A3-0197/93
Resolution on the assessment of women's unwaged work
The European Parliament,
-having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Newens and others on the assessment of women's unwaged work (B3-0855/90),
-having regard to its resolution of 8 July 1986 on one-parent families and the need to prevent discrimination against such families in the form of exclusion from tax, social or legal benefits,
-having regard to its resolution of 25 January 1991 on the 1992 Single Market and its implications for women in the EC,
-having regard to its resolution of 22 February 1991 on the operation of the European Social Fund,
-having regard to its resolution of 12 July 1991 on the third medium-term Community action programme on equal opportunities for women and men,
-having regard to its resolution of 22 November 1991 on a recommendation on child care,
-having delegated the power of decision, pursuant to Rule 37 of its Rules of Procedure, to the Committee on Women's Rights,
-having regard to the report of the Committee on Women's Rights and the opinion of the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment (A3-0197/93),
A.having regard to its resolution of 17 January 1984 on the situation of women calling for a study of the economic and social value of domestic work, including domestic work in one-parent families, and work by women with family responsibilities who are not, however, within a marital relationship,
B.having regard to the need to integrate into professional life skills acquired through social or child-rearing activities, while ensuring that women are not limited solely to jobs involving social or child-rearing activities,
C.having regard to its demand, in its abovementioned resolution of 22 February 1991, that the Commission and the Member States finally find instruments to enable all women without gainful employment to participate in courses so that offers can be made while women are still working in the family,
D.whereas many women in the Community are engaged in an occupation which is comparable to a professional activity but not recognized, protected or paid as such,
E.whereas the fact that there is no proper statute of employment for persons performing professional or social activities without payment and without recognition has serious consequences in respect of the right to payment, taxation, social security, access to education and the right to vote and to stand for election in certain vocational and agricultural associations,
F.whereas, therefore, such persons are not covered by the provisions of Directives 75/117/EEC, 76/207/EEC, 79/7/EEC or 86/613/EEC,
G.whereas such activities may be divided into five categories:
(a)unwaged professional work performed by women in the context of the professional activity of their husband, father, family, etc. in agriculture, the retail trade, a family-run catering establishment or a craft trade,
(b)unwaged professional work by the wives of men in certain professions (e.g. doctors' wives carring out secretarial or telephone duty),
(c)unwaged work of value to society, such as the unpaid care and nursing of children, the sick, handicapped and elderly,
(d)housework,
(e)voluntary work,
H.whereas special attention should be paid to the problem of couples working together in a professional capacity, and having regard to its abovementioned resolution of 25 January 1991 in which it called on the Commission 'to draw up a professional statute for women working on farms and in other family undertakings and to amend Directive 86/613/EEC including social security, insurance against health risks and industrial accidents',
I.whereas in 1985 the UN General Assembly decided that statistics should be drawn up concerning women's unremunerated contributions to all aspects and sectors of development and that they should be calculated for economic accounting and statistical purposes and the calculation of GNP (Future Strategies for Improving the Situation of Women up to the Year 2000, No. 120 - Nairobi),
J.whereas a statute should also be drawn up for voluntary work,
K.whereas any policy to promote equality between, and equal opportunities for, women and men should enable everyone to perform family, vocational and social duties under the same conditions; whereas in practice a family life and a vocational life can only be combined if socio-economic conditions are such as to permit freedom of choice,
L.whereas society's responsibility in respect of a redistribution of family and vocational duties and the freedom of choice of the individual presupposes a framework and social measures encouraging a transition or change from paid employment and vocational life to non-paid employment and family life, such as flexible hours of work, interruption of vocational activities for family reasons (parental leave), training and vocational (re-)integration of persons who have undertaken child-rearing, an improvement in facilities for child care and care of the ill, the elderly and the handicapped,
M.whereas persons who have spent time raising children or looking after elderly or handicapped parents are entitled to social recognition; whereas this could take the form of a legal status recognizing such persons' social security and pension entitlements,
N.pointing out, in the light of the complex problem of unpaid but socially useful work, that this resolution is concerned principally with the social recognition of work for the family, including child-rearing,
O.whereas certain aspects of social policy recognize the family dimension,
P.whereas in practice family and professional activities can co-exist in perfect harmony if the persons concerned are given free choice in its favour in social and economic terms and the necessary facilities are available,
Q.whereas, however, unwaged family tasks are performed mainly by women in all the Member States, in every walk of life and every situation,
