Right to equal pay: European Committee of Social Rights finds violations in 14 countries
Gender pay gap “unacceptable”, says Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić
Strasbourg, 29.06.2020 – The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) has found violations of the right to equal pay and the right to equal opportunities in the workplace in 14 out of 15 countries which apply the European Social Charter’s collective complaints procedure: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia. Only Sweden was found to be compliant with the Charter.
“The gender pay gap is unacceptable in modern societies, yet it continues to be one of the main obstacles to achieving real equality. European governments must urgently step up efforts to ensure equal opportunities in the workplace. And more countries should use the Council of Europe’s Social Charter as one means of reaching that goal,” said Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Complaints to the ECSR, which monitors the implementation of the Charter, were lodged by the international NGO University Women of Europe (UWE).
While the ECSR found that all 15 countries concerned had satisfactory legislation recognising the right to equal pay for equal work, it found various violations - bar Sweden - primarily due to insufficient progress in reducing the gender pay gap, but in some cases also due to lack of pay transparency in the labour market, ineffective legal remedies and the insufficient powers and resources of national gender equality bodies.
Moreover, despite quota arrangements and other measures, women also continue to be under-represented in decision-making positions within private companies.
The ECSR noted that the gender pay gap had narrowed in some countries, but progress was insufficient.
Background
The ECSR monitors compliance with the European Social Charter under two complementary mechanisms: through collective complaints lodged by the social partners and other non-governmental organisations (collective complaints procedure), and through national reports drawn up by Contracting Parties (reporting system).
According to the Charter, the right to equal pay must be guaranteed in law. The ECSR has identified in particular the following obligations on participating States:
-       To recognise the right to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value in their legislation;  
-       To ensure access to effective remedies for victims of pay discrimination;
-       To ensure and guarantee pay transparency and enable pay comparisons;
-       To maintain effective equality bodies and relevant institutions in order to ensure equal pay in practice.
Contacts:
Daniel Höltgen, Spokesperson of the Secretary General, Tel. +33 6 68 29 87 51; @CoESpokesperson
Giuseppe Zaffuto, Spokesperson/Media officer, tel. +33 3 90 21 56 04
Note to editors
The ECSR acknowledges that the gender pay gap is no longer solely or even primarily a result of discrimination as such. The gap arises mainly from differences in the so-called “average characteristics” of women and men in the labour market. These differences result from many factors, such as horizontal segregation, where there is the concentration of one sex in certain economic activities (sectoral gender segregation) or the concentration of one sex in certain occupations (occupational gender segregation), as well as vertical segregation, notably the fact that too few women occupy the better paid senior and decision-making positions within companies. Therefore, the States should assess the impact of the policy measures adopted in tackling gender segregation in employment, improving women’s participation in a wider range of jobs and occupations.  
As regards more particularly vertical segregation, the decisions highlight the State’s positive obligations to tackle this phenomenon in the labour market, by means of, inter alia, promoting the advancement of women in decision-making positions within private companies. This obligation may entail introduction of binding legislative measures to ensure equal access to management boards of companies, including by setting specific quotas or targets in both public and private sector that will promote parity. However, a light touch approach that encourages change is also possible, if it brings about measurable progress. Measures designed to promote equal opportunities for women and men in the labour market must include promoting an effective parity in the representation of women and men in decision-making positions in both the public and private sectors.
In this respect, the ECSR observed that the proportion of women on management boards of the largest publicly listed companies in countries with binding legislative measures had risen from an average of 9.8% in 2010 to 37.5% in 2018. In countries that took positive action to promote gender balance but did not adopt binding measures, the corresponding percentages were 12.8% in 2010 and 25.6% in 2018, whereas in countries where no particular action (apart from self-regulation by companies) has been taken, the situation remained almost stagnant, with 12.8% women on management boards on average in 2010 and 14.3% in 2018. The ECSR also recalled that it is essential to bear in mind PACE Resolution 1715 (2010), which recommends that the proportion of women on management boards of companies should be at least 40%.