Report examines progress on achieving women's equality
Pubblicato: 9 March 2003
In early 2003, the Luxembourg government issued its fourth report on implemening the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It sets out a wide range of measures taken since 1999 with a view to eliminating discrimination between women and men in relation to employment, though noting that inequalities persist in areas such as labour market segregation. The report also contains the findings of a recent study on women's participation in economic decision-taking.
Download article in original language : LU0302104FFR.DOC
In early 2003, the Luxembourg government issued its fourth report on implemening the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It sets out a wide range of measures taken since 1999 with a view to eliminating discrimination between women and men in relation to employment, though noting that inequalities persist in areas such as labour market segregation. The report also contains the findings of a recent study on women's participation in economic decision-taking.
Luxembourg ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1989, thereby undertaking to implement an active policy of combating direct and indirect forms of gender-based discrimination. In early 2003, the Minister for the Promotion of Women issued Luxembourg's fourth report on the implementation of CEDAW, setting out the measures developed and carried out between 1998 and 2001 with a view to eliminating discrimination against women. The 180-page document also describes actions undertaken by public bodies, employers’ associations, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the fields of education, combating violence, guidance, vocational training, (re)integration, equal treatment and participation.
The context is a Luxembourg labour market that has been characterised over the last few years by a sharp increase in employment and a massive, and growing, participation by cross-border workers from neighouring countries. However, the labour market is also marked by an excessively low participation by employees under the age of 50, excessively low participation by female Luxembourg nationals, and substantial occupational segregation between women and men. As the Minister for Women's Promotion points out in the preface to the fourth CEDAW report, these problems continue to be present in Luxembourg.
The current situation of women
The fourth CEDAW report highlights the following aspects of women's employment situation in Luxembourg.
Foreign employees
The massive growth that the Luxembourg labour market has undergone over the past few years has been possible thanks to a huge influx of cross-border workers who live in neighbouring Belgium, France and Germany. Cross-border workers accounted for 38% of employees in the Luxembourg labour market in 2001, and their proportion is constantly increasing, as is that of foreign nationals resident in Luxembourg. The proportion of Luxembourg nationals among employees is in continual decline.
The economic inactivity rate of women, and particularly that of female Luxembourg nationals, is significantly high compared with other European countries. In 2000, the rate of female Luxembourg nationals' employment was 38.9%, while that of foreign women in the country stood at 40.5%. The employment rate of foreign resident women employees was, and continues to be, larger than that of Luxembourg women. Generally speaking, the proportion of foreign nationals has increased within the active female population (aged 15-64 years), and the gap between Luxembourg nationals and foreign women has widened further according to the latest figures for 2000.
Marked occupational segregation
Occupation segregation is very marked, and presents the following features:
female Luxembourg nationals are mostly to be found in jobs where Luxembourg nationality is, or was, required at the point of recruitment, and particularly in public administrations and in the energy and water sectors;
resident foreign women are particularly active in business services;
occupational segregation occurs in respect of the options taken by women when they choose their first jobs. Some 70% of young women opt (out of 106 possible occupations) for one of the three most common 'typically female' jobs - ie shop assistants, hair stylists and secretaries. By contrast, just 30% of young men choose the most common male occupations - ie mechanics, electricians and heating and ventilating engineers; and
this segregation continues despite the efforts by the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training and Sports, and work carried out as part of the 'Let’s share equality' (Partageons l'égalité) project.
Unemployment higher among women
According to figures published by STATEC, the Luxembourg statistical office, in 2000, unemployment was higher among women than among men. The table below give male and female unemployment rates by age.
| Age | Men | Women |
| 15-24 | 5.6% | 7.3% |
| 25-34 | 2.0% | 4.6% |
| 35-44 | 1.2% | 2.0% |
| 45-54 | 1.2% | 1.0% |
| 55-64 | 2.0% | 0.0% |
| All | 1.8% | 3.1% |
State measures to eliminate discrimination
The Luxembourg state has committed itself to take appropriate measures with regard to women in the field of employment, with a view to ensuring the same rights on the basis of equality, and particularly the right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings. Measures have been adopted in Luxembourg's various National Action Plans (NAPs) for employment, in response to the EU Employment Guidelines, to meet the challenge of raising women's activity rate, and improving the balance between the number of women and men in certain sectors.
Furthermore, because of the difference between unemployment rates for women and men, the state has undertaken and/or promoted: special support for unemployed women; the creation of new jobs; an analysis of the care needs of dependents; positive actions in private sector enterprises together with a strategy for awareness-raising; equality plans in collective agreements; protection against sexual harassment in the workplace (LU0005137F); work organisation measures; an industrial relations and employment observatory (LU0211102F); vocational guidance for young women; and a study of women's representation in decision-making.
Some of these measures that merit particular attention are examined in more detail below.
Tackling under-representation
The law of 12 February 1999, which enacted the 1998 NAP, provided that employers which take on unemployed people on special contracts receive reimbursement from the state of 65% of the employee's pay (instead of the normal 50%) if, in sectors of activity and/or jobs where one of the two sexes is under-represented, the person recruited is from the under-represented sex. The neutral 'one of the two sexes' formulation was adopted so as not to discriminate against men under-represented in female-dominated jobs. The definition of those sectors in which one of the two sexes is under-represented will be contained in a Grand-Ducal Regulation that is in the process of being finalised.
