4.3.2 EU legislation

The Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (also known as the Treaty of Rome) (1957) was the first European treaty that addressed gender equality. It describes that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work.1 In the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997), it is stipulated that the tasks and the aim of the European Economic Community (the predecessor of the EU) include realizing equality between men and women.2 The EUCFR (2000) also provides for equality between men and women. Article 23 EUCFR refers especially to employment, work and pay.3Article 8 of the TFEU (2012) requires the EU the word to eliminate inequalities and promote equality between men and women, in all of its activities. The TEU (2012) also refers to gender equality by stating that: ‘The [European] Union is founded on the values of respect for (…) equality (…). These values are common to the Member States in a society in which (…) equality between women and men prevail.’4

In order to realize the goals and ambitions formulated in these treaties, the EU has adopted various Directives relating to gender equality, such as the Directives on equal pay and equal treatment for men and women, which were adopted in 1975 and 1976, respectively.5 Also worth mentioning is the Directive on equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity6 and the Directive on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation.7

An important new measure is contained in the Directive on the disclosure of corporate information concerning non-financial aspects and board diversity.8 This Directive was adopted in 2014 and the EU Member States are obliged to implement the new obligations into national law before 6 December 2016. The obligations will apply to companies as of the financial year 2017.9 The Directive prescribes that ‘public interest entities’ (i.e., listed companies and other large companies)10 include a corporate governance statement in their annual report that includes:

Furthermore, an interesting development is the Directive proposed by the European Commission in 2012 on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of listed companies by requiring listed companies to have their non-executive board comprised of at least 40 percent women and at least 40 percent men before 1 January 2020.12 This Directive has, however, not yet been enacted; it is still under review by the European Council.13

In addition to proposing and adopting Directives which strengthen the standards stipulated in the European treaties, the EU also publishes policy documents. The most pertinent one for the topic of discussion in this chapter is ‘Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019’ published by the European Commission on 3 December 2015.14 The European Commission claims that:

In this document, it is acknowledged that although progress has been made with regard to closing the gender gaps in relation to the participation of women in decision-making positions,16 it remains necessary to select as one of the priority areas of strategic engagement, the promotion of equality between women and men in decision-making positions.17 To that end, the following target was formulated by the European Commission: by the end of 2019, at least 40 percent of the positions in senior and middle management must be occupied by women.18