European Parliament
On March 2, Soraya Rodríguez organized at the European Parliament an event to present the III ClosinGap Index, which measures the economic impact of gender inequality in Spain. The event was co-presented by Ana Polanco, president of the ClosinGap Executive Committee and the Spanish Association of Biotechnology Companies.
Although the gender gap has narrowed in the past year, the ClosingGap report warns that, at this stage, full parity will not be viable until 2056.
Ms. Polanco spoke about the different gender gaps in Spanish GDP in five areas: employment, education, reconciliation, digitalization, and health and well-being.
Soraya Rodríguez specifically referred to the gender pay gap, pointing out that “it remains around 14 % at EU level and has barely moved in the last decade, which means that women work every year 50 days free compared to men or that for every euro a man earns, women receive 86 cents.” Moreover, this is not an isolated fact, among Member States the gender pay gap varies by 20.4 percentage points, from 1.3 % in Luxembourg to almost 21.7 % in Estonia. Therefore, “it is crucial to invest in public policies that reduce inequality.”
The MEP also spoke of bringing this issue to the United Nations coinciding with the mission of the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) to the UN’s Commission for the 8th International Women’s Day.
At the event’s closure, Soraya Rodriguez recalled her commitment to the eradication of the gender gap, and stressed the need to work for it in a holistic way, in all areas, including reconciliation, digitization, employment and health “because this is the only way we will we truly achieve gender equality”.
