The European Parliament calls on the European Commission to give practical effect to its "roadmap for equality between women and men". Above all, MEPs want the principle of equal pay for equal work to be applied, paternity leave encouraged, action taken against violence, better integration of immigrant women and promotion of respect for women's rights in the EU's external relations.
The policy of gender equality should be treated by the Commission as "an indispensable requirement of respect for the rights of the individual", says the European Parliament in an own-initiative report, which was adopted with a large majority.  During the debate, the rapporteur Amalia SARTORI (EPP-ED, IT) noted that the Women's Rights' Committee's starting point was the promotion of the individual's rights, and that "when putting the promotion of rights in the centre, we must also establish zero-tolerance when these rights are not respected."
 
Equal pay for equal work
 
MEPs call for national measures to help women enter the labour market "on a footing of equal dignity and equal pay for equal work" and for the implementation of "concrete strategies to reinforce female entrepreneurship"  It also calls on the Commission to revise Council directive 75/117/EEC on the approximation of laws on the application of equal pay for men and women.
 
Elsewhere, the report calls on Member States to appoint a national official to take charge of gender equality under the Lisbon strategy's employment and growth objectives .
 
Reconciling work and family life
 
The report calls on the Commission, in collaboration with the Member States and its social partners, to encourage the creation of policies to reconcile family and working life, for example those designed to:
 
- ensure that the cost of motherhood is borne by society as a whole;
- make care services and assistance more accessible and flexible;
- actively encourage fathers and male cohabitees to make use of available flexible working time options and take on household chores and family work, for example by laying down an initial form of paternity leave;
 
Action against violence and trafficking in human beings
 
MEPs urge the Commission to strengthen measures to protect women and children against all forms of violence, including slavery, crimes of honour, trafficking in human beings and polygamy. They want indicators to be devised on these forms of violence.
 
MEPs also want the Commission to gather, as soon as possible, comparable and reliable data on trafficking in human beings with a view to reducing the number of victims, as well as carrying out a study on the causal correlation between legislation on prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation and disseminating best practices, including actions taken relating to the demand side. The Commission should also, provided that a legal basis is determined, present a proposal for a directive on combating violence against women.
 
The report also calls on the Member States to introduce compulsory registration of acts of female genital mutilation performed by persons involved in health care and to withdraw the licence of doctors who practice it.
 
A key condition in external policy
 
"Respect for women’s rights must be an essential condition of the EU’s neighbourhood, foreign and development policies", says the House.  MEPs stress that the respect for women's rights must also be key condition of accession negotiations with applicant countries.
 
MEPs find that the EU should "show greater commitment" towards political dialogue with third countries and to giving financial support linked to development, with a view to promoting gender equality. They stress the importance of promoting the education of girls at all levels, ensuring equal access to training programmes fostering female entrepreneurship, guaranteeing them equal access to labour markets and to means of production such as land, credit and technology. A call is also made for greater efforts to be made to protect girls against all forms of violence.
 
The EP urges the Commission and the Member States to take appropriate measures, as part of their development cooperation policies, to encourage better representation of women by ensuring that women have the same opportunities as men and by encouraging their participation in professional associations and political planning and decision-making bodies.
 
The report also calls on the Commission to ensure coordination between the EU and the UN as regards equal opportunities policies and girls’ rights.
 
Integrating migrant women
 
The report also calls on the Commission "to take practical steps to promote the emancipation and economic and social integration of migrant women, including "measures to foster language skills and understanding of the rights and duties deriving from the Community acquis, international agreements, the principles and laws applying in host countries (which, among other things, prohibit polygamy under the cloak of family reunification) and from the Union’s core values".
 
The role of media
 
MEPs believe that if the media were to publicise good examples of both women’s roles in society and their achievements in all sectors, this would help greatly to combat the negative stereotypes which women face. They therefore call on the Commission to encourage measures, under the Media 2007 programme for example, to raise awareness in the media, of the stereotypes that they convey and to promote equal opportunities, particularly with a view to informing and raising awareness among young men and women.