In data de 4 mai 2005 a avut loc in Parlamentul European o Audiere
privind implementarea Aquis-ului comunitar in domeniul egalitatii de sanse
pentru femei si barbati. Cu aceasta ocazie, Open Society Institute si CPE – Centrul Parteneriat
pentru Egalitate au lansat rapoartele nationale privind egalitatea de sanse
intre femei si barbati in noile statele membre ale UE, la un an de la
dobandirea calitatii de stat membru, precum si in statele candidate. Rapoartele
sunt insotite de un studiu comparativ privind situatia egalitatii de sanse
pentru femei si barbati in statele participante la raport. Pentru Romania, una dintre problemele
principale in domeniu este reprezentata de dificultatea functionarii in
conditiile de independenta stabilite de directivele comunitare a Agentiei
Nationale de Egalitate de Sanse pentru Femei si Barbati in Romania. Potrivit
legii, ANES trebuia infiintata la data de 1 ianuarie 2005 si trebuia sa incepa
sa functioneze la data de 1 martie 2005.
STIATI CA?
-
Ungaria, Polonia si Bulgaria nu au adoptat inca o Strategie nationala
privind egalitatea de gen, document programatic solicitat de institutiile
comunitare?
-
In Romania, potrivit Raportului sau de
activitate pentru 2004, Consiliul National pentru Combaterea Discriminarii a
aplicat intr-un an de zile o singura amenda contraventionala in valoare de 5
milioane lei/500 lei noi pentru o fapta de discriminare in baza sexului?
-
In Polonia exista o femeie ministru, iar in
Slovacia nici una?
-
Diferentele de
salarizare intre femei si barbati pentru aceleasi posturi si munca de valoare
egala sunt intre 25 si 30% in Bulgaria,
Estonia si Slovacia?
Textul cercetarii comparative si textele
rapoartelor nationale in limba engleza pot fi descarcate de la adresa www.soros.org/women
RFE/RL
Thursday, 05 May 2005
Central and Eastern Europe: Report Says Gender Gap Worsening
By Don Hill
The Open Society Institute and the Bucharest-based Center for Partnership and
Equality have just published a joint study of disparities in pay and political
representation between men and women in Eastern and Central Europe. It says
that women in some of the countries studied are paid two-thirds of what their
male counterparts make. In all of the countries examined, the report says,
women hold only a small number of political-leadership positions. They make up,
of course, slightly more than 50 percent of the population. The report's
authors are calling on the countries to take steps to provide equal opportunities
for women in politics and in the labor force. RFE/RL talks to the study's
authors in Romania and Turkey about the stubborn problems behind their
findings.
Prague, 5 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Authors of the gender-equality study find that
it's a lot easier to get laws passed promising equal opportunity for women than
it is to get a woman a pay raise or a cabinet appointment.
The researchers studied the records over the past two years of new European
Union members Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia
along with aspiring EU members Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey.
The study says that all of the countries have adopted legislation approaching
the bloc's standards for guaranteeing equal opportunity for women. But, it
says, the disparities affecting women in employment opportunities, wages, and
political representation remain widespread and are increasing throughout the
region.
"We [are] monitoring to what extent the promises made by the national
governments of the new member states are to be taken into the real lives of the
citizens," says one of the principal authors, Roxana Tesiu, executive
president of the Center for Partnership and Equality."It's indeed among
the general findings of the report that, unfortunately, the laws -- namely the
legal framework related to gender equality -- are in place, but on the other
hand it is quite clear that the laws function on paper but unfortunately there
is quite [a lot of] time remaining in order to transpose these laws into the
daily lives of the citizens."
In others words, the law says women must be treated equally in the workplace,
but the workplace continues to function as it has always done.
Nobody
really knows how severe the wage gaps and other handicaps that burden women
actually are because job definitions are elastic, pay records in many
industries are murky, and workplace standards are mired in culture and custom.
The fact is, Tesiu and her colleagues concede, that nobody really knows how
severe the wage gaps and other handicaps that burden women actually are. That's
because job definitions are elastic, pay records in many industries are murky,
and workplace standards are mired in culture and custom.
RFE/RL asks Tesiu how, if data is so clouded, the researchers can be so certain
that conditions are as uneven as the report describes: "I think the
absence of information and statistics in this regard is also an answer in
itself. On the other hand, there are various pieces of this image that started
to be put together. But of course the big puzzle is not finalized yet.
Information from various sectors within the national industries shows very
clearly that there is a huge gender pay gap."
The researchers say that both inertia and lack of political will contribute to
the failure of the governments studied -- and in most of the older EU
governments as well -- to bring their practical behavior in line with their
theoretical regulations and policies. But the most unyielding problems of all,
the report says, are imbedded in centuries-old work cultures.
Nevin Senol, an independent expert in Turkey on gender
inequality, says Turkey fits snugly the description of the study group of
nations as a whole.
"The first thing I should say is that there are so many legislative
changes in Turkey, which is good, but implementation of those legislations is
much more important at this moment," Senol says.
Senol says the inequality problems start earlier and lie deeper than can be
blamed on current employers, governments, policy makers, and lawgivers.
"And there are, of course, so many problems to be solved regarding high
illiteracy rates among women, regarding women's low rate of participation in
the labor market, and women's low participation in politics," she says.
The report's major recommendations include a call for governments to establish
regular monitoring of how equal pay principles are practiced in both the public
and private sectors and making these monitoring results public. It urges the
governments in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland to collect and publish official
gender statistical data.
Tesiu says it is very hard to correct a wrong that lurks unseen beneath the
surface even if you know it is there.
"Nobody basically is taking seriously [enough] gender equality
[issues]," Tesiu says. "It is like...a Loch Ness monster.
Everybody...knows about the Lock Ness monster, but nobody saw it
actually."
Senol says that the drive for women's equality itself needs help.
"One thing that I should say is that we need more contribution from the
European Commission and the European Parliament in terms of funds, in terms of
encouraging our government to take further steps," Senol says.
Zita Gurmai is a Hungarian member of the European Parliament and vice chairman
of its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, the committee to which
the report was submitted. She says that recognizing the problem and adopting
laws to resolve it have gone a small part of the way. She says that the hard
work of actually achieving gender equality lies ahead.
