Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Labour market / Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Education and reproductive health / Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Leadership and conflict resolution / Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Economic and financial resources

Equal access to the labour market is recognised as a cornerstone of women’s economic independence and participation in public life. The EU and its Member States have obligations to integrate those excluded from the labour market (Article 151 TFEU), advance gender equality in employment (Article 153 TFEU; Directive 2006/54/ EC), and ensure equal pay for work of equal value (Article 157 TFEU). All EU Member States have ratified the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, which upholds women’s rights to work, equal opportunities and social benefits (Article 11).

Authors: Rosamund Shreeves and Giulio Sabbati

This Briefing was part of a series issued in March 2017 in connection with International Women's Day on the 8 March 2017. The other Briefings are outlined below:

Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Leadership and conflict resolution
Experts agree that much depends on women being involved on an equal footing in political leadership, as well as corporate governance, conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and post-conflict power structures. In most societies around the world, women hold only a minority of decision-making positions in public and private institutions. Yet for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy. Furthermore, the European Union has increasingly recognised that conflict and crisis management are not gender-neutral and has introduced numerous gender policies and initiatives to forward the aims of landmark United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325 (2000).

Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Education and reproductive health
In the EU, gender equality in education and several other policy areas is protected by law. In practice, however, full gender equality has still not been achieved. Beyond the EU, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has found that millions of girls are still being denied an education. Therefore, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is calling for all countries to repeal discriminatory laws that create barriers for women and girls not only in education, but also in access to healthcare, decent jobs and equal pay. The right to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is not only an integral part of the general right to health but is also fundamentally linked to the enjoyment of many other human rights, according to UN experts.

Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Economic and financial resources
Ensuring that women have equal access to economic and financial resources and benefit equally from economic opportunities and growth has been recognised as a vital contribution towards gender equality, poverty eradication and sustainable development. This principle is embedded in numerous international instruments, including the current UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are binding on the EU and its Member States.

The first report from a new United Nation (UN) high-level panel, created to find concrete ways of implementing the SDGs related to women’s economic empowerment, has identified a number of interconnected areas where action is needed. One priority is to ensure that women have access to and control over finances and assets, both for their economic security and for building wealth. Other priorities include: securing decent jobs and equal pay and creating an enabling environment by investing in public services and infrastructure (including child and elderly care); changing business practices and discriminatory laws; and developing gender-sensitive (macro)economic and social policies.

Women’s participation in economic decision-making through leadership and collective action is also vital to allow equal opportunities to shape economic structures. Measures must therefore address factors linked to women’s experiences and to the wider structural conditions that determine them, particularly the value given to women’s unpaid work.

EP: EPRS: Briefing, March 2017: Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Leadership and conflict resolution http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599302/EPRS_BRI(2017)599302_EN.pdf

EP: EPRS: Briefing, March 2017: Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Education and reproductive health http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599301/EPRS_BRI(2017)599301_EN.pdf

EP: EPRS: Briefing, March 2017: Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Economic and financial resources http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599306/EPRS_BRI(2017)599306_EN.pdf

Website: International Women's Day http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

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