Published: Share: Socialists and Democrats welcome the proposal by the European Commission for a Directive to introduce pay transparency measures - a first and necessary step to end pay differences between men and women which remain too high: on average, women in the EU earn 14.1% less than men in comparable positions. Delayed at least three times, and finally presented today, against pressure from business and employers organisations, the Directive includes binding, legislative measures that the S&Ds have been demanding for a very long time. The Directive will apply to all employers, in both private and public sectors, and all workers. It allows to create pay transparency in companies, impose sanctions for non-compliance, and give compensation to those affected. The companies will be obliged to report on their gender pay gap and redress any unwarranted imbalances; the workers will have the right to receive information about pay, and recruiters will be forbidden from asking candidates about their current pay to avoid reproducing gendered structures.