Gender equality is a fundamental value of the European Union and is essential for its development, growth and cohesion. As such, measuring progress in gender equality is an integral part of effective policymaking. Since its launch in 2013, the Gender Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has been recognised for its notable contribution to policy debates and increased awareness about gender equality at the EU and national levels.
Gender equality is a fundamental value of the European Union and is essential for its development, growth and cohesion. As such, measuring progress in gender equality is an integral part of effective policymaking. Since its launch in 2013, the Gender Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has been recognised for its notable contribution to policy debates and increased awareness about gender equality at the EU and national levels.
This report documents the third edition of the Gender Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). Since its launch in 2013, the Gender Equality Index has been recognised for its notable contribution to policy debates and increased awareness about gender equality at the EU and national levels. The Index is a comprehensive measure for assessing the state of the art and monitoring progress in gender equality across the EU over time.
"Gender budgeting is not a special approach to budgeting or even an add-on to budgeting. Rather, gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting that can improve it, when fiscal policies and administrative procedures are structured to address gender inequality and women’s development needs. When properly done, one can say that gender budgeting is good budgeting" (Stotsky, 2016) The Council of Europe defines gender budgeting as a ‘gender- based assessment of budgets incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to promote gender equality’.
Decision-making in the finance sector is largely dominated by men. Men take important decisions that influence overall economic development, monetary stability, employment and growth — all factors which touch the lives of women and men in different ways. Challenging these gender inequalities will be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The study on the economic benefits of gender equality is unique in the EU context. It is the first of its kind to use a robust econometric model to estimate a broad range of macroeconomic benefits of gender equality in several broad policy areas such as education, labour market activity and wages. It also considers the demographic consequences of such improvements.
To analyse how gender equality measures can contribute to economic growth in the EU, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) studied the impacts of reducing gender inequalities in areas relevant from a macroeconomic perspective: STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education, labour market activity and pay. It also considered the demographic changes when these gender gaps are reduced. The study on the economic benefits of gender equality is the first of its kind to use a robust econometric model to estimate a broad range of macroeconomic benefits of gender equality at EU level.
Getting more women into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education will have a positive impact on economic growth in the European Union. However, despite good employment opportunities and highly productive jobs in this area, there is currently a low proportion of women studying and graduating in STEM subjects. A study from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) on the ‘economic benefits of gender equality’ puts forth robust new evidence showing the positive impacts of reducing gender inequalities in education in developed countries.
The study on the economic benefits of gender equality is unique in the EU context. It is the first of its kind to use a robust econometric model to estimate a broad range of macroeconomic benefits of gender equality in several broad policy areas such as education, labour market activity and wages. It also considers the demographic consequences of such improvements.
Increasing women’s participation in the work force and closing the pay gap between women and men will have a positive impact on economic growth in the European Union. Despite recent improvements, there are still persistent gender gaps in labour market activity and pay, which result in lower employment rates for women, potentially limiting EU growth. Addressing these issues is crucial to meet the Europe 2020 target to achieve an overall employment rate of women and men of at least 75 % by 2020.
In 2015-2016, the European Institute for Gender Equality commissioned research to assess how improvements in gender equality can contribute to sustainable, inclusive and smart economic growth of the EU. The main purpose of the country case overviews is to identify economic impacts of gender equality that can be modelled at macroeconomic level. Further information Economic Benefits of Gender Equality: Interactive web page Information about economic and financial affairs on EIGE's Gender Mainstreaming platform
In 2015-2016, the European Institute for Gender Equality commissioned research to assess how improvements in gender equality can contribute to sustainable, inclusive and smart economic growth of the EU. This study is unique in the EU context, as it uses a robust econometric model to estimate economic impacts of improved gender equality in several broad areas such as education, labour market activity and wages.