Vocational guidance for young women
The 1998 NAP also introduced pilot projects for guiding young women towards a wider range of occupational choices and towards training for jobs of the future, particularly in technical and scientific sectors. However, despite these efforts, young women continue to make occupational choices according to traditional models and in 'typically women's jobs'. A change of behaviour in this area will need long-term awareness-raising, not only among young people and children, but also among parents and teachers, according to the report
Training
On 22 June 1999, Luxembourg introduced a new framework law designed to support and develop continuing vocational training. Bearing in mind the specific features of the economic situation in general, and the continuing vocational training market in particular, the government aimed, through this legislation, to put in place new effective structures with a view to sustaining a dynamic economy, and particularly its requirements in terms of skilled human resources. The objective of this law was to encourage a larger number of enterprises to invest more in vocational training. The special relevance for women is that the law also allows people who are on any kind of leave (maternity leave, parental leave or leave for family reasons), or who have temporarily left the enterprise for personal reasons, to take advantage of training measures. A quantitative evaluation of the measures, particularly with regard to the proportion of women involved, is not yet available.
Furthermore, national continuing vocational training centres, which address the needs of unemployed and employed workers, and which generally offer full-time training packages lasting several months, have reported that the number of women taking part has risen considerably over the last few years. They tend to opt for courses in hairdressing, sewing and needlework, retails, catering and office work.
Women's occupational reintegration
The 2001 NAP (LU0106168N) provided that, in order to facilitate better occupational integration for women, there would be greater support and encouragement for:
targeted, up-to-date information on training courses;
the promotion of adult learning that offers both a wide range of training schemes (covering about 100 occupations), national certification, and the guarantee of financial support; and
a range of training courses that give access to part-time jobs, or to flexible or self-employed work.
For example, a special scheme involving social and psychological support to help women re-enter the labour market has been organised and administered by NGOs, and is financially supported. Special training packages for women are promoted by a small number of promoters in the country (three altogether) that mainly focus on women returners aged over 25. Special women’s courses have been diversified and greatly increased. These include:
training for information technology trainers;
training pharmacy assistants; and
guidance workshops for women seeking work.
There is also training available for women returning to work after longer periods of leave, and aimed at enabling them to retain their vocational know-how.
Women's participation in decision-making
The Ministry of Women's Promotion, together with the Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce) and the Chamber of Craft Trades (Chambre des Métiers) have conducted a [study](http://www.mpf.lu/Activites/decision 512.pdf) into women in economic decision-making. It was carried out by the Centre for Population Studies, Poverty and Socio-Economic Policies (Centre d'Etudes de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Economiques, CEPS). This study is the first to set out detailed figures, and may allow actions in this field to be targeted more effectively. In January 2001, almost 1,300 enterprises established in Luxembourg were asked about women's participation in the company's decision-making structures, examining boards of directors, company management and employee representation. The results are summarised below.
Women's participation on company boards
Women's participation as members of boards of directors is much lower than their participation in the workforce as a whole. Although they represent 33% of employees in enterprises that have a board of directors, only 16% of board members are women.
Women are under-represented on boards of directors, irrespective of the size of the enterprise. However, their absence is particularly marked in large enterprises with more than 100 employees: here, the proportion of women in the workforce is 3.5 times higher than the proportion of women on boards of directors.
Women's participation in enterprise management
Because of their different kinds of management structure, a distinction was drawn in the survey between enterprises with fewer than 15 employees and those with 15 or more employees. The organisation of work varies considerably between the two categories of firm, and the terms used to describe decision-making and the content of jobs are incompatible. What is more, the statutory workforce-size threshold for the compulsory establishment of an employee committee is 15 employees.
In small enterprises with fewer than 15 employees:
in enterprises run a single manager (92% of small enterprises), women are seriously under-represented among such managers, representing only 12% of the total; and
in all small enterprises, and not only those run by a single manager, the proportion of women in managerial posts is not much higher. They represent 16% of all company managers, compared with 40% of the workforce.
In enterprises with more than 15 employees:
it is less common for such larger companies to be run by only one manager - 67% are run by a single manager, 18% by two managers, 7% by three and 8% by four or more; and
given than women account for 33% of the workforce, they are under-represented among managers, making up only only 11%. Thus, the proportion of women in the workforce is three times higher than the proportion of women who work as company managers.
Commentary
Until the late 1980s, Luxembourg essentially adopted a traditional approach to the role of the sexes in the family, based on the father engaging in gainful employment and the mother devoting her life to bringing up the children. However, Luxembourg ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women on 2 February 1989, having approved it in law on 15 December 1988. The fourth CEDAW report documents the impressive process that Luxembourg has since achieved over the last 15 years as it seeks to achieve de facto equality between women and men.
One of the best examples of the drive for equality between the sexes is a proposed statutory amendment drawn up by the Chamber of Deputies' Commission on Institutions and Constitutional Review. The Commission, responding to a request from a committee charged with inserting the principle of equality between women and men into Luxembourg's Constitution, has proposed that Article 11(2) of the Constitution should be amended so that the formulation 'The people of Luxembourg are equal before the law' becomes 'Women and men are equal in rights and duties'. (Marc Feyereisen)
Eurofound raccomanda di citare questa pubblicazione nel seguente modo.
Eurofound (2003), Report examines progress on achieving women's equality, article.
