GENDER EQUALITY : MEPS BLAST COMMISSION'S LACK OF LEGISLATIVE ACTION.

• Position: Members of European Parliament - Brief article

The European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights called on the European Commission, on 24 January, to give its "road map for equality between women and men" a concrete dimension. Gender equality policy must be treated by the Commission "as an indispensable requirement," states the own-initiative report by Amalia Sartori (EPP-ED, Italy). The report regrets that the road map, presented in March 2006, does not contain a single legislative proposal.

The EP committee calls for national measures to encourage women's entry into the labour market, "on a footing of equal dignity," with equal pay for equal work and "concrete strategies" to promote female entrepreneurship. It requests the Commission to step up the development of policies to reconcile family and working life, for example: ensure that the cost of motherhood is borne by society as a whole, make care services and assistance to those who cannot...