Activities of Maria Gabriela ZOANĂ related to 2018/2077(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on care services in the EU for improved gender equality PDF (361 KB) DOC (87 KB)
Amendments (52)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
- having regard to the Eurofound survey of 17 November 2016 entitled ‘the 6th European Working Conditions Survey: 2015’,
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 b (new)
Citation 5 b (new)
- having regard to the Eurofound survey of 23 January 2018 entitled ‘European Quality of Life Survey 2016: Quality of life, quality of public services and quality of society’,
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13 a (new)
Citation 13 a (new)
- having regard to the Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems (COM(2018)271) and the Commission staff working document of 22 May 2018 accompanying the document Proposal for a Council Recommendation on High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems (SWD(2018)173),
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 21 a (new)
Citation 21 a (new)
- having regard to the European Institute for Gender Equality’s 2017 Gender Equality Index Report: Measuring gender equality in the European Union 2005-2015;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 24 a (new)
Citation 24 a (new)
- having regard to the publication of WeDo project in 2012 entitled ‘European Quality Framework for Long-term Care Services: Principles and guidelines for the wellbeing and dignity of older people in need of care and assistance’,
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the achievement of gender equality has been slow and across the European Union women remain underrepresented in the labour market; whereas the employment rate of women in the EU is 64% (compare to 76% for men), leading to gender gaps in pension, poverty, social protection and women are at a greater risk of social exclusion; whereas the evidence suggests that one of the main causes of this is caring responsibilities;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas in the EU, 10% of women in working age (15-64) either do not work or work part-time because of caring responsibilities (compare to 0.5% of men); whereas women tend to spend disproportionately more time than men on caring activities, around 38% of women are engaged in care for children, grandchildren, older people and/or people with disabilities every day for at least 1 hour (compare to 25% of men)1a; _________________ 1aEIGE, Gender Equality Index 2017 Report: Measuring Gender Equality in the European Union 2005-2015,
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the lack of formal care services for children, elderly people, persons with disabilities and/or chronic diseases who are in need of long-term care can lead working carers, in particular women, to reduce their working hours, work part-time and to drop out of the labour market; whereas there is a gender gap between women and men working full-time at the EU level, which is 18.2%;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas evidence shows that 80% of care in the EU is provided by unpaid informal carers and 75% of them are women; whereas the traditional care model is not sustainable since there is an increased number of women being active in employment who are facing pressures from balancing work with caring responsibilities;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas young people who have caring responsibilities face particular barriers in accessing education and training, and in reconciling education with caring responsibilities; whereas there is a gender gap between young women and young men aged 15-24 who have caring responsibilities and 15% of young women involved in care at least 1 hour per day (compare to 3% of young men) 1a; _________________ 1aEIGE, Gender Equality Index 2017 Report: Measuring Gender Equality in the European Union 2005-2015,
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the rise of women’s participation in the labour market increases the need for high-quality and affordable childcare, and the demand of places in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across Europe is higher than the supply; whereas evidence shows that the childcare for children from 0 to 3 years of age is used mainly on a part-time basis (less than 30 hours per week) in more than half of Member States; whereas a full labour market participation of women requires childcare to be available full-time and to meet the demands during parents ‘working hours;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas public investment in childcare is a win-win strategy and the extra tax revenue generated by the increased participation of parents in labour market is enough to cover the cost of childcare; whereas the public expenditure on childcare of Member States is mostly on childcare for children from 3 to the mandatory school-going age;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
Dc. whereas high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) is effective in tackling inequality that affects children from early ages, preventing early school leaving therefore it has long-term effects on children’s life;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D d (new)
Recital D d (new)
Dd. whereas due to the lack of financial support and limited provision of childcare, 16.2% and 3.9% of parents do not use formal ECEC services, respectively;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. Whereas public investment should be increased in care infrastructure and services and evidence in OECD countries shows that increased investment of GDP in care industry would lead to an increase of women’s employment;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas social service sector, including long-term care service for the elderly and childcare service, is one of the fastest growing economic sectors and therefore it is necessary to secure an adequate and qualified supply of formal carers in order to function effectively;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)
Recital F c (new)
Fc. whereas long-term care services and childcare are oftentimes devalued and in many Member States this profession has a rather low profile and status, which is reflected by low wage level, unequal representation of women and men in the labour force, poor working conditions, and the absence of a formal employment contract;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F d (new)
