Equal Pay Day: Statement by Vice-President Jourová and Commissioners Schmit and Dalli

Women in the European Union still earn less than men. The gender pay gap in the EU-27 has slightly improved since last year: from 14.5% to 14.1% according to the latest Eurostat findings. The European Equal Pay Day marks the day when women symbolically stop getting paid compared to their male colleagues for the same job. This year, the European Equal Pay Day falls on 10 November.

Ahead of this symbolic day, Values and Transparency Vice President Věra Jourová, Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, and Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli issued a joint statement: “Women and men are equal. As Europe is trying to bounce back economically from the pandemic, we need all talent and skills to do so. Yet women are not equally valued for their work. They still earn on average 86 cents for every euro a man earns across Europe. Women thus work 51 days more to earn the same as their male colleagues. The pandemic has exacerbated these structural gender inequalities and the risk of poverty. This is not only unfair. It is against what this Union stands for.

"It has been more than 60 years since the right to equal pay was enshrined in the EU Treaties. At the current rate, it would take decades, or even centuries, to achieve equality. This is not acceptable, we must accelerate and reduce this pay gap to zero. Earlier this year, we have presented our strategy for equality between women and men in Europe with measures to close the pay gap. And we will not stop there. Any remaining pay discrimination and gender bias in pay structures needs to end. In the coming weeks, we will propose to introduce binding measures on pay transparency.”

The full statement is available online.

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