The European Union is getting closer to agreeing a new law that would make it harder for insurers to charge men and women different premiums.
Many of the obstacles thwarting a deal have been removed before EU employment and social affairs ministers meet on Monday in Luxembourg and there is a chance that even the thorny issue of insurance premiums could be solved.
The Netherlands, current EU president, says a handful of countries have yet to back the law, which needs unanimous backing, but expressed cautious optimism.
"There has been substantial progress this week and we have brushed away quite a lot of problems. It is not decided yet but it is going in the right direction," a Dutch presidency official told Reuters.
"We are not there yet but it is looking good as long as we can solve the two remaining issues that are on the table."
One of these issues is the extent to which gender can be used as a reason to charge premiums for insurance or retirement products, such as annuities.
Insurers have resisted the bid to end differentiation on the basis of gender and say premiums could rise for both sexes if firms were to be banned from taking account of data indicating links between gender and factors such as longevity or driving accidents.
The Dutch presidency has suggested a compromise which it says would take account of such objections, though it has yet to win over a small number of countries, particularly Slovakia.
The draft which is on the table would allow governments to include exceptions to the principle of gender equality when they change national laws to bring them into line with the EU one.
If a country chooses to make such an exception, it would have to ask insurers to publish thorough scientific data to back up their reasons for differentiating between genders.
"It is a soft pressure on member states," said the Dutch presidency official.
But the insurance industry is far from happy and says it is not clear what would count as a reasonable basis on which it could differentiate between men and women.
It also baulked at clauses in the draft law which give the European Commission, which proposed the law, the right to propose modifications with the aim of establishing common legal practice on the use of gender in determining premiums.
"We have a problem with a lot of things and we are a little bit scared by the process," said William Vidonja, deputy manager at the European federation of the insurance and reinsurance industry (CEA).
"One problem is over the question of what is a determining factor as different studies may show different things. Also, given that the Commission has the power to delete exemptions, we feel that in practice it won't be easy to have such exemptions."
The CEA is also concerned that the EU market for insurance premiums could become distorted if some countries allow exceptions and others don't.
"That would hardly count as a single market," said Vidonja.
But the Commission stands by the need win equal treatment for women in this field - not least as it expects private pensions to become increasingly important in the coming decades when public finances would struggle to cope with Europe's ageing population.
It also said it was hopeful of securing a deal on Monday.
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