Women's Associations to Protest Against Pay Gap
A number of associations advocating women's rights will be holding a protest in Tammsaare Park in downtown Tallinn on April 19 to demand that the Cabinet take measures against the nation's wide gender-based wage gap.
According to Social Democrat and women's rights activist MP Marianne Mikko, the average difference between men's and women's salaries in the EU currently stands at 16 percent, while in Estonia it is 27 percent.
Last fall, Parliament approved a bid by Social Democrats to obligate the Cabinet to develop an action plan that would tackle the pay gap issue. Mikko said that six months later no plan has yet been made public.
If the Cabinet continues delaying, the problem will persist even a decade from now, Mikko said. "We will not wait but demand in a clear voice that an action plan containing concrete measures be implemented as soon as possible," she said in a statement.
According to Mikko, male politicians, such as Vice Chairman of Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee Deniss Boroditsh, will also be present at the event.
Ingrid Teesalu