Gender equality

The ETUC is committed to achieving equality between women and men. Women make up more than 50% of Europe’s population and around 45% of trade union members. The ETUC works to promote women’s rights and equality between women and men in the labour market and society in general.

ETUC priorities are outlined in the Vienna Action Programme (2019-2023) and include ensuring that digitalisation and new forms of work are gender sensitive and do not disadvantage female workers; achieving equal pay and economic independence for women; full implementation of the work-life balance directive; ending gender-based violence and harassment; empowerment of vulnerable women including older, migrant and refugee women and those with disabilities; and the mainstreaming of gender equality across all policy areas in the EU. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and worsened existing inequalities. The ETUC is pressing for all recovery programmes to redress these injustices and give high priority to improving women's rights and working conditions.

The annual 8th March Survey monitors the gender balance in trade union decision-making bodies. The ETUC is lobbying for equality in decision-making and progress on the directive addressing gender imbalances on company boards. It has produced a Toolkit for Gender Equality, with the EU-level employers. The ETUC takes part in the EU’s Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities; the European Institute for Gender Equality Experts’ Forum; and the European Women’s Lobby.

25.06.2021 Document

Statement by the ETUC Women’s Committee on the ratification of ILO C190

Statement by the ETUC Women’s Committee on the ratification of ILO C190 Adopted by the ETUC Women’s Committee on 24 June 2021 Every worker, no matter who they are or what work they do, deserves the protection of ILO Convention 190 concerning violence and harassment in the world of work.
18.06.2021 Press release

MEPs support trade union protest for stronger Gender Pay Transparency Directive

Influential MEPs have today committed to improving the Gender Pay Transparency Directive at a trade union protest for equal pay outside the European Parliament. Evelyn Regner, shadow rapporteur and Chair of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee, symbolically launched the ETUC “Equal pay needs trade unions” pledge, committing to secure the right of workers to bargain collectively for equal pay through trade unions. Rapporteur Kira Peter-Hansen and shadow rapporteur Marc Angel committed by video to support the pledge.
17.06.2021 Document

"Equal Pay Needs Trade Unions" - Sign the pledge!

On 4th of March 2021, the European Commission has presented a proposal for a Gender Pay Transparency Directive.
01.06.2021 Page

Danish unions welcome equal pay committee

Following pressure from a group of 51 public service trade unions, the Danish government has agreed to set up a committee to examine the problem of pay inequality. The unions, representing well over half a million employees in municipalities and regions, have long been pushing for more action on pay equality. The issue affects the whole of society and requires a broad political approach. They have called for the provision of a substantial pool of money to tackle the gender pay gap.
01.06.2021 Page

Collective agreement for museum employees

The 2,600 staff of Austria’s federal museums are to have a joint collective agreement after a long campaign by the works councils and the public service union Gewerkschaft Öffentlicher Dienst (GÖD), under the hashtag #WirGehenLeerAus.
28.05.2021 Document

Periods are a workplace issue!
03.05.2021 Document

ETUC Women Workers Manifesto - Equality in the recovery

Women are at greater exposure to the consequences of the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic. This Recovery needs to put the achievement of equality at the centre. We are calling for 1. More support for trade unions so that they can spearhead the fight for gender equality. When women join together in their trade union they can bargain for a better deal, increased pay, more security, training, health and safety, a say over working hours, fairer promotions, more paid leave and a decent pension.
20.03.2021 Press release

ETUC urges Turkey to reconsider pulling out of Convention on violence against women

The European Trade Union Confederation is seriously concerned that the decision of the President of Turkey to pull his Government country out of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence is a very retrograde step and urges the Government to reconsider this action and reaffirm its international commitment to protect the human rights of women and girls and all their citizens.
08.03.2021 Page

Moving towards gender equality in Finland

Trade unions in Finland are setting the pace in promoting women to top positions, compared with employers’ organisations, according to research by Finnish broadcaster YLE. The survey found that women held almost half of trade union board seats, compared with only around one-fifth of equivalent positions in employers’ federations. Ninety-two women and 97 men had places on the executives of the 10 main Finnish unions, with trade unions with large female memberships tending to elect more women.
08.03.2021 Page

Call for action against sexual harassment

Cyprus’ Democratic Labour Federation (Deok) has called for legislation obliging employers to take action to deal with sexual harassment at work. The demand follows public outcry over a series of sexual harassment and abuse reports in Greece and Cyprus. According to the union, thousands of employees experience sexual harassment and abuse daily, but only a few businesses have adopted procedures to handle such incidents.
20.10.2020 Page

Spanish unions call on companies to start negotiating equality

In October, Spain’s Council of Ministers approved regulations guaranteeing equal pay between men and women and requiring companies to prepare and register equality plans. The measures were negotiated and signed by the trade unions CCOO and UGT.
25.09.2020 Page

#GenderPayGap : End the Secrecy!

