For the FEMM Committee new year address on 28 January 2025 in European Parliament, Director Carlien Scheele shares the Agency’s work programme, emphasising a year of greater accountability and action…
Members of the FEMM Committee, good afternoon!
It’s good to be back in your company, albeit online this time. I hope you’re all rested and ready for what really needs to be the year where ‘paper’ is turned into practice.
I want to start on a very positive note, as I cannot deny just how inspired I’ve been by the passion and determination I’ve witnessed from so many of you here, along with the many actors and advocates for gender equality who attended the Gender Equality Forum in Brussels last month – it truly gave me a reason to keep hope alive – even in challenging times.
Thank you to Lina Gálvez who raised the roof with her powerful words about “keeping our eyes open on the implementation of the Directive on Combatting Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence by ensuring the definition of rape is consent-based.”
She said: “We will continue to fight for it. I am sure we will manage.”
And she also said something that resonated wholeheartedly with myself and my Agency:
Ending violence against women “is at the core of our fundamental values”.
And for that very reason, we will not give up.
I am so relieved to have our new Commission in place led by the evident dedication of the Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib, to deliver much needed shifts for gender equality. And I have no doubt in my mind that they will plot a path for measurable success.
But that doesn’t mean we or anyone can afford to sit back anytime soon. We need to keep decision-makers on their toes. We need to keep track of what they are committing to and scrutinise subsequent actions. It needs to be an accountability exercise. In turn, on both sides, we must uphold our end of the bargain by providing ample data and direction.
If we want to stop having the same repetitive conversations about how progress in gender equality is so slow, how gender-based violence remains alarmingly high, how few women there are in STEM fields, we need to stop saying what needs to be done, and actually get it done! That will take national level commitment.
There’s a gender equality strategy waiting for us to power up. To make a gender equal Europe a truly unshakeable mission. To safeguard gains. And to overcome rising disinformation and pushback from populist actors – which has no place in our union of equality!
As is our annual custom, I’m going to introduce you to my Agency’s 2025 work programme, to give you a sense of the direction we are going in. This should feed into much of what you are doing this year, too. I look forward to discussing how we can best support you through tools and knowledge exchange to make the most out of solid teamwork.
As you know EIGE is the EU’s only gender equality agency providing support for better informed policymaking at EU and Member State levels.
One of our key roles is supporting the rotating Presidencies of the Council of the EU with research as a basis for council conclusions.
For the incumbent Polish Presidency, we have a big milestone coming up. My Agency conducted a horizontal overview to mark 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action. We looked at how much progress we’ve achieved on gender equality in the EU since the last review in 2019, what challenges have emerged in recent years and what opportunities they open for gender equality.
Our evidence shows that empowering women and ensuring their full participation across all sectors can significantly enhance productivity and competitiveness.
Diverse leadership and gender-balanced teams drive innovation and are essential to close gaps in high-growth sectors such as digital technology and the green transition industries.
Promoting inclusive digital and green transitions will strengthen the EU’s global standing and help deliver commitments to gender equality and sustainability – imperatives for safeguarding the EU’s prosperity.
Moreover, addressing gender disparities in employment and education will unlock a broader talent pool, mitigating demographic pressures.
Gender-responsive policies in areas such as childcare, long-term care and flexible work arrangements, as well as the equitable distribution of unpaid care work between women and men, will also strengthen social cohesion and economic resilience, framing care as a cornerstone for Europe’s societies and economies.
These policies are not only vital for achieving gender equality, but also essential for fostering a more resilient society – particularly in a polycrisis context.
As you know, the area of care is an important aspect of how we look at and measure gender equality. Adopted in 2022, the European Care Strategy recognises the need for EIGE’s input to monitor progress in closing gender gaps in care, access to care services and work-life balance. Building on our first EU-wide care survey, we launched a second wave to provide an updated insight into the distribution of care responsibilities and their impact on gender equality.
Our CARE survey data will be used to monitor the implementation of the two Council recommendations on early childhood education and care and access to affordable, high-quality long-term care.
It will also provide regularly available data to track progress in the domain of time of the Gender Equality Index. Finally, this data will be critical for advancing discussions on the care economy.
