EU action for equal pay

Equal pay between women and men for equal work or for work of equal value is one of the EU’s founding principles enshrined in Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFUE). It stipulates that ‘each Member State shall ensure that the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value is applied’.

The Directive 2006/54/EC on equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation, including equal pay matters, consolidated several directives on gender equality in the field of employment together with the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (see an overview of the case law). The Commission monitors the correct transposition and enforcement of the Directive 2006/54/EC, including the provisions related to the equal pay principle and supports EU countries to properly implement it.  

The lack of pay transparency makes an effective implementation of the fundamental right to equal pay between women and men for equal work or work of equal value a major challenge in the EU. Women are often unaware about pay discrimination while performing the same work or work of equal value to their male counterparts. A lack of pay transparency does not allow a proper assessment of the reasons for pay inequalities (See the evaluation of the existing framework on equal pay for equal work or work of equal value published in March 2020).

In March 2014, the European Commission adopted a Recommendation on strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women through transparency. It provides guidance to help EU countries implement the equal pay principle more effectively and focusses especially on enhancing pay transparency.

Following the persistence of problems with the implementation of the right to equal pay, new EU rules on pay transparency were adopted in May 2023. These are outlined in Directive 2023/970, aimed at strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms (the Pay Transparency Directive). The Directive establishes pay transparency standards to empower workers to claim their right to equal pay and incentivise employers to prevent gender pay gaps. It stimulates debate around pay equality, triggers action to address unequal pay between women and men for the same work or work of equal value, and includes enhanced enforcement provisions.

Main elements of the Directive:

•           a right to information on pay prior employment, a prohibition to ask salary history and a prohibition of non-disclosure agreements on salaries.

•           a right to request information on average pay levels which aims at ensuring that workers can compare themselves, at any time during the employment relationship, with co-workers of the other sex carrying out equal work or work of equal value.

•           pay reporting on pay gaps between female and male workers for employers with at least 100 employees.

•           joint pay assessments in case of indications of pay discrimination at employer level

•           the Directive clarifies what should be understood by the concept of ‘work of equal value’, it is aimed to improve access to justice and strengthen enforcement mechanisms.

Member States have three years to transpose the Directive into national law – by 7^th June 2026.

The Commission adopted the EU Action Plan 2017-2019: Tackling the gender pay gap in November 2017. It addresses the various root causes of the gender pay gap through a holistic approach. Its 24 action points are distributed under 8 main strands of action, namely:

• Improving the application of the equal pay principle;
• Combatting segregation in occupations and sectors;
• Breaking the glass ceiling: addressing vertical segregation;
• Tackling the care penalty;
• Better valorising women's skills, efforts and responsibilities;
• Uncovering inequalities and stereotypes;
• Alerting and informing about the gender pay gap; and
• Enhancing partnerships to tackle the gender pay gap.

The Commission published a Report on the implementation of the EU Action Plan 2017-2019 on tackling the gender pay gap in March 2020.

Care responsibilities vary during the life cycle, for instance when people have children or frail elderly parents. Women and men should both have the possibility to combine private and working responsibilities in an equal way. This was at the core of the EU’s directive on work-life balance for working parents and carers adopted in April 2017.

Details on the work-life balance directive

EU rights to work-life balance

The Directive for Gender Balance on Corporate Boards requires large-listed companies to attain at least 40% of the underrepresented gender in their supervisory boards of listed companies, or 33% among all directors. It also provides legal requirements safeguards for clear objective and transparent board appointment procedures, with objective assessment based on qualification and merit, irrespective of gender.

Achieving gender balance in decision-making

The Equal Pay Day takes place in many European countries (e.g. e.g. Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden). The event aims at raising awareness on the gender pay gap. It has received a lot of media attention and triggered various national equal pay campaigns.

The EU’s Equal Pay Day falls on 10 November. It marks the day when women symbolically stop getting paid compared to their male colleagues for the same job.