Ursula von der Leyen, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, is chairing an informal meeting of EU ministers for equality and family affairs and EU Commission delegates in Bad Pyrmont on 15 and 16 May. Participants will be discussing how equality and family policies can be combined to improve equality of opportunity and social cohesion in Europe.
"Europe needs a policy that puts men and women on an equal footing so it is easier for them to combine work, family life and taking care of dependents. Today's equality policy is very effective in all the areas where pro-active family policy tools are used. And family policy is very effective when it is oriented on real life situations and not distorted by traditional gender role expectations. That's why I'm looking forward to developing new concepts and smart ideas in Bad Pyrmont; concepts and ideas that we and our team presidency partners can permanently establish throughout Europe," said Ursula von der Leyen.
The two-day meeting organised during Germany's EU council presidency is being attended by EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities,Vladimír Špidla according to the motto is "Equal opportunities for women and men in work and family life". 38 delegations with a total of around 150 members will be discussing four main issues at the two-day meeting:
Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Ursula von der Leyen, is also presenting a joint initiative with her colleagues from the other countries in the first EU team presidency, portuguese Secretary of State of the Presidency Jorge Lacao Costa and Slovenian Minister Marjeta Cotman.They hope that this joint initiative will result in the firm establishment of key equality issues in European politics. Over an 18-month period, the German, Portuguese and Slovenian partners who will be taking over EU council presidency in succession are planning European-level actions to extend female and male role models, to promote equality of opportunity and pay for working women and men, and to support migrant women.
A study by "Sinus Sociovision" commissioned by the Ministry for Family Affairs was presented at the meeting. It shows that the majority of German citizens view equality policy and family policy as two sides of the same coin. As a value, equality is accepted to different extents in different social groups. Well-educated young women and men take equality for granted today in their role sets and relationships. Yet equality and partnership-like relationships are rarely established values in the more traditional milieus and less well-educated classes with low income and limited opportunities in life. "The study shows that equality is an unfamiliar and abstract ideal for the many people who do not perceptibly experience its practical value in their everyday lives. Most men and women believe that equality policy has practical value if it provides a range of services and facilities that make it easier for them to combine a career and family life," said Ursula von der Leyen. There are plans to implement the SINUS study in other European Union countries in order to obtain European level results. The SINUS milieu study results are posted on the internet at www.bmfsfj.de
Further surveys underline the urgent nature of the issues on the Bad Pyrmont agenda. In the European Union, the average rate of employment for women is still 15 percent lower than men (average employment statistics in the EU (25) 2005 for women: 56.3 percent, men: 71.3 percent; EU Commission's annual report on equality between women and men). On average, there is one female senior management executive to every ten male senior management executives at the 50 biggest publicly quoted enterprises in the European Union. The top executive's chair occupied by a woman in only four percent of cases. Eleven percent of senior executives in Germany are women, which represents the EU average (Sweden: 24 percent), yet not one of the 50 biggest companies in this category is headed by a woman. By comparison, the team presidency partner, Slovenia, has an impressive number 21 percent female executives and chief executives (Database on Women and Men in Decision-Making - social and economic domains, decision-making at the 50 biggest publicly quoted enterprises, EU December 2006). The employment statistics for women with and without families shows that this is a problem that doesn't just affect female managers. The number of childless women between the ages of 25 and 54 in employment is around 78 percent in Germany and around 79 percent in Denmark, which puts both countries in the top third of industrial nations. But there's a drastic difference between the figures for childless women and those for women with two or more children. Denmark still has around 78 percent of (25 to 54 year-old) mothers in employment, but the rate in Germany falls by 20 percent (Reconciling a Career and Family – Benchmarking Germany, Bertelsmann Foundation, 2003).
Ursula von der Leyen und EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír Spidla, will be reporting on the initial progress and outcomes of the meeting tomorrow, 16th May, at 11 a.m. in Bad Pyrmont's Konzerthaus. The online report will be posted at www.bmfsfj.de.
Further information about the Informal Meeting of Ministers for Equality and Family Affairs, the main items on the agenda and other Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth events during the German council presidency can be found at: www.bmfsfj.de/eu.
Please find all information on the informal meeting here.