Recital F d (new)
Fd. whereas elderly people sometimes suffer from ageism and sexism and elder abuse is a social problem in all Member States, which is found in different types of care settings;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F e (new)
Recital F e (new)
Fe. whereas long-term care users may have difficulties in affording private care services, which are usually more expensive than the care services provided by the public sector; whereas women are always more affected than men because of gender pay and pension gaps and they have to spend a higher share of their income on long-term care;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F f (new)
Recital F f (new)
Ff. Whereas it is reported that people from disadvantaged backgrounds are facing particular challenges when there is limited availability of high-quality care services, such as those from low-income families, living in rural areas, and children with ethnic minority or migrant backgrounds;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a directive on work-life balance for workers and carers and emphasises, in this context, the importance of the individual rights of leave and flexible working arrangements for helping working individuals to manage their private and professional lives; believes that for the purposes of future development, the aim should be to progressively extend parental and care leave9 , which should be paid at an adequate level, and to ensure non-transferable parental leave, guarantees in relation to dismissal, return on the same or equivalent post and protection from discrimination carried out on the basis of leave-taking decisions, and the extension of rights to those who need to take adequately paid leave in order to care for dependents other than children; _________________ 9 As called for in www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do? pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2010- 0373+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that every person should have the right to choose quality care services that are suitable and accessible for them and their family;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes a variety of care services, such as early childhood care and education, care services for the elderly and care for persons with disabilities and/or chronic diseases who have long lasting health and care need, and that differing policy approaches have therefore been developed; Is of the opinion that care could be provided by formal and informal carers;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Emphasizes that a wide range of care services is of particular importance to informal carers, which will be complementary to informal care and help to increase informal carer’s participation in employment;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that the approach to the development of care services should take into account all categories of users and their differences and diverse preferences for the types of care services they require, including people with disadvantaged backgrounds, such as ethnic minorities, migrant families, people living in remote and rural areas, low income families; Bears in mind that the family concept used in legislation and policies should be understood in a broad sense;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3
Subheading 3
Quality, affordability and accessibility of care
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Emphasizes that the quality of care services should be understood in multiple dimensions, including the quality of facilities and services, quality of teaching programs for children, professionalism of carers, quality of the premises and environment, the education levels of carers and their working conditions;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Underlines that information about available care services and service providers should be accessible for parents, the elderly, people with disabilities and/or with chronic diseases who are in need of long-term care as well as informal carers;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Is of the opinion that the lack of investment in high-quality childcare for children below 3 years of age would extend women’s career breaks and create difficulties when they return to work;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Believes that those planning, programming and providing care services have a responsibility to take cognisance of users’ needs and that care services for the elderly and persons with disabilities must be planned and developed with the participation of the users and should be designed and implemented in a rights- based approach in order to prevent elder abuse;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to develop guidance for Member States on developing comprehensive employment- friendly and accessible care services which include childcare, care services for the elderly and care for persons with disabilities and/or chronic diseases who are in need of long-term care, and which are based on the participation of and consultation with the intended users of the services to ensure their accessibility; and their needs could be met;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Further calls on the Commission to develop sector-specific statistics, harmonised definitions and indicators, to improve data collection and to assess the accessibility, quality and efficiency of care services for children, persons with disabilities and/or chronic diseases who are in need of long-term care and the elderly at an EU level; calls on the Commission to monitor their implementation and promote corrective action where and when may be needed;
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Member States to develop national plans for improving care services by paying heed not only to users’ needs, but also to the work-life balance and working conditions of the large numbers of carers; calls on the Member States to monitor their implementation and adopt corrective actions where and when may be needed;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on the Member States to improve and to facilitate carer’s access to education, professional training and lifelong learning in order to ensure the quality and sustainability of care services;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. Calls on the Member States to take measures to improve carers’ working conditions, such as ensuring their rights in paid leave and that a formal employment contract is signed, and to significantly raise the wage level in the care sector;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 c (new)
