Tal inför parlamentariker runt Östersjön

Dear mr chair, esteemed guests, dear colleagues and neighbors

”Linking education and the labour market” is the headline of this session. I would like to address the topic about linking educated people to the labour market. And to be more specific, about liking educated women to the labour market.

Even though it may differ from country to country we do have two trends.

One of them is fairly new: women more and more achieve education and high education. The second trend is everything but new: women are taking the main responsibility of the household and the family.

Well educated people are crucial for a sustainable development, therefore we need the educated women in the labour market, not at home. But more important for a sustainable development is that woman in general take part in the labour market. Why, you might ask. Well, an equal labour market would decrease the social injustice between men and women. This is a fact! And also, the OECD has foreseen an increase of the GDB in the EU with 12% if we would have an equal labour market.

Dear Collegues,

What steps do we need to take?
Firstly. We need to provide good daycare for our children. Daycare should be voluntary and available Monday to Friday for the whole work day. I would like to thank Mr Jan Guz for addressing this important topic in his speech.

Secondly. We need equal pay for equal work. For example: A university degree on one level should be equally paid despite of gender and we cannot have a system where typical female work is less paid than typical male work.

And finally the most important point. Men have to be more involved in taking care of their household and their children. Shared responsibility of the unpaid housework is the only way women and mothers can join the labour market with the same possibilities as men.

I encourage the BSPC and CBSS as well as the countries in the Baltic Sea area to work even harder with gender equality and all citizens possibilities to work and contribute to the society. This is a very important question for today and for the future.

Thank you for your attention.