In the socio-economic fallout of the pandemic among other ongoing crises and challenges, young women and men were hit the hardest. From rising unemployment rates – particularly among those with a migrant background – to persisting gender inequalities in the labour market and the unequal distribution of unpaid care – this policy brief provides actionable recommendations for policy-makers to engage and empower the youth on the road to rethinking, rebuilding and repowering Europe.
We need to move forward faster Progressive new policies are helping improve gender equality for the people of Spain. But the country’s leading voice on women’s rights admits, “we need to move forward faster.” Now we all share concerns over economic hardships leading to increased risks of poverty and job insecurity. Still, today in Spain women also assume most of the domestic work and 70% of all care tasks.
Although we have made progress, inequality remains widespread. And it comes at a price. Director Carlien Scheele identified the high price we face if we do not achieve gender equality by presenting EIGE’s research on how we can overcome these remaining challenges at ETUI-ETUC’s conference: “A Blueprint for Equality”, held in Brussels on 24 June 2022. If we work together, we can overcome inequality.
Lack of adequate childcare, structural barriers, and societal ideas about what women’s work should look like contributed to pushing 7.7 million women out of the workforce across the EU. And this was even before the pandemic hit. Director Carlien Scheele presented EIGE’s latest research on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the work and family responsibilities of women and men differently at the High-level Conference on Work-Life balance as a leverage for women’s empowerment and promoting gender equality, organised by the Italian Minister of Equal Opportunities and Family and the Council of Europe in Rome on 12 April 2022.
This technical report presents EIGE’s online panel survey of platform workers which was carried out in 2020 in ten Member states of the European Union (EU). The survey results are presented in the study on artificial intelligence, platform work and gender equality. Advancements in digitalisation brought profound opportunities, but also new challenges in the labour market. Among major developments is the growth of digital labour platforms in the EU.
The EU’s new Research & Innovation funding programme, Horizon Europe, addresses gender inequalities and gender bias in the research area. All organisations applying for funding must have a gender equality plan (GEP) in place to be eligible for funding. A GEP is a systematic and strategic instrument that aims to combat and reduce gender imbalances and gender inequalities. EIGE’s gender equality in academia and research (GEAR) tool provides guidance for Research & Innovation organisations and research funding bodies on developing and implementing an effective and sustainable GEP.
There are success factors that support gender equality work in research and innovation (R & I) organisations and in research funding bodies like the involvement of stakeholders and capacity building. When these elements are present in organisations, efforts towards gender equality are more likely to succeed. These success factors can also be understood as basic requirements or impact drivers to ensure that gender equality actions are resilient and impactful.
The independent Observatory for Research on Scientific Careers was created following the joint decision of representatives of the different French-speaking universities, the FWB and FNRS. It aims to create and follow up (missing and random) data on researchers in order to create a comprehensive, objective data collection. Its main goals are to monitor and use the expertise of different universities and partners to carry out analytical evaluations and statistics on researchers in the FWB.
The FWF published its Equal Opportunity Monitoring, as recommended by the Ministry of Digital and Economic Affairs. The measure seeks to increase the participation of women researchers in Austria since 2015. The monitoring is part of the FWF’s action plan on changing structures. Published each of the past two years, it presents a visualisation of facts and data to bring to life the insights in the annual report.
In April 2021, the State Social Insurance Fund Board (SODRA) under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour) analysed data from the Vilnius Academy of Arts. It found that, on average, women earned slightly less than their male colleagues (the gender pay gap amounted to 2 %). This result reflects the implementation of the “Plan of Measures for the Implementation of Equality at the Vilnius Academy of Arts”.
The CNR published its first gender budget in 2020. The CNR is the largest public research organisation, with more than 9,000 employees. The report showed that the general composition of CNR staff is equally distributed, but a gap becomes evident in the subsequent career levels: 38 % of senior researchers and 26 % of research directors are women. That gap is even wider at top management level, where women make up only 22 %.
