Gender equality

The ETUC is strongly committed to achieving equality between women and men. Women make up more than 50% of Europe’s population and around 45% of ETUC 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 Paris Action Programme (2015-2019) and the ETUC Action Programme on Gender Equality 2016 – 2019, and include: I. Mainstreaming gender into all ETUC policies; II. Achieving equal pay between women and men; III. Eliminating the gender gap in decision-making bodies; III. Tackling the challenge of work-life balance; IV. Facilitating work, family and private life; V. Addressing the link between domestic violence and workplace rights.

The annual 8th March Survey monitors the gender balance in trade union decision-making bodies. The ETUC is lobbying for greater economic independence for women, new EU legislation to improve work/life balance and a 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.

25.11.2019 Document

Letter to Ursula von der Leyen on proposals to increase EU action against violence against women
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.
09.02.2019 Page

Women in Turkey show the way to union recognition

With French and international trade union support, employees at Flormar, the Turkish subsidiary of cosmetics multinational Yves Rocher, have reached a deal covering union recognition and protection for 132 laid-off workers. An agreement between the Gebze branch and the national management of the chemicals and rubber trade union, Petrol-Is, and Flormar, provides pay severance, notice and special benefits equal to 16 months' wages to each of the laid-off workers.
30.01.2019 Press release

Time to improve gender balance on company boards

The European Parliament and the EU Presidency must act urgently to boost women’s equality in European business management, says the ETUC. Tomorrow (Thursday), MEPs will debate the ‘Women on Boards’ Directive, proposed by the European Commission back in 2012 and supported by MEPs the following year. The measure has been stuck in the Council, opposed by some Member States, ever since.
25.11.2018 Page

It’s about women’s dignity in the workplace

Unite the union has launched a ‘Period Dignity’ campaign to secure access to sanitary protection in workplaces across the UK. The campaign includes a range of communication materials including a video and tools to help union members encourage employers to support the campaign and provide free tampons and pads in staff toilets.
23.11.2018 Press release

Stop violence against women at work - Support an ILO Convention

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)  are  calling on governments and employers to stop playing games with working women’s lives and back a strong and inclusive international labour standard on violence and harassment in the world of work.   The call comes on the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which takes place on 25 November every year.
02.11.2018 Press release

How can women achieve pay equality when the best jobs are reserved for men?

The gender pay gap is not only at an unacceptable 16% – but in the last year for which figures are available, 2016, it had barely decreased since 2010, and not at all since 2015. To mark EU (Un)Equal Pay Day on 3 November, ETUC Confederal Secretary Montserrat Mir said: “At current rates of change we will all be dead before we reach equal pay for women. “Pay inequality has barely changed since 2010, and has actually got worse in a some countries, including the UK, Poland, Portugal and Bulgaria.
07.09.2018 Page

Union solidarity for women athletes

A meeting of the World Players Association and UNI Europa Sport in Brussels in July gave its backing to a strong European Basketball Alliance to help overcome the obstacles facing many female players. Among the top athletes taking part were Melissa Diawak, Maud Medenou and Pauline Lithard from France, Kathrin Ress and Martina Fassina from Italy, Olympic medallist Lucila Pascua Suárez from Spain and Gülşah Akkaya from Turkey.
07.09.2018 Page

New rights and better pay in Italian non-profit health and social services sector

The ETUC’s three Italian affiliates have secured a new collective agreement 2017-2019 for the 20,000 employees of the ANPAS non-profit national emergency and social assistance organisation, offering a basic pay increase of €85 (around 5.7% for emergency drivers) and a one-off payment of €300. Other key provisions cover training, transport time, illness and injury, limitations on fixed-term contracts, recognition of civil partnerships and enhanced rights for women. The unions hope that this will lead to other agreements in the non-profit sector.
07.09.2018 Page

Spanish unions call time on trafficking

Trade unions in Spain have urged the government to step up the fight against sexual exploitation and trafficking of human beings.
01.06.2018 Page

Full-time work and fair pay underpin gender equality in Sweden

An extra pay boost for low-paid care workers forms part of a new two-year collective agreement reached after long negotiations between Swedish municipal workers’ union Kommunal and private care providers. On top of a general pay increase of 2% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019, companies where average pay is below €2,330 a month (€2,380 in 2019) will pay a flat rate increase of €47 this year and €55 in 2019. Assistant nurses will get a further 0.5%.
21.03.2018 Circular

ETUC Annual Gender Equality Survey 2019

Brussels, 21 March 2019 Sent to: ETUC member organisations and to the Members of the Women's Committee For information to: Delegates of the ETUC - Youth Committee Dear colleagues,
17.01.2018 Page

Understanding the menopause in the workplace

Huge numbers of women have to cope with the side-effects of the menopause while at work – most often in silence. Very few workplaces have policies in place to support women who experience difficulties during this stage of their lives, although a survey of 4,000 workers, carried out by the TUC in Wales, found that nearly nine out of ten said they wanted them.
20.12.2017 Document

Gender-Based Violence at Work and at Home– A Trade Union Issue

Gender-Based Violence at Work and at Home– A Trade Union Issue Adopted at the Executive Meeting of 13 and 14 December 2017 Introduction
24.11.2017 Press release

Trade Unions: no more brushing sexual harassment & violence under the table!

“Trade unions and employers play a major role in making work safe for women, and helping to eliminate harassment and violence against women,” said Luca Visentini, Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). “Collective agreements have shown to be a most effective means to combat this scourge.”
20.11.2017 Press release

Gender Pay Gap Action Plan

Commenting on the European Commission’s Action Plan to tackle the gender pay gap, published today, Montserrat Mir, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation said “We have been waiting far too long for renewed legislative action against the gender pay gap across the EU. The ETUC welcomes any promise to look at possible changes to the Gender Equality Directive, but looking has to be followed by doing. We need legally-binding obligations on pay transparency and sanctions against those that fail to deliver.”
05.11.2017 Page

Irish union backs vote on women's right to choose

SIPTU, Ireland’s largest trade union, has overwhelmingly supported a referendum on repeal of the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution which makes legal abortion impossible in Ireland. The vote is now expected to take place in mid-2018.
11.10.2017 Press release

Needed: renewed EU action on gender equality

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomed the publication today of the 2017 Gender Equality Index by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), showing some small improvements in gender equality in Europe since 2015.
10.10.2017 Press release

"Safe at Home, Safe at Work" - Briefing on the ETUC project

Background paper ETUC project “Safe at home Safe at work” - Trade unions’ strategies to prevent, manage and eliminate workplace harassment and violence against women Recommendations Ten things that unions can do to tackle harassment and violence against women work Prioritise social dialogue between employers and unions, in jointly agreeing policies, procedures and awareness raising amongst managers and workers.