Digital Document (pdf, doc, ppt, txt, etc.)

This document was produced from abstracts submitted to the Gender Summit 4 EU 2014 (GS4EU), selected by the Scientific Committee. The GS4EU was held in Brussels, Belgium, 30 June - 1 July 2014.

The ESF supports measures to increase the involvement of women in the labour market, thereby contributing towards the attainment of the Lisbon target for a female employment rate of 60% by 2010. Activities supported include career development, access to new job opportunities, startup of businesses, and the reduction of vertical and horizontal segregation of the labour market on the basis of sex. The ESF also finances accompanying measures aiming at providing care services for children and other dependents so that women and men can participate in training and other skills-upgrading activities. Support is furthermore provided for ensuring greater flexibility in delivery arrangements for education and training, and specifi c targeting of activities for women (e.g. business start-ups).

This document aims at providing some information on the possibilities offered by the ESF for supporting gender equality and gender mainstreaming actions in the context of the new programming period 2007–2013.

European Commission actions to promote gender balance on the boards of listed companies in the European Union

Although today 60% of new university graduates are female, women are outnumbered by men in leadership positions in the corporate sector in the EU. On average, a mere 17.8% of board members of the largest publicly listed companies in the EU are women. The issue has been the focus of intense public debate initiated by Vice-President Viviane Reding. Indeed, not taking advantage of the skills of highly qualified women constitutes a waste of talent and a loss of economic growth potential. Various studies suggest that companies with a higher representation of women at the most senior levels deliver better organisational and financial performance.

This fact sheet summarises European activities and their impacts, giving an overview of the statistics in the EU.

Who are more likely to leave school early – women or men? What proportion of young women have a degree? Which fields of tertiary education are the most popular among women and which are the least? Are a higher or a lower proportion of women than men in employment? Do women or men more often work part time? What is the difference in earnings between women and men? How have fertility rates changed over the last decade? Answers to these questions can be found in this News Release, published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2014. The tables in this News Release only show a small part of the large amount of gender based data available at Eurostat. A dedicated section on the topic of gender equality is available on the Eurostat web site.