Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service Podcasts.

In this podcast, we'll talk about the EU's renewed efforts to ensure that the principle

of equal pay for equal work between men and women becomes a reality.

And believe me, regardless of your gender, this debate touches you directly.

So keep listening.

Equal pay for equal work, or work of equal value between men and women, has been a right in the EU since 1957.

Yet the painful truth is, women in Europe are paid on average 14% less than men, which equals almost two months of salary.

Most Europeans, 70% to be precise, are aware of this imbalance, and nine out of 10 think it's

completely unacceptable. So why is it so difficult to close the gender pay gap? Here's Marie LaSeref

from the European Parliamentary Research

Service. Well, it's true that the implementation and enforcement of this principle remain a challenge

due to a lack of pay transparency, pay discrimination often goes undetected, and victims face difficulties to obtain redress.

Furthermore, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will most likely exacerbate the gender pay gap to the disadvantage of women.

The EU has been trying to raise awareness on this issue for decades.

In 2011, it introduced the EU's Equal Pay Day, and in March 2014, it adopted a recommendation

on strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women through increased transparency.

In 2017, the European Pillar of Social Rights, proclaimed by the European Parliament,

the Council and the Commission at the Gothenburg Summit, set out 20 key principles and rights

essential to well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems in the 21st century,

including gender equality and the right to equal pay.

But unfortunately, and despite all these efforts, equal pay remains a major challenge in the European

Union. That's why both the European Parliament and the Council have long been calling for more action

...