The European Union's Social Affairs Commissioner unveiled a plan to give men and women equal access to financial services on Wednesday in a move to end sex discrimination in banking and insurance.
Ms Anna Diamantopoulou said she wanted to stamp out cases such as where pregnant women were denied mortgages and where women needed a guarantor when looking for a bank loan with no such demand placed on men.
"Replace the word sex with the word race and the discrimination suddenly becomes much clearer," Ms Diamantopoulou told a news conference.
The banking and insurance industry condemned the proposal, saying it would raise costs for consumers.
"It's a very bad proposal," said the head of the legal department at the European Banking Federation (FBE), Mr Frederic de Brouwer. "We fear that after taking away the sex criterion, age will be next."
Under the plan, women would no longer have to pay more for retirement-linked products like annuities, even though they live longer than men. The industry fears men would have to subsidise this shortfall by paying higher premiums.
The bloc must adopt the plan by unanimity for it to become law. EU social affairs ministers are to debate the proposal for the first time next year.
It is expected that the enlarged 25-nation EU will adopt the legislation in 2005. Sex discrimination would be outlawed in banking two years later, with a six-year transition phase for the insurance sector.
"We're afraid premiums will rise on a general basis," said Mr William Vidonja, deputy manager of the European Federation of the Insurance Industry's Personal Insurance Department.