Paragraph 15 c (new)
15c. Notes that informal carers should be better supported by trainings and recognition of acquired skills, psychological counselling and by carers’ breaks, which will benefit both informal carers and care recipients;
Amendment 249 #
16a. Calls on the Member States to ensure the coverage of care services, both in urban and rural areas, in order to improve the accessibility and availability of carer services for people with disadvantaged backgrounds, including people living in rural and remote areas;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Invites the Commission to revise the Barcelona targets and targets on early childhood education following consultations with the Member States;
Amendment 261 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Underlines that the current challenge of reaching the Barcelona targets is to increase the provision of childcare for children between 3 and 4 years of age; welcomes the Commission’s recommendation to extend the target of Education and Training 2020 Strategy to offer childcare places for at least 95% of children between 3 years of age and the mandatory school age;
Amendment 266 #
18. Calls on the Commission to set up targets on care services for the elderly and for persons with disabilities and/or chronic diseases who are in need of long-term care, in consultation with the Member States and civil society;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Calls on the Commission to facilitate the exchange of experiences and good practices on quality, accessibility and affordability of childcare and long- term care services, and to support peer learning and peer counselling among the Member States;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to include care for the elderly and for persons with disabilities and/or chronic diseases who are in need of long-term care in its monitoring and review of data in the European Semester and in the annual report on gender equality; calls on the Member States to consider including assessments of care services for the elderly and persons with disabilities in their country reporand/or chronic diseases who are in need of long- term care in their country reports, taking into account the feedbacks from carers and carer recipients; encourages the Member States to adopt and use corrective measures should progress prove to be slow;
Amendment 280 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Calls on the Member States to ensure equal access and fair treatment in care services for the elderly, children, and for persons with disabilities and/or chronic diseases who are in need of long- term care, with a particular focus on persons with disadvantaged backgrounds;
Amendment 281 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the status of care professions, to raise public awareness of recognizing the value of care services, to tackle the gender stereotypes that assume women should take the role of carers while men should be the breadwinner and support the family financially, and to promote men’s involvement in caring activities; addresses that informal carers play important roles in taking up caring responsibilities and they should be recognized as equal actors in care service provisions;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 c (new)
Paragraph 19 c (new)
19c. Invites the Member States to improve national Quality Frameworks of ECEC services by taking into account the Council Recommendation on High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care systems and encourages the Member States to review five crucial areas of ECEC services which are mentioned in the Recommendation: access, workforce, curriculum, evaluation and monitoring, governance and funding;
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls on the Member States to increase investment in care services and improve the quality, availability and affordability of care, and to increase investment in special measures that enable carers to maintain an active professional life;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the provision of funding for all types of care services through the European Social Fund+ and other financial instruments whose purpose is to fund social infrastructure, without any prejudice to negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework;
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide support for young carers, especially young women carers, in cooperation with NGOs and educational establishments, in order to reduce their burdens and to improve their participation in education and training activities;
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 b (new)
Paragraph 21 b (new)
21b. Calls on the Member States to increase public expenditure on childcare for children aged below 3 and encourages the Member States to take measures, such as providing minimum levels of free childcare, subsidies for new parents and childcare providers, and tax breaks for families to improve the use of ECEC, with a particular focus on low income families;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 c (new)
Paragraph 21 c (new)
21c. Welcomes that some Member States have introduced fiscal incentives for companies that provide childcare for their employees to improve work-life balance;
Amendment 313 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 d (new)
Paragraph 21 d (new)
21d. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the provision of European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) to support the provision of childcare facilities in rural areas, and to further utilize European Funds for Strategic Investments for funding ECEC projects;
Amendment 314 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 e (new)
Paragraph 21 e (new)
21e. Encourages the Member States to promote a more efficient distribution of resources to increase the access and affordability of care services by targeting extra funding towards disadvantaged and vulnerable groups;