EIGE has developed an online toolkit to apply gender budgeting as a gender mainstreaming tool in EU Funds processes. The first three sections introduce the concept of gender budgeting and examine its relevance for the EU Funds. Section 4 offers 11 practical tools on gender budgeting, related to: the EU regulatory framework; national/sub-national programming and project-level support; reporting, monitoring and...
The Europe 2020 strategy aims to lift at least 20 million people out of poverty and social exclusion. However, this target does not directly acknowledge the gender dimension of poverty and looks unlikely to be met; 23.3 % of women and 21.6 % of men in the EU remain at risk of poverty or social exclusion. More recently, the European...
Since 2013, the EU has made several commitments to address gender equality issues in education and training. The Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019 highlighted the need to address gendered choices in study subjects and subsequent careers. In 2015, the EU called for action to tackle gender stereotypes and ensure that teachers are trained to create inclusive, egalitarian and non-discriminatory...
Gender stereotypes and socioeconomic inequalities continue to impact on access use of preventative and curative health services. For example, while the EU has done work to increase the access of girls and women living outside the EU to sexual and reproductive health services, there has been limited action to promote access to such services within the EU. To date, important...
All EU Member States have criminalised some forms of violence against womenand, together with the EU institutions, have worked to strengthen legal frameworks and better determine the scale of the phenomenon. At EU level, gender-based violence is a policy priority, as reflected in the strategy for equality between women and men (2010-2015) and in the follow-up strategic engagement for gender...
The Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) underlined the importance of women’s participation in conflict resolution and the promotion of lasting peace. It also recognised that women have the right to protection, as they are at particular risk of being targeted by violence in conflict, such as conflict-related sexual violence and forced displacement. These themes were later incorporated in the United...
Women’s economic empowerment has long been a feature of EU policy, but the shift in priorities in the aftermath of the economic crisis has left the employment policy largely gender blind. Thus the Europe 2020 strategy includes a target of having 75 % of the working age population in employment by 2020 but does not distinguish between women and men...
Recent years have seen considerable focus on the representation of women in political and economic decision-making by EU institutions. Both the European Parliament and the European Commission put in place actions to encourage politicians in the Member States to introduce measures to improve and accelerate gender balance in political and economic leadership positions. The European Commission has continued to promote...
Gender equality is one of the fundamental values of the EU. Since 1996, the EU Commission has committed itself to a dual approach, which involves ‘mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies, while also implementing specific measures to eliminate, prevent or remedy gender inequalities’ (1). More recently, the 2013 Council conclusions on institutional mechanisms highlighted the mainstreaming principle within all...
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...