The European Commission has described progress on eliminating the pay gap between men and women as “stagnant” this year.

Women in the EU continue to earn less than men, with the average gender-pay gap in the EU standing at 13%, according to the commission.

The statement from the EU body came ahead of Equal Pay Day (15 November), which marks the date that symbolises how many extra days women must work until the end of the year to earn what men earned in the same year.

Action needed

Věra Jourová (commission vice-president) and Helena Dalli (Commissioner for Equality) said that gender stereotypes continued to affect women and men in all spheres of life – including in the workplace – and that specific action was needed to implement the principle of equal pay.

They stated that the implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive, which came into force in June, by member states would be “key” in enforcing the principle of equal pay.

Under this new law, employees will be able to enforce their right to equal pay for equal work, or work of equal value, through a right to information on pay.

Those who are established to have suffered pay discrimination based on gender must be remedied for unpaid work.