On 11 and 12 April a Study visit was held in Brussels, at BusinessEurope premises. The project partners met to exchange experience and gain knowledge on EU legislation and the role of social partners in the field of work-family reconciliation and gender equality.
The representatives of the European social partners and the various institutions stressed the importance of measures in the field of reconciling work and family life and gender equality, and the importance of the transposition and implementation of the acquis in this field at national level. The study visit was followed by a meeting of partners to discuss current and future project activities.
After the introductory presentation of the Balance project, its objective and activities, the participants of the meeting got acquainted with the current developments in the field of European social dialogue, policies for reconciling family and professional life, and gender equality. Guillaume Cravero from BusinessEurope and Cinzia Sechi from ETUC presented the European social dialogue and results in the field of project subject's matter, the work programme of the social partners, framework agreements, policies covering the reconciliation of work and family life and gender equality, the importance of involving the national social partners in the European social dialogue and in the EU Semester, the impact on candidate countries and the importance and reasons for the implementation of the acquis and the results of social dialogue in national legislation.
Maurizio Mosca from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) stressed the challenges that should be addressed in order to bridge the gender equality gap. He also highlighted gender stereotypes, gender segregation, the availability of services, the involvement of men in family responsibilities, awareness of politics and priorities, the management of various stakeholders. According to his opinion, the integration of social partners and other stakeholders and the coordination of this partnership is essential for the effective implementation and potentially positive multiplier effects of gender equality policies. Further transfer of foreign and national knowledge, experience and good practices is needed in order to change the working culture. It is also indispensable to invest in education and counseling to reinforce changes in traditional assumptions, attitudes and behavior.
Paola Panzeri from COFACE - FAMILIES EUROPE, an organization that promotes the well-being, health and safety of families and their members in a changing society, mentioned in her presentation the Barcelona goal of involving children in pre-school care. The goal is that by 2010, 33 % of children in the age group of 0-3 years and 90 % of children in the age group of 3-6 years should be included in quality childcare. In 2017, these targets were achieved only in 11 EU countries.
Agnes Uhereczky, co-founder of the WorkLife HUB - a research and consulting firm that advocates the creation of useful content for reconciling professional and private life, spoke about the concept of an ideal worker and his integration into family and professional life, taking into account demographic trends, cultural diversity and mobility, legal and socio-economic environment, technology, changing the nature of work. She underlined the importance of a balance between family and working life for productive knowledge work.
Project partners from Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania briefly presented national legislation in the field of work-family reconciliation and gender equality in the respective countries. Although the Western Balkans has already largely transposed EU directives into national legislation, the implementation of provisions is weak in practice. Therefore, awareness raising of key stakeholders, strengthening their partnerships and transfer of knowledge, experience and good practices are key to improve work-family reconciliation and gender equality in practice.
Project partners have prepared recommendations and measures that would help policymakers and social partners in the Western Balkans in changing traditional mindset and in creating the environment that is friendly to family and work reconciliation and gender equality.
At the end of the meeting project partners discussed the ongoing and upcoming activities. They agreed on two publications (for girls and employers), national events to raise awareness of the project’s subject matter and the closing conference in Skopje.
With financial support by the European Union.