Today the Commission is adopting an Action Plan to tackle the gender pay gap from all possible angles.

This Action Plan presents ongoing and upcoming measures taken by the Commission to combat the gender pay gap in 2018-2019.

It includes a broad and coherent set of activities to tackle the gender pay gap, mutually reinforcing each other.

The Action Plan prioritizes 8 areas for action:

1. Improving the application of the equal pay principle
2. Combating segregation in occupations and sectors
3. Breaking the ceiling: initiatives to combat vertical segregation
4. Tackling the care penalty
5. Better valorizing women's skills, efforts and responsibilities
6. Fighting the fog: unveiling inequalities and stereotypes
7. Alerting and informing about the gender pay gap
8. Lending hands: enhancing partnerships to tackle the gender pay gap

In addition, the Action Plan is accompanied by an Evaluation Report of the Pay Transparency Recommendation, which the Commission adopted in 2014 .

Pay transparency is a key lever in bringing gender pay differentials within companies to light. Despite the adoption of the Pay Transparency Recommendation, in a third of EU Member States measures aimed at increasing pay transparency are entirely absent.

In 2018 the Commission will be having a closer look at the need to clarify the legal provisions on equal pay that are in the Directive on equal treatment between women and men in employment and occupation ( Directive 2006/54/EC ).

For more information

• Action Plan on Tackling the Gender Pay Gap (EUR-LEX) 
•  Evaluation Report of the 2014 Pay Transparency Recommendation (322 Kb)
• 2014 Pay Transparency Recommendation