The European Equal Pay Day is marked 3 November this year. European women are more and more highly-skilled, and a growing number of women graduate with tertiary education. Not only is advancing to managerial positions a challenge, but the wages of women are also lagging far behind. Eurofound has estimated the cost of the gender employment gap in the EU to be €370 billion per year across the member states. According to Eurostat, the gender pay gap is 16.2% in the EU, varying from less than 8% in Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia to more than 20% in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia and United Kingdom.

The European Equal Pay day symbolises the day that women should stop working, as the remainder of the year is unpaid compared to men. For women in managerial positions, the gender pay gap is as high as 23.4%. It is worrying that women earn university degrees at a higher pace than men, without being compensated by wage or position on the labour market. Eurocadres, representing professionals and managers, emphasises the importance of having equal representation of men and women in boards and managerial positions.

Eurocadres urges member states to adopt the work-life balance package to enable higher female participation on the labour market. Not only are women of childbearing age being sided from promotions, but also the gender pension gap is driving some women to poverty. Eurocadres strongly supports the EU Action Plan on Tackling the Gender Pay Gap.

Adopted at the General Assembly of Eurocadres 5 November 2018