The Communications Lab (Comms Lab) is EIGE’s approach to advancing gender equality through effective communication. The Lab helps us to respond to a rapidly evolving communication landscape — one marked by both progress and backlash, including anti-gender disinformation. Between 2023 and 2025, the Comms Lab tackled one of the most urgent challenges in gender equality: how to communicate effectively about...
Migration to the European Union (EU) has increased significantly in recent years, driven by conflict, climate change and geopolitical instability. While global data is limited, available evidence indicates that these crises disproportionately impact women and girls, increasing their exposure to gender-based violence (GBV). Migrants – particularly those who are forcibly displaced or undocumented or face intersecting forms of discrimination –...
The European Protection Order (EPO) is a legal instrument that helps ensure that victims of gender-based and other forms of violence who are protected by national protection measures in one EU Member State remain protected if they decide to travel or move to another Member State. The EPO is designed to protect a person against a criminal act that may...
EIGE’s research on femicide has focused on the definition and measurement of femicide as a specific crime, due to the gendered nature of the killings and dynamics of power imbalance between women and men. EIGE supports Member States in collecting administrative data on femicides within the context of intimate-partner relationships, domestic relationships or any relationships. This policy brief presents the...
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has developed 13 indicators on intimate partner violence and domestic violence to guide the data collection efforts of the police and the justice sector. EIGE’s indicators support EU Member States to measure intimate partner violence and domestic violence and to assess the progress made to combat and monitor these forms of violence. Between...
In recent years, with unprecedented migration levels and a shifting security landscape, the need to address gender-based violence (GBV) during migration journeys has become increasingly urgent in the EU. The most recent legislative achievements in combating GBV pave the way towards more gender-responsive interventions, but significant gaps remain in migration and security policies. To effectively combat GBV in the context...
The latest edition of the Gender Equality Index, the 2024 edition, highlights the fact that the EU is battling a host of emerging challenges, from increasing effects of climate change and extreme weather events to high geopolitical tensions, rapid digitalisation, volatile political situations and growing political extremism across the region. While such phenomena claim the attention of decision-makers, they not...
This joint report by the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) provides the latest information on the use and relevance of Directive 2011/99/EU on the European Protection Order (EPO) and the challenges and best practices related to its implementation. The main aim of the report is to inform policymakers and...
Ursula von der Leyen made a ‘union of equality’, based on the principle of equality for all and equality in all its senses, a cornerstone of her mandate. Binding measures since 2019 have made significant strides in supporting the fundamental principle of equal pay for equal work, gender-balanced company boards, work–life balance, binding standards for equality bodies and combating violence...
Digital platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, X and Reddit are forums for public and private expression and social interaction, and they provide many other useful services. However, the online space is not always welcoming to everyone. In an environment of pseudo-anonymity and limited accountability, pervasive exclusionary and harmful narratives are often unleashed. Spreading virally, these practices are categorised as cyber...
This report presents, for the first time, selected key results of the EU gender-based violence survey based on data from all 27 Member States. Across the EU-27, 114 023 women were interviewed about their experiences. The report focuses on the prevalence of various forms of violence against women in the EU. The EU gender-based violence survey also collected specific data...
This report presents evidence on gender inequalities in financial independence in the EU, with a particular focus on how financial independence has been defined and measured. It also presents evidence on the impact of tax–benefit systems in EU Member States on gender inequalities in financial independence and explores consequences associated with financial dependence, including economic violence. The report finds that...
