The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomed the publication today of the 2017 Gender Equality Index by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), showing some small improvements in gender equality in Europe since 2015.
The Index shows that efforts are still needed to achieve full equality between men and women, in the areas of work, time, money, knowledge, power and violence. The general slow progress revealed by the Index, shows that gender equality is far from achieved in important areas such as power and time, and that there are striking gaps between member states, with some that continue to invest in gender quality policies while many do not.
Commenting on the results ETUC Confederal Secretary Montserrat Mir said “The Index provides further evidence of the need for a political EU gender Equality Strategy to increase member states’ action for gender equality. We expect the 2018 European Commission work programme to include gender equality and specific measures to close gender gaps. We need all member states on board and not just piecemeal actions. The EU Commission proposal on work-life balance is welcome but is not enough. Action to eliminate the gender pay gap is urgently needed. We congratulate EIGE for this work and we look forward to a strong and coherent response from the European Commission.”
The ETUC welcomes the publication of the EU Gender Equality Index, and considers it a valuable tool to measure progress towards gender equality.
