Equality of Opportunity for Women Given Priority in the National Action Plan for Employment
Equality of Opportunity for Women Given Priority in the National Action Plan for Employment
Although a continuous rise in the female participation and employment rates can be seen as a main characteristic of the Spanish labour market during the past 20 years, both the participation and the employment rates of Spanish women are still below the respective EU average. Women, particularly younger women, face a higher risk of unemployment and constitute a majority of the long-term unemployed. Discrimination in wages, exclusion from certain areas of employment and difficulties in gaining access to executive positions also characterise the labour market situation of Spanish women.
These problems are now to be solved with the help of the measures brought together in the 1998 National Action Plan (NAP) for employment. Accordingly, activities to promote the integration of women into the labour market have been given priority in all the pillars and directives of the NAP. The aims are to increase the female participation rate, reduce unemployment among women, improve the quality of work and raise the female share of the workforce in employment areas in which they are under-represented.
Within the framework of the implementation of the NAP, two new measures have already been initiated with the aims of facilitating the integration of women into the labour market and promoting stable employment. Financial resources for these measures have been earmarked in the 1999 budget law.
The first measure is a bill offering concessions in social insurance contributions to employers recruiting unemployed persons for workers absent on maternity, adoption or care leave. The initiative, entitled "zero costs", is set out in Royal Decree-Law no. 11/1998 of 4 September 1998.
In order to counter discrimination against women in recruitment, the employer is exempted in full from contributions to the social insurance schemes, including insurance against accidents at work and occupational illnesses and employers' tax contributions. The reimbursement of all these additional costs paid by an employer is granted when he/she recruits replacements for women (or men) taking statutory maternity/parental leave. The measure aims to ensure that the decision by workers for parenthood does not disrupt the running of companies or raise company costs, and also seeks to ensure that a larger number of men take parental leave.
The second measure already initiated is a provision, enacted on 16 September 1998, that regulates the promotion of stable employment relations for women in occupations and activities in which they are under-represented.
The new provision extends the regulations already in force for occupations and activities in which women are under-represented. Employers recruiting long-term unemployed women in such areas of employment under a permanent, full-time contract are entitled to a reduction of up to 60% in their social insurance contributions for two years, provided the recruitment is associated with a net increase in the workforce. Alongside the subsidy for unemployed persons aged over 45, this is the highest level of subsidy envisaged within the framework of the 1997 labour market reform. The aim of the measure is to open up new occupational areas to women and to overcome their exclusion from certain areas of employment.
7.1.1.1. Aims of the National Action Plan for Employment in 1999
The government intends to give special priority to women in the 1999 National Action Plan for employment, so as to follow up the measures initiated in 1998 and improve the equality of opportunity on the labour market. To this end, modifications to various legal provisions are planned through the incorporation of women as a target group in various programmes and activities. The following projects are currently in preparation:
- a project to be conducted within the framework of a decree-law on employment workshops (Talleres de Empleo), in which priority is to be given to women and the long-term unemployed;
- a project to modify the National Vocational Training and Integration Plan so as to incorporate women wishing to enter the labour market as a target group. The plan includes a number of training measures for the unemployed lacking vocational training and for those with inadequate or unsuitable training, in order to promote their labour market integration. Changes are to be made to the plan to enable more women to be trained for occupations and activities arising in new areas of the economy and labour market;
- changes in the regulations that form the basis for grants provided by the public employment service (INEM) in cooperation with local authorities. The aim of the grants is to promote the recruitment of the unemployed for performing community work and services. The change means that, in future, priority is to be given to cooperation with those local bodies that primarily employ unemployed women and the disabled;
- finally, it is planned to modify the regulations governing workshop schools (Escuelas-Taller), youth training centres (Casas de Oficio), Promotion and Development Units (Unidades de Promocion y Desarollo) and Entrepreneurial Initiative Centres (Centros de Iniciativa Empresarial) as well as to establish bases for providing public support for such bodies. Here, too, projects are to focus on women.
In addition to the changes described above, further concrete measures are also planned. They include positive discrimination measures in the area of vocational further training and the signing of an agreement between the INEM and the Women's Institute (Instituto de la Mujer).
In selecting the support for vocational further training in 1998, 1999 and 2000, training programmes that take into consideration women's participation in training and development activities are to be given special attention. The proportion of women in the overall workforce of the firm is to be taken into account here.
In addition, measures are to be developed for women who have been victims of violence in order to promote their labour market and social reintegration as part of the cooperation between the INEM and the Women's Institute. Alongside participation in training programmes, women in protected houses are to be offered individual orientation support in order to facilitate their access to vocational training courses and employment.
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