The European Commission has not given up hope of ensuring that more women participate in the labour market. After recently scrapping proposed amendments to the current laws regulating maternity leave, the Commission is now ruminating over new ideas as to how to encourage the take up of paid employment by women.
In 2008, the Commission had proposed new rules which sought to increase the compulsory maternity leave period in the EU from 14 to 18 weeks with the objective of encouraging more women to enter the labour market. During the first reading of these rules in the European Parliament, MEPs had voted to extend the period to 20 weeks at full pay. Further to this vote, the proposed rules came to a standstill at the Council of Ministers’ level and never saw the light of day. The European Commission has therefore recently decided to scrap these rules and is seeking to pave the way forward by presenting new initiatives with the same objective, namely that of facilitating the entry of women in the labour market.
One of the main obstacles encountered by women who would like to enter the labour market, identified by the Commission in its roadmap, is the lack of flexible working arrangements which would permit women to balance work and family responsibilities. This hurdle – coupled with the often inappropriate distribution of work and family responsibilities between men and women –serves as a huge deterrent to any female contemplating paid employment. The Commission has noted that, due to such obstacles, it is common for women to be trapped in low productivity, low-skilled and low-paid sectors and jobs or to opt for part-time employment, hence earning lower wages than males. It also observed that the current policy and legislative framework tends to discourage men to take family-related leave. Paternity leave is in fact still not available in all member states. To make matters worse, long-term care services for children and the elderly are also still underdeveloped in many member states.
In its roadmap, the Commission presents a number of options which could be taken up after consultation with the relevant stakeholders. One option is that of ensuring that there is better enforcement, amending the current laws where necessary as well as introducing new legislative measures.
This would lead to the promotion and introduction of flexible working arrangements for men and women, such as teleworking, job-sharing, flexible working times, taking into account opportunities offered by modern working patterns and technology.
The Commission presents a number of options which could be taken up
The introduction of paternity leave alongside the current parental leave already available is also seen by the Commission as a possible solution to achieving its objectives.
Similarly, the Commission believes that the introduction of carers’ leave for elderly or ill dependants would do much to break the current impasse where female employment is concerned. Improvements to the current maternity leave directive are also being considered once again such as new provisions for breastfeeding mothers after their return to work or for the protection of pregnant women against dismissal.
Non-legislative measures such as recommendations to member states and social partners together with effective monitoring by the Commission of action taken at member state level or a combination of both legislative and non-legislative measures are other options which could be taken up by the Commission in the near future.
The Commission does not seem, however, to be insensitive to the difficulties which could be encountered by small and medium sized enterprises in the practical implementation of some of the family-friendly measures being contemplated.
In fact, in its roadmap, it acknowledges that consideration could be given as to whether to exclude micro-enterprises from the scope of some obligations on flexible work arrangements since such obligations could impose a disproportionate burden on the organisation of the business.
The Commission accepts that the precise nature of the obligation could be modulated or qualified in order to take into account the specific needs of micro-businesses and SMEs, while still ensuring that employees can benefit from new family friendly measures which could be introduced.
mariosa@vellacardona.com
Mariosa Vella Cardona is a freelance legal consultant specialising in European law, competition law, consumer law and intellectual property law.