67. Points out that more than half of all postgraduates are women and that this data is not reflected on the labour market, especially in senior decision-making positions; calls therefore on the Member States to take every step required to ensure equal participation of women and men in the labour market and to help women move into high-level posts, and especially to reach an agreement as soon as possible on the proposal for a directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures; deplores the fact that in the EU – when both do equal work – women’s income is s ...[+++]till, on average, 16 % lower than men’s income; calls on the EU therefore to continue its work in ensuring equality between women and men in pay in line with Article 157 TFEU, in pensions and participation in the labour market, including in top management positions; considers that this action should help to combat poverty and to ensure that Europe is making full use of all available talent; deplores the fact that women’s unemployment rate is still significantly higher than that of men and stresses that financial independence of women must be a component of the fight against poverty;

23. Calls on the social partners to adopt a life-cycle approach to human resources policies and to adapt workplaces in this regard; calls on employers to come up with programmes to support active and healthy ageing; calls on workers to engage actively in such training opportunities as are made available to them and to keep themselves fit for the labour market at all stages of their working life. Stresses the need to improve the integration of older workers into the labour market, and calls for social innovation approaches to facilit ...[+++]ate longer working lives, in particular in the most strenuous occupations, by adapting workplaces, creating adequate working conditions and offering a flexible organisation of work by making adjustments to the hours worked and the type of work performed;

14. Welcomes the fact that Member States have already acknowledged that patterns and causes of gender inequality in the labour market are strictly related to the life-cycle stage, and stresses that a life-cycle approach to work must therefore be promoted; urges the Member States, however, – in order to address life cycle challenges adequately – to tackle with focused measures the disadvantaged position of young and older women compared to men of the same age in their active labour market policies and not just address the latter to women and men in adulthood;

14. Welcomes the fact that Member States have already acknowledged that patterns and causes of gender inequality in the labour market are strictly related to the life-cycle stage, and stresses that a life-cycle approach to work must therefore be promoted; urges the Member States, however, – in order to address life cycle challenges adequately – to tackle with focused measures the disadvantaged position of young and older women compared to men of the same age in their active labour market policies and not just address the latter to women and men in adulthood;

Though the patterns and causes of gender inequality in the labour market are strictly related to the stage of lifecycle and the importance of promoting a lifecycle approach to work is widely acknowledged by most EU countries, the majority of the active labour market policies promoting gender equality are addressed to women and men in adulthood, often disregarding the disadvantaged position of young and old women compared with men of the same age.

(3) The Joint Report by the Commission and the Council on "increasing labour participation and promoting active ageing" (March 2002) made a strong plea for a preventive and lifecycle approach in the framework of a comprehensive and integrated strategy to tackle the challenge of ageing populations and looked at all factors enabling people to enter the labour market and workers to remain longer at work.