Gender equality within the European Commission: frequently asked questions
What is the legal basis for the Commission's equal opportunities policy?
The principle of equal pay for women and men was laid down in Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome and expanded in the 1970s with the adoption of specific directives. In 1992, the principle of gender mainstreaming was enshrined in the EC Treaty, stipulating that the principle of equal treatment should not prevent the maintenance or adoption of measures providing for specific advantages in favour of the under-represented sex (Article 141). The principle of equality between women and men is also confirmed in Article II-83 of Title III of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
These provisions made it possible for an equal opportunities policy to be implemented in the European civil service. The Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender (or on other grounds), while also making provision for measures and actions promoting equal opportunities to be taken into account in the areas covered by the Staff Regulations (Article 1d).
What is the Commission’s policy on gender equality?
The equal opportunities policy for female and male members of the personnel has been in place since 1988. The first two action programmes were positive action programmes for women. Since 1997, the programmes contain measures that go beyond simple “catch-up” measures for the under-represented sex.
The "Fourth action programme (4th AP) for equal opportunities for women and men (2004–08)", adopted in 2004, mainly aims at improving the gender balance within the Commission, removing barriers to the career development of women and reconciling personal and working life. As the evaluation of the previous programmes showed that a variety of difficulties[1] remain in spite of the progress achieved, the 4th AP places emphasis on quantifiable measures that can be compared across departments and monitored on an annual basis.
Since 1995, the Commission has also set annual targets for the recruitment and appointment of women to administrator (AD) category posts with the aim of eventually reaching gender parity. The targets for senior management, middle management and non-management administrator posts are subject to annual monitoring. In 2005 and 2006, the target for middle management (30%) could not be reached, mainly because of the very low number of female candidatures.
In consequence, binding measures were adopted in September 2006 for appointments to middle management posts. Examples of such measures are:
written justification by Directorates-General (DGs) for the absence of women on a shortlist when there are female candidates for the post;
compulsory representation of both sexes and designation of a special rapporteur for equal opportunities on all selection panels;
organisation of courses on equal opportunities that are compulsory for all Commission managers before 2009.
The 2007 targets were set at: 25% of first appointments to senior management posts, 30% to middle management posts and 50% to non-management AD posts. This was the first year that all targets were met (35.1% at senior management level, 31.5% at middle management level and 54.2% at AD level). The implementation of the binding measures since April 2007 seems to have contributed to the progress noted at middle management level. For 2008, in order to maintain the positive results achieved, the targets were the same as in 2007. An analysis of first appointments and recruitments in the first semester of 2008 showed that women accounted for 33.3% of senior management appointments, 28.8% of middle management appointments and 57.7% of AD non-management recruitments.
What are the practical steps that have been taken by the Commission in terms of gender equality?
According to the provisions of the 4th AP, all DGs of the Commission should have set up a focal point responsible for equal opportunities, established an internal working group on equal opportunities and adopted an internal action plan specifically applicable to the DG. All these obligations have been implemented and make each department responsible for the implementation of the policy on equal opportunities at its own level.
Concerning the removal of barriers to the career development of women, several DGs have set up specific coaching or training programmes (especially dedicated to women), while others give priority to women when there are male and female candidates of equal merit for appointment or promotion and ensure that promotion lists contain a number of women that is proportional to the number of women eligible for promotion. Specific encouragement is also given to women to follow management courses.
On the issue of reconciling personal and working life, several DGs have adopted a code of good conduct or recommendations on scheduling meetings and training sessions, or on working hours in general. Some DGs ensure that staff on maternity leave, parental leave or working part-time are replaced on a systematic basis.
A variety of actions have been taken to address awareness and training. These include specific information sessions, targeted internal training, a page devoted to equal opportunities on the DG's intranet (and at central level), staff questionnaires and the dissemination of good practice. However, these actions have a greater impact when they are targeted, when they concern issues that affect all staff and when management takes an active role.
At central Commission level, various measures have recently been taken: establishment of a mechanism of replacement for absent staff (allocation of credits for allowing the recruitment of contractual agents); implementation of flexitime and teleworking; implementation of a new policy combating psychological and sexual harassment; training courses for staff on equal opportunities and on the anti-harassment policy; an independent study on the career development of AD staff.
What are the results of the Commission’s equal opportunities policy?
The policies in place since the end of the 1980s have improved the representation of women in the AD category, and more particularly in management posts. The presence of women in AD posts rose from 5.2% in 1970 to 38.4% in 2007. Moreover, in 1994 women accounted for just 2% of senior management posts, while in 2007 they have reached 18.5%. Women accounted for 20.4% at middle management level at the end of 2007.
There is now more attention to the application of equal opportunities policy to selection procedures (analysis of the different impact of competitions on women and men), and to the training and awareness-raising of staff.
We are tackling the issue of flexibility of working hours. According to the Commission comparative study of careers (2007), women tend not to apply for management posts due to their difficulty in reconciling private and working life. This trend is confirmed by the fact that for the past four years women comprise around 85% of the users of flexible work arrangements (part-time, parental leave and family leave). In order to respond to the need for a greater flexibility at work, flexitime and teleworking have been implemented since 2007.
How is the equal opportunities policy actually put into practice in the Commission?
The "Equal opportunities and non-discrimination" unit of the Directorate-General for Personnel and Administration is in charge of developing and monitoring this policy. The unit has a coordinating, advisory, monitoring and evaluation role in relation to the DGs. It is also responsible for policy documents (such as the communications adopted on annual targets, annual reports, teleworking, harassment, etc.) and deals with individual informal complaints of discrimination and harassment. However, other Commission departments have a significant responsibility in implementing the 4th AP through their "equal opportunities focal point", action plans and equal opportunities working groups.
The departments’ progress in equal opportunities is evaluated with an annual report monitoring the implementation of the programme within the DGs through a comparison between them (on the basis of a gender equality scoreboard and an evaluation of the implementation of the DGs' action plans). Each DG also has to include an equal opportunities item in its Annual Management Plan and Annual Report.
What are the main challenges still faced by the Commission in this area?
The main difficulties include:
the slow change in mentalities;
a larger workload and, more generally, a culture of long working hours;
the fact that the issue is still a low priority for some departments;
limited human and financial resources due to the difficult budgetary situation;
insufficient systematic attention to the gender dimension of all aspects of human resources management;
the need to develop more role models amongst the population of women managers.
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[1] Main difficulties: lack of the necessary level of priority on the issue of equal opportunities within the Commission; workload pressures and the culture of long working hours; difficulties regarding replacement of staff on part time or maternity leave and flexible working arrangements; under-representation of women in management posts; serious lack of consistency across Directorates-General (DGs); a need for better and more comprehensive monitoring data on gender equality indicators and target setting.
Published on: 2008-11-20
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