Pay transparency can play a crucial role in ensuring substantial progress in reducing the gender pay gap. It unveils the systematic undervalueing of women’s work at the root of the persistent gender pay inequalities. It highlights the feminisation-segregation of occupations and the low pay of work performed by women. Pay transparency must support trade unions’in negotiating to reduce unfair pay differentials as well as to better tackle low pay in general.
04.06.2020 Page

Union strength grows in UK and Sweden

Over the last year, union membership in the UK has increased by 91,000, reaching a total of over 200,000 new members since 2017.There has been a surge in affiliations since the start of the pandemic in Britain, although in some other countries unions are suffering due to soaring unemployment. The biggest change in the UK came from a rise of 170,000 in the number of women workers joining trade unions. There are now more women carrying a union card than at any time since 1995.
03.03.2020 Publication

Artificial Intelligence will it make bias against women worse?

ETUC is concerned that Artificial Intelligence will reinforce gender inequality and stereotypes by building existing biases and prejudices into the algorithms and programmes of artificial intelligence, and believes that every effort needs to be made to ensure women are treated equally and with respect.
31.01.2020 Publication

Gender Pay Gap - End the Secrecy

ETUC calls for a Pay Transparency Directive
25.11.2019 Document

Letter to Ursula von der Leyen on proposals to increase EU action against violence against women
11.11.2019 Page

Italian agreement combats workplace harassment

The three Italian trade union federations CGIL-CISL-UIL have signed an agreement to oppose harassment in the workplace with the management of Siam, a company providing water services in the city of Siracusa in Sicily. It is the first such agreement in the region and the local industrial sector. It is particularly important for women since workplace harassment is more likely to affect female workers.
11.11.2019 Page

Norway: pensions and pay victory for health workers

Unions in the Norwegian health sector, including Fagforbundet, YS and unions represented by LO Stat, are celebrating a historic victory following a positive ruling by the National Wages Board. It means that pensions will now be based on all earnings, ensuring that part-time workers will be entitled to a pension for the first time. The Board also confirmed a pay rise meaning that all workers will benefit from an increase already agreed for nursing staff. It was the government that took the issue to the National Wages Board in the summer.
29.10.2019 Press release

Parents in 7 countries to get new rights to paid leave

Parents in seven EU member states will begin benefiting from new rights to paid leave if national governments properly implement the work-life balance directive, a new ETUC analysis shows. Fathers in Italy, Croatia and Slovakia are set to receive paid paternity leave around the birth of a child for the first time ever under the directive adopted by the European Council in June. The legislation fought for by the ETUC will also at least double the length of paid paternity leave in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania.
25.10.2019 Press release

Fine companies who refuse gender pay transparency, unions tell Von der Leyen

Compulsory gender pay reporting backed up by fines must be among the “binding pay transparency measures” promised by Ursula Von Der Leyen if they are to have a real impact. The European Commission President-Designate has pledged to bring forward measures to tackle the EU’s 16% gender pay gap within the first 100 days of her mandate. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomes the commitment and is calling on her to introduce policies which have a chance of delivering real change in the public and private sectors.
24.10.2019 Publication

#Rebalance Trade unions’ strategies and good practices to promote work-life balance

The study set out to map best practices on work-life balance (WLB) agreements negotiated by social partners in 10 Member States: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
18.09.2019 Page

Trade union women taking power

Women from trade union backgrounds have moved into influential government positions in both Italy and Sweden. In Sweden, Eva Nordmark, ETUC Executive Committee member and head of white-collar union TCO, is the new Employment Minister, appointed under a government reshuffle by Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.
21.06.2019 Press release

New ILO Convention gives right to work without violence and harassment

The European Trade Union Confederation today congratulated trade union representatives at the UN International Labour Organisation for reaching agreement today with governments and employers on a world-wide Convention (and accompanying Recommendation) for the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work. The Convention establishes for the first time a global and unique right of everyone to work free from violence and harassment. The Convention would require countries across the globe to
10.05.2019 Page

Additional rights for new parents in Ireland

Proposals for a new parental leave scheme in Ireland have received a guarded welcome from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. "These are positive developments for working parents," said Equality Officer David Joyce. "It represents real progress even if it could have gone further. Congress will be studying the scheme to examine whether it is consistent with the proposed EU Work-Life Balance Directive. The social partners will have an important role to play in transposition and implementation and Congress looks forward to participating in those discussions.”
06.03.2019 Press release

ETUC launches Women’s Day call for vote for gender equality in European elections

The European elections in May are the most important for decades – and the turnout and vote of women will be crucial to halt the rise of the anti-European and far-right parties. On 8 March – International Women’s Day - the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) launches a call for women to vote in the European elections, and to vote for women candidates who support gender equality and trade union demands for a fairer Europe for all workers.