Report on Equality between Women and Men in the European Union (Brussels, March 2018)

The European Commission is marking International Women’s Day with the publication of a new report on equality between men and women, which shows the major achievements and progress made last year in EU legislation, actions and funding possibilities (March 2018).

In spite of the policy efforts and commitment to push further the gender equality agenda, an abundance of data and statistics show that only marginal progress has been made in the past years.

The report shows that women still face challenges in different areas:

• While European women are better educated than men (44 % women aged 30-34 vs 34 % men got university degree in 2016), they remain largely under-represented in decision-making positions in companies and still earn 16 % less than men on average across the EU.
• Women are also under-represented in politics. In six countries (Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, and Malta) women represent less than 20 % of   parliament members.
• The gender gap in employment has stagnated for the last few years at around 11 percentage points. There has been no noteworthy catch-up between low and high performing Member States.
• 44 % of Europeans in average think that women should take care of their homes and families. In one third of EU Member States, it is no less than 70 % of Europeans who think so.
• Violence is still too wide-spread: One in three women in Europe has experienced either physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. Also 55 % of women in the EU has experienced sexual harassment.

The 2018 report: 2018 Annual Report on Gender Equality .