Activities of Frances FITZGERALD related to 2021/2170(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Women’s poverty in Europe (debate)
Amendments (57)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 a (new)
Citation 12 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 31 May 2011 on women entrepreneurship in small and medium-sized enterprises;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 a (new)
Citation 32 a (new)
— having regard to the work of the EU Platform on Combatting Homelessness, launched in June 2021.
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the technological and digital revolution we are witnessing increases the digital progress and new business opportunities and whereas this technological and digital revolution changes economic patterns, social systems and the labour market and whereas everyone in our society, especially women, must have the chance to participate in this prosperity;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
A b. whereas gender equality in the labour market, achieved by increasing social and economic wellbeing, benefits not only women but the economy and society as a whole;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas gender mainstreaming is an important tool for the integration of gender equality in all EU policies, measures and actions to promote equal opportunities and combat all forms of discrimination against women;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the employment rate of women has even fallen more sharply than it did during the 2008 recession due to the increase of unpaid care work for dependants and household and educational care services, and has also resulted in a lower labour intensity, leading to significant increases in women’s poverty; whereas according to estimates for 2019 in the EU-27, women are particularly affected by the risk of poverty (AROP), with the poverty rate standing at 25.1 % before social transfers and 17.1 % after such transfers;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic will have great economic and financial consequences, which will have a direct impact in terms of increasing poverty, especially among women and the most vulnerable groups in society, as its effects will be felt most keenly by workers in the service sector, the self-employed, temporary and seasonal workers, etc., among whom a higher proportion are women;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas poverty in general, and thus also women’s poverty, is multidimensional, and thereforefor this reason we need to combat all causes and consequences of all facets of women's poverty includesing not only material deprivation, but also a lack of access to many different resources and even an inability to fully exercise the rights of citizenship; whereas synergies between various actions carried out and political measures supporting gender equality, employment, education, taxation and housing can help combat deep-rooted causes of poverty and social exclusion more efficiently; whereas the impact of poverty on women and men is different and that therefore other indicators (such as age, life expectancy, income inequalities, gender pay gap, type of household, social transfers) need to be considered as well;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas women's poverty increases the risk of homelessness, the access to adequate housing and energy poverty, emphasizes as well the need for tailored policy measures specifically for single parents;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas synergies between various actions carried out and political measures supporting gender equality, employment, training, taxation, family and housing can help combat deep-rooted causes of poverty and social exclusion more efficiently;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas policies targeted at increasing the participation of women in the fields related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and AI, and the adoption of a multi-level approach to address the gender gap in all levels of education and employment in the digital sector need to be further promoted;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas in some Member States women are largely unemployed or work part-time due to child care responsibilities and other forms of long-term care and are thus exposed to a higher risk of poverty among seniors;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
E b. whereas women who live in rural areas are particularly affected by poverty; whereas many women who live in rural areas are not even registered on the labour market or as unemployed; whereas the rate of unemployment among women in rural areas is extremely high, and those who are employed have very low incomes; whereas women in rural areas have limited access to education;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Ec. whereas girls outperform boys in school but often encounter greater difficulties or are prevented from translating this educational success into professional accomplishment by familial and other pressures;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas investment in universal services, including care servicea common European approach in addition to Member States policies in the care sector would create an important added value; whereas women are responsible for the majority of caring duties; whereas caring for children or relatives is named by women in the EU as the most common reason for reducing working hours or withdrawing from the labour market; whereas women often take short-term, part time or precarious, and even informal employments, thas a positive impact on women’s fundamental rightst can be adapted to a caregiving schedule, what affects their short and long-term earnings and contributions to pension funds; whereas career choices profoundly affect a carer’s economic independence in old age, affecting the gender pension gap and the risk of poverty;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas women more often than men take the responsibility for the care of elderly or ill family members as well as for children and put their careers on hold more regularly, which prevents them making pension plans, forging a career and fully participating in the market, thereby diminishing their overall income;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas women have a lowthe average gender employment rate gap stands aret 11,5% with women disproportionally highly represented in low-paid, precarious and dead-end job sectors; whereas women are more affected by flexible work forms, atypical and flexible contracts(part-time work, temporary work).whereas the gender pay gap stands at 14.1 %;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas women have a lower employment rate and are disproportionally highly represented in low-paid, precarious and dead-end job sectors; whereas women face pregnancy and maternity discrimination; whereas the gender pay gap stands at 14.1 %;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas women have been working in the frontline of the pandemic and also in the services sector, which has been particularly affected by the current crisis; whereas this has led to an increase in female unemployment rates and thus a higher likelihood of poverty for women in the EU; whereas women have also tended to partake a disproportionate amount of uncompensated childcare work, even if enforced lockdowns have meant that men increased their household participation in comparison to the years prior to the pandemic;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the pension entitlements gap averages at almost 30 % as a result of the imbalances created by persistent lifelong inequalities; whereas this pension gap means that women fall below the poverty line as they get older; whereas eliminating the pension gap will lead to greater social inclusion throughout the whole life cycle;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the current EU model of socio-economic governance is harmful to the EU’s commitmeit is important to reduce inequalities and eradicate poverty, in particular women’s poverty resulting from a lifetime of discrimination;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. Whereas the Action Plan of the European Social Pillar has the specific aim to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty by at least 15 million, of which 5 million children, by 2030.
