All EU Member States have obligations to eliminate discrimination against women and ensure that they fully enjoy their human rights. The long-standing Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women is the basis for this. Since 2013, there have been several developments within EU policy that are relevant to the human rights of women. First, the Istanbul...
The EU’s overarching gender equality commitments and measures have rarely addressed women and the media. The media were not mentioned as a priority in the European Commission’s strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019 or in the Council of the EU’s pact for equality between women and men 2011-2020. Nevertheless, the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2018) marked a significant development...
The climate change policy agenda in the EU is driven by the EU’s 2020 climate and energy package, which sets out broad targets to be achieved by 2020. The EU is expected to integrate gender equality concerns into its climate change and other environmental policies. Furthermore, under the strategic engagement for gender equality (2016-2019), the Commission has committed to reporting...
Since 2013, the EU has developed several important policies with relevance to the health of girls. These relate to tackling obesity and promoting safe sexual relations. The EU action plan on childhood obesity (2014) highlighted gendered aspects of obesity and called for healthier environments and restrictions on marketing to children. The European Parliament’s resolution on eliminating gender stereotypes (2013) called...
Although the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) was established 25 years ago, many of the challenges identified in 1995 remain relevant today (such as the gender pay gap, unequal distribution of unpaid work or experiences of gender-based violence, to name just a few). This report both tracks progress against these long-standing challenges and goes beyond them to assess new challenges...
The study provides eligibility rates for each of the Member States and an overview of the main eligibility criteria that they have set. An intersectional perspective helps to identify which groups of women and men are most disadvantaged and most often left out of the parental-leave schemes. In the light of the directive on work–life balance for parents and carers...
This paper looks at how gender equality and women’s empowerment are considered in the policies and actions supporting the integration of third-country nationals through education and training. Embedding a gender equality perspective in all policy sectors, including in the integration of third-country nationals, education and training, is a legal and political obligation for the EU institutions and Member States. Gender-sensitive...
This factsheet is based on a small-scale study that looks at existing efforts to consider gender equality and women’s empowerment in the design and implementation of policies and actions for the integration of third-country nationals through education and training. The research focuses on five Member States: Germany, Greece, France, Italy and Sweden. The data was collected in 2017-2018.
Agriculture is one of the oldest and most widespread activities in the world. However, differences between women and men, be it in employment, pay or decisionmaking positions, still persist. Agriculture has a crucial role in food production, environmental protection, landscape preservation, rural employment and food security. Mainstreaming gender into this sector is therefore extremely important.
Culture can be defined as the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people. Gender aspects are relevant to the broad definition of culture as a ‘social construction’ and to the ways in which cultural policy is designed and implemented. This is because cultural rights are human rights, and therefore the rights of both women and men...
The promotion of gender equality can help unleash the talents of women, which has been proven to contribute to sustainable economic growth. There has been an increased focus on gender equality in economic and fiscal policies over the past decade, in particular in taxation, social security and labour market regulation.
Education is a catalyst for social change and necessary to build societies that respect human rights. Education is needed to give women and men the skills to secure steady, well-paid jobs to avoid social exclusion. Gender equality in education is focused on gender-based choices across study fields, gender stereotypes and gender differences in educational achievements.
