Activities of Mikael GUSTAFSSON related to 2012/2301(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the impact of the economic crisis on gender equality and women’s rights PDF (263 KB) DOC (171 KB)
Amendments (20)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 22 – 13 a (new)
Citation 22 – 13 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 11 September 2012 on women's role in the green economy,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the European Union is addressing the greatest economic and financial crisis since the 1930s depression, a crisis aggravated by the so-called austerity measures that have been imposed on Member States by the European Union institutions in the context of economic governance policies (SGP, European Semester, Pact for the Euro plus, fiscal compact) and 'financial assistance' programmes, and whereas unemployment rates in the Member States have risen significantly as a result of this crisis; whereas the effects of this crisis are particularly serious for women who are affected directly – through loss of their jobs or job security -–- and indirectly viaand through budget cuts in public services and welfare assistance; whereas, that being the case, it is essential that the dimension of gender equality in the handling of this crisis and the development of solutions be examined;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the right to work is an essential precondition if women are to enjoy effective equal rights, economic independence and professional fulfilment;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
(Aa). whereas the current crisis is not only a financial and economic crisis, but also a crisis for democracy, for equality, for social welfare, and for gender equality, and is also being used as an excuse to slow down or even halt crucial efforts to tackle climate change and the environmental challenges ahead,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the increasing risk of poverty is closely and directly linked to the destruction of significant social functions performed by the state, as seen, for example, with the recent destruction of public social security systems in a number of Member States, along with cuts to key social benefits (family allowance, unemployment benefit, sickness benefit, social integration minimum income);
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the austerity measures imposed by the Troika (ECB, EC, IMF), as well as the economic policy and public finance supervision measures decided upon by the Commission and the Council are undermining the welfare state, deepening the gaps in society, and generating even greater social and economic injustices, including gender inequalities;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas budget cuts by governments implementing austerity plans are affecting the public sector, staffed in the main by women – approximately 70 % of the sector's employees – and women are now becoming the main victims of austerity measures; and whereas to date, no country has assessed the impacts of the proposed cuts in public spending from a gender perspective, neither of the individual measures nor of their cumulative impact.
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas cutbacks in services and benefits have compromised women's economic independence, as benefits often constitute an important source of their income and as they use public services more than men. Lone mothers and female single pensioners face the biggest cumulative losses;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. Whereas the current crisis and austerity policies are being used to undermine workers' rights in many Member States, which to a large extent affects women workers and have serious negative impacts on women's possibilities for economic autonomy,
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that gender equality is one of the core objectives of the European Union and that it has to be included as a fundamental principle in responses to the current economic and financial crisis, with a view to move away from the current austerity policies and formulate more adequate responses to the current economic and financial crisis, including investment in the public sector, the welfare sector, and in environmentally sustainable housing, transport, etc, and generating State revenue through more efficient policies for taxation;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Believes that the right to work is an essential precondition if women are to enjoy effective equal rights, economic independence and professional fulfilment, and therefore insists that precarious employment should be eradicated through the mandatory application of the principle that for every actual job there should be a permanent post, and by recognising and enhancing the right to work with rights;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the EU and its Member States to reformulate the current responses to the economic crisis in order to ensure that measures undertaken are long term in scope and don't undermine the welfare policies and public sector structures that are a precondition for greater gender equality, such as social services and care facilities, health care, education, and workers rights;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recalls that cuts in public budgets will have the effect ofresulting from the European Union's macro-structural economic policies, in particular the implementation of the measures contained in 'economic governance' and financial adjustment programmes, are causing and will continue to cause increasing gender inequalities and female unemployment, women being in the majority in the public sector and the principal beneficiaries of social policies and, consequently, increasing the feminisation of poverty, and a change in policy is therefore required;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Underlines that the expenditure cuts in the care sector de facto redistribute work onto the shoulders of women and undermine gender equality, and calls on all Member States to develop plans for the provision of care services as a central component of the welfare state, generating social justice and gender equality;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Urges the introduction of a public transport policy, and in particular the development and improvement of the public transport service, which takes gender equality into account, enabling women to be more active in the labour market and in searching for work by making them truly mobile and helping them to achieve a better work-life balance;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Stresses the importance of effective action making it possible to combine work, private and family life, which will have the positive effect of increasing the participation of women from all sections of society in social and political life;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Insists on mandatory respect for collective bargaining in the private sector, state-owned enterprises and public administration, this being the form of worker protection that best guarantees equal rights for men and women in the workplace; rejects, therefore, measures aimed at making labour relations more flexible and weakening the role played by trade unions in guaranteeing labour rights;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. States that female poverty has not just been caused by the recent economic crisis, but by a variety of factors: stereotypes, pay gaps between men and women, insufficient redistribution mechanisms in the welfare state systems, lack of a work- life balance, women's longer life expectancy and, in general, all kinds of gender-based discrimination which affect mainly women;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls, in the absence of reliable data, for for ongoing and systematic monitoring of the consequences of the economic crisis on women's working conditions to be appraised: discrimination during recruitment, increased workload, pressure and stress at work, bullying and psychological harassment; calls also on the European Commission to carry out a gender impact assessment of its economic policy measures and responses to the current crisis,
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Stresses that women organisations, women's shelters, and equality bodies are also hit by cuts in funding. Cuts in funding for women's organisations undermine women's civic and political participation and make women's voices even less heard in society. Calls on the Member States to exempt these actors and bodies from cuts in expenditure.