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L b (new)
Recital L b (new)
L b. Whereas the European Social Charter recognises the right of all workers, and thus also female workers, to a fair remuneration sufficient for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families, and the right to equal pay for work of equal value. It establishes the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion, and it contributes to reducing the existing pay gap between men and women.
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L c (new)
Recital L c (new)
Lc. whereas only 20.7 % of women with disabilities and 28.6 % of men with disabilities are in full-time employment; whereas in some Member States, persons with disabilities often lose their disability entitlements upon taking up employment, which increases their risk of in-work poverty;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Points out that, according to Eurostat, there are currently 64.6 million women and 57.6 million men living in poverty in the Member States, which shows that the impact of poverty on women and men is different. Calls on the Commission to develop an ambitious 2030 European anti- poverty strategy, with concrete targets for reducing poverty and a focus on ending women’s poverty and the risk of intergenerational poverty;.
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Underlines the importance that we need to stand for policies that take into account the demographic challenge and promote equal opportunities for all, particularly those that are most hit by the crisis, such as vulnerable groups, families, the young generation, and the elderly and that all business opportunities offered by the current technological and digital revolution should focus on women;
Amendment 143 #
2. Underlines that women’s poverty needs to be as well analysed from an intersectional approach, including migrant and ethnic origin, age, race and sexual or gender orientation; calls for the EIGE’s Gender Equality Index to be incorporated into the social scoreboard; calls on the EIGE to provide data disaggregated intersectionally and by gender, and calls on the Member States to use this data in order to better address country-specific challenges;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Urges the Commission and Member States to effectively address inequalities women face, tackling their main components thus barriers in the labour market, as well as access to affordable quality services such as child care and long term care services and to promote access to public pension schemes for self-employed people, inactive persons, the unemployed (either short or long term), or those in ‘atypical’ employment;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Stresses the importance of gender mainstreaming and tailoring the economic policy response to the COVID- 19 pandemic to adapt it to the specific needs of women, to the structure of their economic activities, such as for example by boosting microfinancing for female entrepreneurs;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to guarantee sufficient financial protection, not only for people with life-long employment, but also for those who provide unpaid care work for dependants and household and educational care services, who are in precarious employment or who experience long periods of unemployment;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses the pivotal role of women working in the social, care cleaning, education and retail sectors that keep our societies functioning, as shown by the COVID-19 crisis; calls for typically female-dominated work to be reassessed and revaluated and for cross- sector gender- neutral job evaluation tools to be developed and applied in order to better assess and more fairly remunerate female- dominated work;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Highlights that in order to tackle the multidimensionality of women’s poverty, it is necessary to overcome the segregation of unpaid domestic care work mainly performed by women and to introduce flexitime in order to allow women and men to better reconcile their professional life with their private life (time use policy);. Stresses that in-work poverty needs to be addressed at its root causes, such as but not limited to education and training. Calls on the Commission to urge Member States to invest in qualitative education and training, to share good practices and to have specific attention for life-long learning.
