of the meeting of Member States Deputy Permanent Representatives when the political agreement was endorsed on the 21st of December of last year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, I thank the European Parliament, especially Samira, Kira and the others who you mentioned for the continued support and determination to combat gender based pay discrimination. Your commitment to gender equality has been invaluable in the development and negotiation of this legislation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, The adoption of the Pay Transparency Directive will be a significant achievement in our fight for gender equality. It is a step towards a Europe where women in all their diversity can thrive equally. Thank you.