Illustration by Maqué Studio
Equality Bodies play a crucial role in achieving equal pay in Europe. Pay transparency is an essential tool to tackle the gender pay gap and ensure gender equality in the workplace and beyond.
Lilly learned there was a gap of almost €15,000 between her annual salary and that of her male colleagues in the same job category. After attempting negotiations with her employer, she turned to the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (FADA) for help.
FADA promptly communicated to the company that any gender-based disadvantage, including salary differences, is explicitly illegal. It clarified that better negotiations by male colleagues couldn’t justify unequal pay, as the Federal Labor Court affirmed.
Thanks to FADA’s involvement, Lilly’s salary was increased to match her male colleagues, a significant stride towards gender equality in the workplace.
Are you interested in knowing more about how Equinet and Equality Bodies promote gender equality in employment?
Here’s some additional resources for you:
- The Directive on Pay Transparency, adopted in April 2023, envisages Equality Bodies to be instrumental in effectively applying the principle of equal pay in Europe. In 2022, Equinet organised a Seminar to help Equality Bodies build their capacity on pay transparency, equal pay, and reducing the gender pay gap. Participants learned more about the concept of work of equal value, how to collaborate with trade unions, and how to access court cases of equal pay.
- Equinet also published a report that analyses the variety of actions through which Equality Bodies can tackle pay discrimination and shares good practices from Equinet members. Depending on the national context, Equality Bodies can investigate cases of unequal pay, bring them to court, raise awareness of the gender pay gap, and much more. The report also discussed the opportunities created by the Directive for Equality Bodies.
- Parallel to achieving equal pay, Equinet and Equality Bodies have worked on addressing discrimination of parents and carers in the workplace. Such discrimination is widespread, and despite manifesting with different levels of intensity at different stages and depending on the gender of the affected individuals, women are predominantly affected. Because of the gender pay gap, women are more inclined to be on work leave to care for children or other family members. Equinet and the European Commission co-organised a seminar on the Work-Life Balance Directive to support Equality Bodies in building their capacity in efficiently implementing the Directive and ensuring strong protection of parents and carers, including through conducting research, engaging with employers, and collaborating with Labour Inspectorates and Trade Unions.