Commission adopts third Annual Report on equal opportunities

The European Commission adopted its third Annual Report on equal opportunities for women and men in March 1999. It focuses on 1998, a year when equal opportunities was a very important item on the European policy agenda and when the EU's "twin strategy" - combining mainstreaming in all policy areas with action specifically aimed at women - was found to have produced tangible results.

On 5 March 1999, the European Commission adopted its third Annual Report on equal opportunities for women and men in the European Union. The Commission originally committed itself to the publication of such an annual report (EU9806111N) in its 1994 White Paper on European Social Policy: A way forward for the Union, and as part of the current fourth medium-term Community Action Programme on equal opportunities for women and men (1996-2000). The report acts as an important instrument for measuring and monitoring progress in the field of equal opportunities, as well as contemplating the development of future initiatives. The new report presents the main developments and trends in equal opportunities at European and national level for 1998. It has five sections, covering: mainstreaming equal opportunities; new strategies for employment and equality; promoting a gender balance in decision-making; legislation on equality; and, for first time, an entire section on equal opportunities in the countries which have applied for EU membership.

Equal opportunities for women and men was a key item on the European policy agenda in 1998, states the report, which points in particular to the emphasis on equal opportunities within the "adaptability" pillar of the Employment Guidelines (EU9806109F) and the need to reconcile work and family life under the theme of modernisation of work organisation stressed in the Social Action Programme 1998-2000 (EU9805104F). In addition, the report highlights the impact of "mainstreaming", whereby equal opportunities are integrated into policy decisions, and concludes that the twin strategy of mainstreaming combined with specific actions has produced significant results - for example, the promotion of equality within the Structural Funds as part of the Commission's Agenda 2000 Communication. This emphasis is foreseen to continue in 1999, particularly with the ratification of Article 3 of the Amsterdam Treaty, which embodies the objective of promoting equal opportunities in all the European Union's activities.

A number of limited improvements in relation to promoting a gender balance in decision-making were noted in 1998. For example, in the European Parliament, where women's representation has grown from 25.7% of seats after the June 1994 elections to 26.7% in 1998. However, between 1997 and 1998 average growth in women's participation in national parliamentary assemblies was limited to 0.6 percentage points (from 16.9% to 17.5%). The highest increases in women's representation in 1997-8 occurred at government level, in particular, significant increases were noted in Luxembourg, with an increase from 25% to 33% in the proportion of government posts held by women, Denmark, with an increase from 26.5% to 35%, and Germany, with an increase from 15.6% to 35%. Definite progress in women's representation has been noted in the EU Economic and Social Committee, as the proportion of women members has risen to 17%, including a female president. As part of the implementation of the third equal opportunities Action Programme, some 22 European Commission directorates and offices were involved by mid-1998 in creating new structures and action plans around the issue of equality of opportunity, while a new Council regulation was adopted, integrating equality clauses into the recruitment procedures and statute of officials. Five commissioners out of 20 are women (compared with three out of 17 in the previous Commission). However, no progress was observed in the European Court of Justice, which consists of 15 Judges and nine Advocates General, all of whom are men.

Despite the recognition by the Austrian Presidency of the second half of 1998 of the importance of equal opportunities as a strategy for employment creation, action in this area is reported to have been limited. A similar opinion was reported in the 1998 Joint Employment Report, which found that developments in this area had been "disappointing". In respect of the National Action Plans implementing the Employment Guidelines, the new report states that most Member States are aware of gaps in childcare provision, but that only Austria, the Netherlands, the UK and Luxembourg have fixed targets in this area. The 1999 Employment Guidelines will consolidate these developments further and place greater emphasis on measures that will facilitate the reconciliation of career and family responsibilities.