European Trade Union Committee for Education

On the occasion of 8th March 2018, ETUCE celebrates the international day of women. ETUCE supports FE.CCOO and FeSP-UGT in their strike and actions to demand stronger equality and more spaces of respect for women in the education sector.

Both ETUCE member organisations call for a 2-hour strike in each working shift and claim different reasons for the # 8M strike. In particular, according to data of the 4th quarter of the Spanish Employment Agency (EPA) of 2017, the gender gap in the matter of employment persists.

FeSP-UGT states that “In the education sector, the gender gap is 9.34% on average, since women receive 20,981.61 euros and men 23,143.33 euros”, demanding that collective agreements and equality plans are the fundamental tools to minimize the gender wage gap, improving working conditions in the most feminized sectors, neutralizing decisions that end up feeding the wage gap as salary supplements and promotions, promoting conciliation measures and reversing cuts in education as they directly affect the role of women who are taking responsibility for care, hindering their professional development; implementing equal and non-transferable paternity and maternity permits; valuing especially traditionally feminised jobs and providing development training programs in equality and non-sexist orientation that promotes professional development free of sexist stereotypes and guarantees training in the co-responsibility of care.

FE.CCOO calls to bridge the gender discrimination and gender gap in the education sector with equal and decent salaries and conditions for female-workers. FE.CCOO Manifesto highlights that “In the education sector, 70.48% of non-university teachers are women. In contrast, in universities, the percentage of women among staff teacher and official researchers is reduced to 35.55%, and this figure still decreases more, up to 20.88%, if we refer to professors. The average salary of women working in education is approximately about 21,000 euros, compared to the average 23,142 that men receive. Currently, the salary gap is 10%, being detrimental for women teacher and educational staff”.

FE.CCOO has also developed a booklet with proposals and insights to make schools feminist spaces free of sexism, phobias, exclusions, discriminations and violence “Ideas for schools with a stronger gender perspective: making the school a feminist space”.

ETUCE European Director, Susan Flocken, said: “Education, teachers and other education personnel as well as their unions have an important role  in combating gender stereotypes and inequalities in our classrooms, in particular in eradicating sexist violence,   in promoting respect for cultural, social and sexual diversity and the achievement of democratic values towards more inclusive societies. It is of utmost importance to tackle  gender discrimination and the gender pay and pension gap”.

To read the full interview with ETUCE European Director in the FeSP-UGT magazine for women and social policies ‘La Karishina’ please click here.

Join the FeSP-UGT and FE.CCOO actions #VivasLibresUnidas – Alive, Free and United.