Spain advocates reducing the gender gap in the international labour market to the G20
The Third Vice-President and Minister for Labour, Yolanda Díaz, has defended the policies that should contribute to reducing the gender gap in the international labour market with her G20 counterparts by promoting the quality of employment and achieving a more equitable distribution of men and women in all sectors and occupations.
“In Spain, in addition to the employment rate, we are particularly concerned about real and effective equality between men and women”, said the minister to the ministers for labour of this international forum meeting in the Italian city of Catania, located on the island of Sicily.
These are measures that address the salary gap and aim at a more balanced distribution of paid work between men and women, which will eradicate discrimination and gender stereotypes.
Díaz, who was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Employment and Social Economy, stressed the priority of progressing towards more and better jobs for women, and equally remunerated jobs.
“This was already our priority and the pandemic has made it even more pressing, because women have been particularly affected – as have young people – by the COVID crisis.”
Minimum wage
In this respect, the minister pointed to the importance of having an adequate minimum wage, stating that in Spain there is a commitment to increase the minimum wage.
This is a measure that has a particular impact on women and contributes to effectively reducing the salary gap.
This positive effect has been demonstrated in the recent survey published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which indicates that the salary gap has fallen by 2% due to the increase in 2019 and is now the lowest since 2008, standing at 19.5%.
Spanish regulation at the international forefront on the labour implications of algorithms and remote working
To his G20colleagues, Díaz highlighted the pioneering laws adopted in Spain regarding remote working and the one that guarantees labour rights for employees working through digital platforms, a pioneer when it comes to including access to the algorithms that set working conditions in the regulations. Both regulations aroused great interest from the ministers attending the forum and have been the subject of consultation in the various bilateral meetings.
In addition, the Ministry for Labour team has been instrumental in the technical negotiation process leading to the final joint statement. A statement that includes a commitment to continue adopting regulatory frameworks for new forms of work and to give the correct professional classification to people working through platforms.
People, Planet, Prosperity, the G20 priorities
People, Planet, Prosperity: the focus of the G20 employment and labour ministers’ meeting aims to focus the post-pandemic recovery on a fairer and more inclusive labour market.
Here, Spain played a key role in this meeting, as this people-centred, planet-friendly and prosperity-oriented theme is in line with the measures adopted by the Spanish government. “These employment and social protection priorities of the G20 are also our priorities at a national level,” Díaz stressed.
Spain has been able to make use of measures adopted during the current legislature such as the working time reduction schemes (ERTEs). It has also launched a new social protection policy, through a system of minimum incomes to reduce poverty and social exclusion.
The vice-president explained that these measures have been worked on in the context of social dialogue and with the aim of achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, in which the role of green and digital transitions must involve a change of model that is fair and inclusive.
Likewise, the relevance of social dialogue was highlighted as an indispensable tool to ensure that green policies and social justice are the basis of our new production models.