This year, we’ll also refine the methodology of the Gender Equality Index, ensuring it remains a robust and reliable tool for measuring progress across the EU.
We do this to reflect the impact of technological advancements, shifts in the nature of work or new health challenges confronting gender equality.
We are carefully examining evolving EU and national policy priorities and suitable data sources. And, like we did for the development of the Index itself 11 years ago, we are again working with partners to make the Index even more robust.
Now moving onto an issue mentioned earlier.
Gender-based violence has an indisputable link to the state of gender equality.
Late last year, along with Eurostat and the Fundamental Rights Agency, we revealed to you the headline results of the latest survey data on the state of gender-based violence. 1 in 3 women are victims of gender-based violence in the EU. And that’s from women who actually do disclose their experiences. Just over 1 in 8 women report incidences of violence to the police.
By the end of this year, we’re going to share the full set of results which will include a deeper analysis on how different categories of women experience violence, as well as unpacking different trends. The value of survey data is that it provides us with comparable data across countries and over time, to help us to understand the extent of violence against women and the evolution of it. But before that, next month we are releasing our Index 2024 thematic focus, which very appropriately, looks at tackling violence against women and tackling gender inequalities.
But at this point, we have enough data to warrant urgent action, including in times of crises!
This year, to mark its 25th anniversary, we will have publications addressing the United Nation’s Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1325 as a tool to combat Gender Based Violence in times of crises, and how to address sexual and gender-based violence against asylum seeking & refugee women and girls.
Last year’s Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence marked a historic milestone toward achieving greater gender equality and eradicating violence against women. The focus now needs to shift from policy to practice.
My Agency is taking an active role in supporting its implementation during the transposition period, leveraging our expertise to provide Member States with the necessary tools to enforce Article 44 of the Directive on data collection and research effectively and efficiently.
To this end, we have collected administrative data to analyse the extent of reported Intimate Partner Violence and Domestic Violence in each EU Member State. As there are comparability issues, the data will be presented next month as country profiles pointing at the data gaps and which may serve as the baseline for future data collections as per the Directive.
Furthermore, my Agency is also supporting the implementation of the following Directives:
- Pay Transparency Directive where we are updating the Union-wide guidelines related to gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems (Article 4),
- The Gender Balance on Boards Directive with the establishment of an EU-wide harmonised data collection and
- The Binding Standards for Equality Bodies Directive in the design of indicators and a monitoring framework.
- And also, to mention the Istanbul Convention – EIGE is supporting the European Commission in collecting the necessary data and information for the GREVIO report that will constitute the baseline for tracking changes and progress over time.
Now that I mention the importance of implementation, we continue our commitments to help mainstream gender across the work of EU institutions.
- For the next EU budget 2028-2034, our technical support to DG BUDG and the European Parliament comes in the design and implementation of a methodology that meets international standards to advance gender equality – which we firmly hope continues unabated.
- While we wait until Parliament's Gender Mainstreaming Network to resume its work, we will be ready to jump in and support its action plan. As well as the Parliament’s overarching Gender Equality Action Plan outlining the specific goals and actions it will take to advance gender equality in its current mandate.
- And finally, we are strengthening our efforts to support effective implementation of gender mainstreaming in the EU, with the design of a Helpdesk that will be operational in 2026.
With gender mainstreaming, half measures just won’t do. Not considering the full spectrum of needs and experiences between women and men in all their diversity is NOT a success factor for policymaking.
We must insist and persist with policymakers on the added value of mainstreaming gender in the design of policies.
Every single person should feel that this world is designed for them.
I want to end by looking at the broader picture. My commitment to you is rich evidence to guide your efforts for feeding into a robust gender equality strategy which not only actualises meaningful change but also stands the test of time.
There’s no doubt we all have our work cut out for us. But we have done the work to make YOUR work easier.
With that, let’s make this the year where we do not settle. Where we do not accept anything but action. Because by now, we have enough data and evidence to prove that gender inequalities are up against us – but equally, we have enough data and evidence to prove that greater gender equality is in favour for more prosperous and resilient societies and economies.
It is what our Union of Equality promises to the people of Europe. Today’s and tomorrow’s generation of Europeans. We owe them a year of turning paper to practice.
So, once again, I hope you’re ready.
Thank you.