GENDER EQUALITY : WOMEN EARN 15% LESS THAN MEN, SAYS ANNUAL REPORT.

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"The high payagap between men and women shows no significant signs of narrowing." Evidence of this long-standing difference in pay between the two sexes was confirmed in the annual report on gender equality published recently by the European Commission.

But the employment rate among women is improving. In 2004, the figure was 55.7% in the EU (up 0.7 percentage points on 2003) and is slowly approaching the employment target set by the Lisbon Strategy (57% in 2005 and 70% by 2010).a

The unemployment gap has also improved (2.1 points difference in 2004 compared to three in 1999). But the "extent of salary differences between men and women is unacceptable", noted the Commission with "no indication that the gap is closing". On average, women are paid 15% less than men (16% in 1999). This is due both to the "non-respect of equal pay legislation and a number ofastructural inequalities such as differences in work patterns...

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