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A TV campaign for equal pay in Belgium shows the frustration women feel when they earn

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less than men. It's a little how Liliane Parent and her colleagues felt working in this Belgian

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supermarket, knowing they were paid less than their male colleagues.

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The women in the food and the men in the food are paid at a different salary. And there

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is a very big difference between them. That is 122 euros gross per month that they earn

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less than the men.

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On average, the pay difference between men and women in Belgium is around 16%. There

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is an equal pay law, but there are ways around that.

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Every day, in the company, the woman who cleans the offices is called the cleaning lady or

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the cleaning lady. And the man who cleans the supermarket or the company by pushing

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a small machine is called the surface technician. And that is what allows him to get a different

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salary.

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The Eva project was launched by the Equality Institute to give training in a new job evaluation

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system to make employees more aware of possible gender bias.

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Deleuze employs 16,000 people, two-thirds are women. It's one of a growing number of

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Belgian companies now using new job classifications.

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Throughout Europe, the average pay difference between men and women is 25% in the private

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sector, despite EU legislation which states that women should receive equal pay for equal

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work or work of equal value.

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One of the main reasons for the gap is that jobs such as childcare and nursing are mainly

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done by women and tend to be undervalued and so underpaid. Women often have to juggle work

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with family responsibilities and often have to choose more poorly paid part-time jobs.

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But there are some changes afoot. In Spain, there is ambitious new equality legislation

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as well as greater rights of work. The law wants to see 40% female representation in

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company boardrooms.

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France also has legislation and when France takes over the EU presidency later this year,

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President Sarkozy wants to make closing the pay gap a priority. And the European Commission

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plans to review all EU equality laws.

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We're going to look together with the member states at whether the legislation is fit for

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purpose, is it up to date. Secondly, member states in their own employment and social

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policies can look to see how they can tackle the pay gap, including through tackling job

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segregation, encouraging girls and women to enter professions which perhaps they previously

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thought were not open to them, and also to see, for example, how fathers can share family

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responsibilities as well.

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In Belgium, the women in Delaire are happier now their jobs have been reassessed and they

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will finally get the same pay as the men.

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Clearly change doesn't happen overnight, but perhaps at last some progress is starting to be made.