First of all, happy international women’s day to you all. At Generation 2004 we endeavour to push for equality year round: for us it’s more than a once-a-year performative applause decorated with flowers[1]. But why is a women’s day still needed? Surely there’s little left to do, right? Why is this still even an issue? Well, progress on this topic has not just stalled, it’s going backwards.
‘Do we still need an International Women’s Day?
There is no place for complacency.
According to the World Economic Forum, none of us will see gender parity in our lifetime, and nor likely will many of our children.
Gender parity won’t be attained for well over a century. World Economic Forum data shows that at the current rate of progress it will still take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity. (IWD)
In 2018 the United nations Gender Gap Report estimated that the world was 108 years away from gender parity. In 2024, 6 years later, we are not at the estimated 102 years away from gender parity, no great surprise there, right? But the problem is that we are not even 108 years away: at least then, while we would be no further forward, we would not have lost any ground. But no, it’s worse than that. At the end of 2024 we were an estimated 134 years away from gender parity. In 2023 it was ‘only’ 131 years: the gap is widening.
But that figure is just a snapshot of a very complex issue! It’s not representative!
It is indeed a snapshot, nevertheless, it’s a quick measure of progress, or lack thereof and we can see that progress has not just stalled, we appear to be moving backwards.
What’s the big deal? That’s worldwide, here in Europe we’re ahead!
While Europe is indeed currently ahead (from late 2024), it owes its place more to the 2022-onwards fall in the gender parity score of Northern America (see figure 1.8: Regional gender gaps over time, Gender Gap Report 2024) rather than to any significant improvement of our own gender parity score. i.e. we may be on the podium, but only because the runner in front fell over.
We all Leap Forward when Women Rise: it’s up to all of us!
Look at every declaration you see on the topic of equality and see whether the actions match the words! We want International Women’s Day (IWD) to be about action.
We continue to highlight issues which have a disproportionate effect on women:
- the need to simplify the reimbursement of public transport tickets in Brussels (women are generally more dependent on public transport)
- the reduction in unemployment contributions for 3a Contract Agents (CA FG are disproportionately women overall but particularly FGII-IV)
- the lowering of office temperatures to limits which are known to be gendered
- the administrative burden of being ill [2]
- the reduction of the scope of the annual medical examination and the opacity of screening
- unhappiness at the lack of career prospects at the Commission[3] and pushed for the 2024 removal of the artificial restriction of internal competitions to function groups[4] leading to ‘sticky floors‘
- the non-recognition of Member State ‘gifted’ pension contributions when transferring in to the pension scheme of the European Union institutions (PSEUI)
- Member States took this action to address the gender pension gap (e.g. while unable to work due to caring responsibilities) but the PSEUI is lagging behind
- standby with an eye on the gender split in DGs where the system is formal (JRC 42% women, DG ENER 50% women) and those where it is ‘voluntary’ (DGT 68% women, OP 59%, DG SANTE 61%)[5]
Women are front and centre at Generation 2004
- all 3 of our vice presidents in the Central Staff Committee,
- two of the editorial team of our website and newsletter,
- consistently at the top of our candidate lists for local staff committee (LSC) elections: Luxembourg, Karslruhe and EEAS staff committee elections [6]
Parental expectations are still gendered
‘The current Union legal framework provides limited incentives for men to assume an equal share of caring responsibilities. … The imbalance in the design of work-life balance policies between women and men reinforces gender stereotypes and differences between work and care. Policies on equal treatment should aim to address the issue of stereotypes in both men’s and women’s occupations and roles …. Furthermore, the use of work-life balance arrangements by fathers, such as leave or flexible working arrangements, has been shown to have a positive impact in reducing the relative amount of unpaid family work undertaken by women and leaving them more time for paid employment. (Recital 11, Directive (EU)2019/1158)
We highlighted these examples
- the 15-20% billed to the woman alone for maternity medical care or IVF: why is there no means to split this responsibility/burden between (potential) parents when they are considered together as a single unit for future allowances and education?
- the financial barrier to new fathers/parents taking the 5 days of parental leave offered in addition to the original 10; why artificially restrict take-up and leave less-affluent mothers without that support, reinforcing the idea that this ‘second shift‘ of childcare is the responsibility of one parent.
Gender equality across grades and contract types across the institutions
In 2019 President von der Leyen made an unconditional political commitment that
‘by the end of our mandate, we will have gender equality at all levels of management – for the first time. This will change the face of the Commission’. (Plenary 27 November 2019).
Since the only place where men outnumber women is AD9 and upwards (middle and senior management) and Contract Agents FGI, we would like this commitment to go further: for there to be gender equality across grades and contract types across the institutions: why just tinker at the edges? The stereotype of managers and scientists as men and secretaries and clerks as women still persists, making it more than simply unconscious bias.
‘Gender segregation is a deeply entrenched feature of education systems and occupations across the EU. It refers to the concentration of one gender in certain fields of education or occupations (horizontal segregation) or the concentration of one gender in certain grades, levels of responsibility or positions (vertical segregation). Gender segregation narrows life choices, education and employment options, leads to unequal pay, further reinforces gender stereotypes and limits access to certain jobs while also perpetuating unequal gender power relations in the public and private spheres.‘ (European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), 2018, Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the EU Member States)
Generation 2004 is convinced that gender equality should be a reality at all levels, not only in management.
We uphold the principle of gender equality and vow conviction and strong position in empowering all women and girls and their rights. We have committed to gender mainstream our work, including when deciding the composition of our internal structures such as compiling lists of staff-representative candidates for all locations to ensure women are equally represented.
Once again. Generation 2004 strongly support equality, fairness, and equal opportunities for all.
We thank everyone with whom we work and with whom we pursue our shared goals and make special mention today of the women, whether they are members, newsletter readers, seconded team members, board members or our colleagues across the services.
Happy Women’s day!
We’re here for you!
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004.
[1] Here, brands Tweeting IWD messages were met with statistics on their gender pay gap: ‘Genius’ Twitter ‘bot’ reveals gender pay gaps of brands celebrating International Women’s Day
[2] We have asked HR to clarify the February 2024 statistics showing higher absence for women. We are aware that pregnancy is sometimes counted as illness for statistical purposes but it is not clear whether this is the cause.
[3] Women outnumber men at the Commission in every function group and category EXCEPT Administrator (48% women) and Contract Agent FGI (32% women) (October 2024 Statistical bulletin). Nevertheless the most unablanced function group is AST/SC where 78% are women. Generation 2004 would like to see a much more even distribution across all contract types and function groups. The stereotype of men as decision makers and manual labourers and women as secretaries and clerks should be a thing of the past. The Commission risks being seen as a place where people struggle to realise their potential.
Within the AD function group men disproportionately occupy AD9-16 posts. Women outnumber men in ‘junior’ grades AD5-AD8 (European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff, Figure 10)
For an explanation of each abbreviation/staff grouping here please consult Annex III (p.50) of ECA Special report no 15/2019.
[4] We are very happy to see the publishing cross function group internal competitions, our European Parliament petition requested exactly this, we hope for more to come! Let’s make use of our internal talent! Thanks to the European Court of Auditors, 2024, Special Report 24/2024: EU Civil service A flexible employment framework, insufficiently used to improve workforce management (and replies) for taking up this issue.
[5] See statistical bulletin DG_GenderByFunctionGroup.
[6] We have been unable to follow our normal practice in recent elections Brussels, Ispra/Seville, Outside the Union, though we did in their last elections: Brussels, Ispra/Seville, Outside the Union.
