Generation 2004 wants International Women’s Day (IWD) to be about action, evaluation and noting what still needs to be done. We want more than thanks or praise for women going the extra mile. We cannot pay our bills with applause![1] It’s not enough to simply call women ‘heroes‘ in March each year. Look at every declaration of a push for equality and see whether the actions match the words!

We want you to look at whether gender equality within a limited group is a big enough target or whether it’s maybe just the start. In short, we call on everyone to take steps to help IWD accomplish its ongoing mission:

‘to help forge a gender equal world. Celebrating women’s achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality’.

Equality is something to be done year round. What have we done in the last year?

We highlighted these issues which have a disproportionate effect on women

• 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 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 46%) and those where it is ‘voluntary’ (DGT 67%, EEAS, OP 58%, DG SANTE 83%)[5]

Women are front and centre at Generation 2004

• all 3 of our vice presidents in the Central Staff Committee,
• the editor of our website and newsletter,
• consistently at the top of our candidate lists for local staff committee (LSC) elections:  Luxembourg, Brussels, Ispra/Seville, Outside the Union, Karslruhe and EEAS staff committee elections.

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), we would like this commitment to go further: for there to be gender equality across grades and contract types across the institutions. 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 (October 2021 Statistical bulletin) we would like to see a much more even distribution. 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 of an internal AST competition which is open to AST/SC colleagues (78% female), our European Parliament petition requested exactly this, we hope for more to come! Let’s make use of the internal talent!

[5] See statistical bulletin DG_GenderByFunctionGroup.