1.Calls on the Commission to carry out comparative studies in the individual Member States to determine, both quantitatively and qualitatively, criteria and standards to permit a statistical survey and assessment of the various aspects of women's unwaged work, establishing a uniform methodology for assessing and valuing work in the home, the economic and social values of this activity and its contribution to GNP;
2.Calls on the Commission and the Member States to encourage all forms of socialization of unpaid work through collective services managed by those concerned;
3.Calls on the Commission to recommend to the Member States that they include the value of the various types of unpaid activities by women in their GNP;
4.Calls on the Commission to prepare feasibility studies for ending the dependent status of persons whose social security entitlements are based on derived rights, in order to determine the legal, economic, financial and social impact of such a reform of the social security system and to analyse the transitional schemes which have been introduced in the individual Member States as a means of protecting social security rights;
5.Calls on the Member States to value and assess work in the home by women who do two jobs insofar as they are in paid employment and also carry out work in the home; urges the Member States to draw up policies for the division of domestic tasks;
6.Calls on the Commission to issue a recommendation on promoting individual social security entitlements;
7.Calls on the Commission to look into the status of women caring for children for a limited period, particularly with regard to the suspension of employment contracts, the maintenance of social security entitlements and the possibility of resuming employee status without delay;
8.Calls on the Member States to provide adequate financial means for and satisfactory vocational re-training as a transitional means of reintegrating into vocational life persons who have undertaken unpaid activity;
9.Calls on the Member States to ensure that anyone who has given up work in order to devote himself or herself to child-rearing or the care of elderly or handicapped members of the family can retain their vocational or intellectual skills through access to re-training or further education so that they can be (re)integrated into the labour market on the basis of their aptitude and satisfactory know-how;
10.Calls on the Member States to give priority in social legislation to leave schemes (parental leave, pregnancy leave) for persons who would like to interrupt their vocational activities in order to raise a child; furthermore, anyone wishing to interrupt or reduce his or her vocational activities in order to undertake family duties (such as care of sick members of the family, looking after small children or elderly persons and handicapped family members) can have flexible working hours;
11.Calls therefore on the Commission to draft measures with regard to the organization of work aimed at harmonizing vocational activities and family obligations, in particular, by submitting proposals for more flexible forms of work and at ensuring that persons who wish to interrupt their vocational activities for the reasons mentioned above suffer no discrimination either in respect of their careers or with regard to their acquired rights;
12.Calls on the Commission to engage in positive action to assist firms which introduce in-house arrangements with the aim of reconciling family and job commitments for women and men;
13.Calls on the Member States to promote a fiscal policy which takes account of the financial obligations of the household and, in particular, the costs of child-care, through a system of tax relief based on the number of dependent children;
14.Calls on the Member States to individualize and extend social security benefit schemes, particularly with regard to subsistence pensions, to ensure that non-employed work is also taken into account;
15.Calls on the Member States to guarantee old-age pensions which allow for a sufficient level of income to ensure that women do not fall into the poverty trap;
16.Calls on the Member States to provide for sufficient child allowances from the first child onwards for persons responsible for raising children;
17.Calls on the Member States to continue and extend their policies to eliminate the division of labour in society which categorizes work in the home as predominantly women's work, through publicity campaigns, educational activities, etc.;
18.Stresses that recognition of work in the home would have an impact on divorce laws (in particular with regard to the sharing of pension entitlements), and calls on the Commission to carry out a comparative study of matrimonial legislation in the individual Member States to initiate procedures to harmonize statutory requirements which have the same legal effect;
19.Points out that most relationships based on solidarity or partnership between people are not covered by traditional matrimonial family law;
20.Notes that there is therefore a need for forms of contract between partners in a relationship in which their solidarity and commitments can be set down, and calls on the Commission to look into existing attempts to tackle this problem in certain Member States;
21.Regrets that the law on matrimonial property is based primarily on property and earnings but ignores the assessment and recognition of tasks performed by partners; wishes it to be brought up to date;
22.Acknowledges that partners are entitled to freely decide not to do half the housework each, or to opt for an arrangement in which one does all the unwaged work and the other the remunerated work; takes the view, however, that this arrangement must be assessed as part of the property and earnings of the partners and may in no way serve as the basis for agreements concerning social security or the company;
23.Calls on the Member States to take positive steps to encourage men to meet their responsibilities and take on a fair share of all basic social duties (such as bringing up children, etc.);
24.Calls on the Member States to organize a system of work which would make for better performance of basic social duties by means of a gradual reduction in working time;
25.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.
