THE EU won’t close the gender pay gap until next century unless it changes its approach, the European TUC warned today.

Eurostat data shows the EU gender pay gap has closed by 1 per cent over the last eight years; women will be waiting for another 84 years to achieve equal pay if current trends continue.

In France the gap is closing so slowly — by 0.1 per cent a year — that it will take more than 1,000 years for women’s wages to catch up with men’s, the trade-union federation said.

“Against this background, the ETUC is alarmed that the European Commission has delayed publication of its anticipated pay-transparency directive ... and cast the entire initiative into doubt by marking it as ‘TBC’ [to be confirmed],” the ETUC said.

“In addition, there was no mention in the state-of-the-union address of the binding pay transparency measures that [commission president Ursula] von der Leyen promised to deliver within 100 days of her mandate.”

ETUC deputy general secretary Esther Lynch said: “Big business likes to pretend that we’re making good progress in reducing the gender pay gap through voluntary measures. 

“But women would be waiting over 100 years for equal pay in Europe if change continues at its current pace. The women who worked on the front line during the Covid-19 crisis in systematically undervalued caring and cleaning jobs need pay justice now.

“Ursula von der Leyen raised hopes of real change with her promise of binding pay-transparency measures within 100 days, but this seems to be slipping off the agenda under pressure from those with anti-women and anti-equality sentiments as well as the deep-seated bias that women so often face when they seek pay equality.

“We urge the commission president to prioritise the pay-transparency measures that are urgently needed to make real progress towards equality and offer her the full support of trade unions in standing up for women.”