(25) In its case-law[33] on positive action and the compatibility thereof with the principle of non-discrimination on ground of sex (now also laid down in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union), the Court of Justice of the European Union accepted that priority may in certain cases be given to the under-represented sex in selection for employment or promotion, provided that the candidate of the under-represented sex is equally qualified as the competitor of the other sex in terms of suitability, competence and professional performance, that the priority is not automatic and unconditional but may be overridd ...[+++]en if reasons specific to an individual candidate of the other sex tilt the balance in that candidate's favour, and that the application of each candidate is subject of an objective assessment which takes account of all criteria specific to the individual candidates.

The aggravated consequences of discrimination on two or more grounds , for example age and sex in the case of older women seeking access to employment, need to be addressed in the implementation of relevant legislation as well as of the legal acts providing protection from discrimination on the other grounds referred to in Article 19 TFEU.

Furthermore, the deliberations of the Forum on sex discrimination in access to insurance and related financial services set up under Directive 2004/113/EC will, together with the results of two in-depth studies on insurance practices and on potential sex discrimination in education, feed into the forthcoming implementation report on the Directive.

whereas it is necessary to begin to focus on the concept of care-related discrimination, linked to the fact of taking up maternity, paternity, parental, and family leave, the object being to determine whether discrimination in such instances constitutes forms of discrimination based on gender; whereas it is necessary to agree upon a Europe-wide definition of the concept of multiple discrimination,

2. Notwithstanding Article 2(2), Member States may provide that the fixing for occupational social security schemes of ages for admission or entitlement to retirement or invalidity benefits, including the fixing under those schemes of different ages for employees or groups or categories of employees, and the use, in the context of such schemes, of age criteria in actuarial calculations, does not constitute discrimination on the grounds of age, provided this does not result in discrimination on the grounds of sex.

In the Beijing process (follow-up to the 1995 UN World Conference on Women) it was recognised that gender discrimination and racism effect each other and that gender discrimination and all other forms of discrimination, in particular racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance continue to cause a threat to women's enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedom.