Gender equality not balanced

TALLINN-EstonianSocial Affairs Minister Maret Maripuu said that Estonia's main problem was a large pay difference between men and women.

"Firmly rooted stereotypes rule in Estonian families, with the mothers taking care of children andfathers attempting to earn more money. It is not simple for young mothers toreturn to work from looking after children. They accept lower pay than womenand this further increases the pay gap between men and women," theminister said.

Gender equality on the labor market and in the workplace is one of theissues at Tuesday's meeting on Saarmeaa of the Nordic and Baltic countries'ministers dealing with gender equality issues.

"At the meeting we will discuss with our Nordic colleagues how to uniteworking and family life so everyone would benefit by it," Maripuu said.

Ministers will also discuss how to fight against violence directed at womenand human trafficking.

Maripuu said human trafficking was a common worry for the Baltic and Nordiccountries.

"This is a cross-border problem that is difficult to deal withalone," she said. "The cooperation so far has been very substantialand we wish it would certainly continue. At the meeting we will make proposalsfor the improvement of cooperation concerning information exchange and returnof the victims."

Nyamko Sabuni, the minister of the Swedish presidency, will informparticipants at the meeting of activities of the European Union in the sphereof gender equality, including on sexual and reproductive health.

Cooperation between the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Baltic countriesfor the promotion of gender equality started in 1998. The priorities of thecooperation are to exchange information, foster cooperation between scientistsand cooperation in order to fight violence against women.  

The first meeting of ministers dealing with gender equality issues tookplace in 2006.