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. stresses the importance to raise and increase awareness about consequences of women’s choices in the labour market and the importance of their economic independence to prevent from poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Emphasises that empowering women as citizens and economic actors is critical to our economies and our societies, and to tackling poverty; stresses in this regard the necessity to facilitate the combination of work and family life, as women in particular seek to adjust their careers for family life and care responsibilities;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Expresses its concern that women with children are discriminated against in the workplace because they are mothers and not because their job performance is inferior to that of their peers; urges the Member States to actively promote a positive image of mothers as employees;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Stresses the importance of incentives for employers to promote a better work-life balance during the entire period of employment;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines the crucial role of high- quality public services in combatting women’s poverty, in particular services for early childhood education and care, or care for other dependent persons such as elderly people; calls on Member States to establish appropriate mechanisms to recognise this life achievement;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Points out the importance of promoting women’s empowerment through women’s education, training, life-long learning, which are of vital importance in order to fight stereotypes and combat persisting inequalities together with addressing women’s employment rate and underrepresentation in certain sectors like STEM and AI;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on Member States to ensure the reconciliation of work and family life for parents by providing high-quality and viable childcare services with flexible opening hours in cities as well as rural areas;
Amendment 198 #
6 b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to promote and increase the visibility of female role models in stereotypically male professions and STEM-professions (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in order to make these professions more accessible and attractive to girls and young women; thus combating the risk of poverty among women and benefiting from their innovative power;
Amendment 200 #
6 b. Calls on the Commission to strengthen EU education programs while at the same time aligning training and education with the needs of the economy and society of the future; Calls on the Commission to improve access to upskilling and lifelong learning for women;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to mainstream gender into all transport-related legislation, policies, programmes and actions and to include gender criteria and work-life balance in the design of mobility, affordable housing and urban planning;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Underlines the importance to enable women, particularly those most at risk of poverty, to pursue their careers on a full-time basis or, if they prefer, to have access to part-time work or work with flexible hours;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Urges the EU and its Member States to integrate a gender perspective into policies and practices that address homelessness, to develop a specific strategy to combat women’s homelessness and to ensure that services work appropriately and effectively to meet the needs of homeless women; . Calls on all actors to integrate this gender perspective in the EU Platform against homelessness. Is convinced that the principle of housing first can play an important role in fighting homelessness and calls for the roll-out of these projects in all Members States.
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Urges the EU and its Member States to integrate a gender perspective into policies and practices that address homelessness, access to affordable and adequate housing and energy, and to develop a specific strategyies to combat women’s homelessnesthese problems and to ensure that services work appropriately and effectively to meet the needs of homeless women;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to design a special programme to fight against women’s digital poverty in order to equip women with the necessary skills to operate safely in the digital environment and foster their ability to become entrepreneurs and founders of SMEs contributing to the twin transition;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to propose proactive measures through the European agricultural fund for rural development to promote women’s employment and socio-economic development in rural areas; Encourages the Member States, in cooperation with regional and local authorities, to help improve the quality of life of women in rural areas in order to reduce the risk of poverty while providing quality educational programmes aimed at empowering rural women, as well as quality employment conditions including teleworking possibilities and decent incomes for this group;
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to systematically examine and address women’s in-work poverty in all its forms and causes and stresses that work poverty can be addressed at some of its root causes and components, such as education, training, care services which are determinant and have thus to be considered in policy making;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Member States to ensure that all new gender-fair fiscal policy, including taxation, tackles and eliminates socioeconomic andpolicies take into account the gender perspective and to introduce specific measures such as credits for caring periods, to eliminate gender inequalities in all their dimensions;
Amendment 259 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Member States to take the gender dimension into account when reforming pension systems and adapting the retirement age and to consider the differences between the work patterns of women and men, including all unpaid work practices, and the higher risk of discrimination of women in the labour market, in particular older women; calls on Member States to design their pension systems in such a way as to reduce poverty;
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on Member States to include in their pension retribution credit periods of unpaid care work to the carer’s pension contribution, irrespective of whether the care is provided to underage children, elderly persons, or sick or disabled persons;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Uunderlines thate importance of gender mainstreaming has to be applied at all levels of the EU budgetary process in order to transform revenues and expenditures into social investment and to achieve gender equality and eliminate women’s poverty; in all relevant programmes in the 2022 budget and of the implementation of gender-responsive budgeting to achieve gender equality and eliminate women’s poverty; calls, in this context, on the Commission to accelerate the introduction of an effective, transparent and comprehensive methodology, in close cooperation with Parliament, to measure relevant gender expenditure, as set out in the Interinstitutional Agreement, in order to be able to show tangible results for the 2022 budget and in view of the extension of the methodology to all MFF programmes; calls, furthermore, for the swift implementation of the EU gender equality strategy 2020-2025 and the need for additional actions, in particular training and initiatives to foster gender equality and fight gender bias;
Amendment 284 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Points out that the EU’s fiscal capacity urgently requires the revision of the currentCalls for the economic and social governance sto that it contributes to reachingbe consistent with the achievement of gender equalitiy objectives and ending female poverty and does not just include austerity measures;
Amendment 291 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to investigate the barriers to female entrepreneurship and especially conduct a comprehensive analysis of women’s access to finance, helping to end women’s poverty in Europe by empowering them to become founders and entrepreneurs;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Is convinced that the axiom that ‘work is the best cure for poverty’ no longer applies today in the face of low- wage sectors, atypical and precarious working conditions and the dismantling of social security systems and that effective collective agreements and minimum wage systems are needed to realise a poverty- free society.