Wages and equality: 10 November marks the EU’s Equal Pay Day
Equality and wages in European Union: Today, 10 November, marks the EU’s Equal Pay Day. 12 EU countries have also established a national Equal Pay Day.
In the EU, women are hourly paid 14.1% less than men on average. This equals almost two months of salary. This is why the European Commission marks 10 November as a symbolic day to raise awareness that female workers in Europe still earn on average less than their male colleagues.
The Equal Pay Day in other countries
12 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) organise and have organised an Equal Pay Day according to the respective Pay Gap in their country. Various awareness-raising activities are arranged to show the negative effect of the gender pay gap. Such activities involve equal pay actions organised by trade unions, public debates, seminars and press conferences.
Gender pay gap
The EU is tackling the gender pay gap from various perspectives. The aim is to promote the effective equal pay principle by creating new legislation and monitoring its implementation
Equal pay for equal work is one of the EU’s founding principles enshrined in Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFUE). EU countries must eliminate discrimination on grounds of sex with regard to all aspects and conditions of remuneration for the same work or for work of equal value.
The EU monitors the correct transposition and enforcement of the Directive 2006/54/EC on equal pay and supports EU countries to properly implement existing rules. The Directive 2006/54/EC consolidated existing directives on gender equality in the field of employment together with the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
