Still far from the finish line

The Gender Equality Index score of 67.4 points out of 100 for the EU in 2017 highlights that all Member States need to make considerable advances to ensure women and men enjoy equal levels of well-being in all domains of life. Although this was an increase of 5.4 points since 2005, it represents modest progress on the goal over a 12-year period. The room for improvement varies across Member States. Almost a third of the 28 EU Member States scored higher than 70 points in 2017, with Sweden (83.6 points) and Denmark (77.5 points) maintaining their top-two status between 2005 and 2017.

Figure 1: Gender Equality Index scores, 2005-2017

While Greece and Hungary (51.2 and 51.9 points respectively) showed they have the most ground to make up, nearly half of all Member States scored lower than 60 points in 2017.

Figure 2: Gender Equality Index scores for EU Member States, 2005, 2015 and 2017

Of the six domains that constitute the composite indicator of the Gender Equality Index, the power domain score of 51.9 points of the EU reveals that gender inequalities in decision-making remain the biggest hurdles to overcome. The persistent gender segregation in different fields of study in tertiary education ensures knowledge is the second least equal domain in the Index with an EU score of 63.5 points. The time domain (EU: 65.7 points) spotlights worsening inequalities in how time is used by women and men, the only area to suffer a setback since 2005.

 

Figure 3: Scores for the domains and the Gender Equality Index, 2017