34 Amendments of Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES related to 2021/2080(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2016 on external factors that represent hurdles to European female entrepreneurship,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 a (new)
Citation 18 a (new)
— having regard to the European Institute for Gender Equality’s (EIGE) Gender Equality Index,
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 b (new)
Citation 18 b (new)
— having regard to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. Whereas gender equality is a fundamental value and key objective of the EU and a basic precondition for the full enjoyment of human rights by women and girls that is essential for their empowerment, the development of their full potential and the achievement of a sustainable and inclusive society; whereas the discrimination faced by women associated with gender, stereotypes and inequalities, combined with intersectional discrimination, has a plethora of harmful social and economic consequences;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-A a. whereas female entrepreneurship leads to emancipation and empowerment of women, whereas women’s economic empowerment includes the ability to participate equally in existing markets, access to and control over productive resources, control over their own time, lives and bodies, self-fulfilment, and meaningful participation in economic decision-making at all levels; whereas women’s economic empowerment is central to realising women’s rights and gender equality;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A b (new)
Recital -A b (new)
-A b. whereas increasing women’s and girls’ educational attainment contributes to women’s economic empowerment and more inclusive economic growth, whereas education, upskilling and re-skilling over the life course, especially to keep pace with rapid technological and digital transformations, are critical for women’s and girls’ health and wellbeing, as well as for increasing their professional opportunities;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A c (new)
Recital -A c (new)
-A c. whereas women’s economic empowerment boosts productivity, increases economic diversification and income equality; whereas studies and statistics show that companies greatly benefit from increasing employment and leadership opportunities for women;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas female entrepreneurs and self-employed are an under-utilised source of economic growth and job creation; whereas studies show that women often have a different management and leadership style than men and that gender diversity in teams is beneficial for all in society and economy whereas supporting this group can strengthen EU competitiveness;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas women are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly women working in precarious employment, feminised sectors and the informal economy; whereas these impacts range from a worrying increase in gender-based violence and harassment, unpaid and unequal care and domestic responsibilities, through restricted access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), to significant economic and employment impacts for women;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the relative scarcity of women entrepreneurs should be considered an untapped source for innovation and development, especially in the context of Europe’s green and digital transformations and its economic recovery following the COVID-19 crisis; whereas the European economy has the potential to benefit from a growth in GDP of EUR 16 billion by encouraging more women to enter the digital jobs market, whereas improving gender equality and empowering female entrepreneurship are key to accelerating and fortifying European recovery;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas women face more difficulties ineconomic, legislative and social barriers than men, which prevent them from pursuing entrepreneurship than men; whereas those barriers include limited government support, a lack of specific training and funding, a lower level of self- confidence, less access to social and business networks, gender biases and difficulties in reconciling work and family life, such as the costs of childcare or provisions of maternity and paternity leaves;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas harmful structures and stereotypes perpetuate inequality; whereas traditional gender roles and stereotypes still influence the division of labour at home, in education, at the workplace and in society; whereas unpaid care and domestic work is mostly carried out by women, impacting employment and career progression and contributing to the gender pay and pension gap; whereas work-life balance measures, such as the Work-Life Balance Directive, need to be urgently and properly transposed by the Member States and complemented by further measures in order to involve more men in unpaid work,
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas to access to networks, mentoring and promoting women entrepreneurs as role models can be useful, are important in encouraging women to consider entrepreneurship as a career; and in increasing women’s economic empowerment;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas only 10 % of business angels in Europe are women9 and only 10 % all senior positions in private equity and venture capital firms globally10 are occupied by women; whereas several studies show that investcreating more favourable environment managers tend to provide capital to those who are similar to themselves; whereas developing the ecosystem isd providing additional budgetary allocations at the EU level are key to improving funding conditions sustainably for women- led companies and creating a reliable network of female investors; _________________ 10 International Finance Corporation, Moving Towards Gender Balance in Private Equity and Venture Capital, International Finance Corporation, Washington DC, 2019. 9 EBAN, Statistics Compendium – European Early Stage Market Statistics, EBAN, Brussels, 2019.
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
J a. whereas less than 8% of top companies’ CEOs are women;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
K a. Whereas the gender pay gap in the EU stands at 14.1% and has only changed minimally over the last decade; whereas 24% of the gender pay gap is related to the overrepresentation of women in relatively low-paying sectors, such as care, health and education;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1
Subheading 1
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Underlines that women’s entrepreneurship contributes to increase women’s economic independence, and their empowerment is an essential precondition to reach gender equal societies and should be encouraged and promoted across the EU; notes that women’s economic independence allows them to equally participate in labour market, offers control over productive resources and enhance participation in economic decision-making at all levels, as well as self-determination and autonomy about their bodies and lives and is thus crucial to realising women’s rights and gender equality;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1 a. Regrets the fact that women do not start and run businesses to the same extent as mendo; urges the Member States to introduce business-friendly reforms to promote equality and increase female entrepreneurship; calls for the Commission, the Parliament and the Council to closely examine women’s needs and participation in the labour market, as well as horizontal and vertical labour market segregation;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1 b. Reiterates its calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the collection of gender- disaggregated data, statistics, research and analysis, in particular regarding the participation of women in the labour market and in areas such as informal employment, entrepreneurship, access to financing and to healthcare services, unpaid work, poverty and the impact of social protection systems, Recalls the role of EIGE in this respect and calls on the Commission to use these data to effectively implement gender impact assessments of its policies and programmes, and those of other EU agencies and institutions;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1 a (new)
Subheading 1 a (new)
Entrepreneurship programmes, education and competence building
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes Commission initiatives such as Women TechEU and the European Innovation Council Women Leadership Programme and the creation of various European networks for female entrepreneurs; urges the Commission and the Member States to promote such initiatives more actively by focusing on the EU growth potential and to support the achievements of women entrepreneurs;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to include public-private partnerships in their initiatives because private companies can play a valuable role as advisors and impart relevant and specialised skills to women entrepreneurs;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the necessity and importance of recognising and promoting women entrepreneurs as role models and mentors; notes, in this regard, the European Network of Female Entrepreneurship Ambassadors, which encourages women to consider entrepreneurship as a career;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes public and private women entrepreneurship programmes in the Member States that include elements of networking, mentoring and training to support and advise women entrepreneurs and promote their economic independence; notes that publicly available reports and testimonials in seven Member States suggest the positive impact of these programmes; urges the Commission to collectand the EIGE to collect gender-disaggregated data from all Member States and analyse the impact of female entrepreneurship programmes; calls the Commission and Member States to share best practices to strengthen and increase the share of women entrepreneurs and self-employed within the Member StatesEU;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls the Commission and the EIGE to make up- to-date and comparable statistics available for the purpose of analysing the economic significance of entrepreneurs and self- employed, and the various categories within entrepreneurship and self-employed with respect to industry and gender to identify the share of women entrepreneurs and self-employed;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls, in particular, for greater women-focused promotion of STEM subjects, digital education and financial literacy in order to combat prevailing stereotypes and ensure that more women enter these sectors anwhich would allow for more diverse management and leadership styles that would bring an added value to these sectors and would contribute to their development; highlights the importance of promoting education and careers in finance to women to support the development of a reliable network of female investors;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on Member States and the Commission to facilitate access toadvance female entrepreneurship and access to loans and equity finance through EU programmes and funds for women entrepreneurs and self- employed and to strengthen gender equality under Horizon Europe; urges the Commission to establish a European network of gender- conscious investors stresses the need for awareness-raising regarding existing and future EU funding possibilities for women and girl entrepreneurs, and to increase the visibility of women leaders to establish stronger role models and break existing stereotypes; considers that such a network will be able to provide women-led companies with relevant connections, networks and funding opportunities; recalls that funding and taxation policies have a strong gender component;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes public and private funds that implement diversitygender equality, diversity and inclusion policies; notes, in this regard, the dDiversity cCommitment initiative, which is the first initiative in the world where private funds have committed to measuring and tracking representation on gender and to reporting annually and in public on their findings;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission and Member States to systematically track and monitor gender-disaggregated data across the whole Union to ensure high-quality data on EU and national funding programmes; highlights that this could serve as a basis for more informed policy decisions in the future and for enhancing of women’s economic independence;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Highlights the importance of work- life balance for women entrepreneurs and self-employed; calls on Member States to support social frameworks, such as flexible childcare, that are essential to encouraging more women to take part in entrepreneurship; welcomes actions already taken by Member States on this matter; recognises national differences in social policy and respect for subsidiarity; the Commission to put forward a Care Deal for Europe, taking a comprehensive approach towards all care needs and services and setting minimum standards and quality guidelines for care throughout the life cycle; calls on Member States to support social frameworks, such as flexible childcare, that are essential to encouraging more women to take part in entrepreneurship and to fully implement and go beyond the Barcelona care targets, ensuring the coverage of those needs through investment in accessible and affordable high-quality, universal public care services, and to modernise them so that women do not have to choose between family and participation in the labour market; urges the Member States to swiftly and fully transpose and implement the Work-Life Balance Directive;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Encourages Member States, on the basis of a pooling of best practices, to introduce, for the benefit of both women and men, ‘care credits’ to offset breaks from employment taken in order to provide informal care to family members and periods of formal care leave, such as maternity, paternity and parental leave, and to count these credits towards pension entitlements fairly;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13 b. Is concerned that the Court of Auditors, in its Special report No10/21 on gender mainstreaming in the EU budget, found that the Commission has not adequately applied gender mainstreaming, made insufficient use of sex-disaggregated data and indicators; calls on the Commission to implement gender-responsive budgeting to ensure women and men benefit equally from public spending including within Next Generation EU and within all the economic recovery measures;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13 c. Welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a Pay Transparency Directive, but highlights that its scope should be extended to include all workers; Calls on the Commission to step up its efforts to increase the employment rate of women in Europe and facilitate their access to the labour market, including by providing more incentives to promote female entrepreneurship; Calls on the Council to finally unblock the "Women on Boards" directive to enhance more gender balance in economic decision making.