Documents Barbieri, Davide 5 results

"Over the last decade, the EU has made slow progress towards gender equality. As achievements in gender equality vary considerably by Member State, it is important to understand the evolution of disparities between the Member States and the implications this has for upward economic and social convergence in the EU. Crucially, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis not only threatens to undo past achievements but may well result in increasing disparities between Member States.

This policy brief, which was jointly prepared by Eurofound and EIGE, investigates patterns of convergence in gender equality as measured by the Gender Equality Index in the Member States over the 2010–2018 period.

Eurofound delivers high-quality expertise and data on living and working conditions in the EU. Gender (equality) is a cross-cutting theme in all activities of the Agency. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is a partner in this area. More information about EIGE's activities can be found on their website."

"Since 2013, the Gender Equality Index has been recognised by EU institutions and Member States as a key benchmark for gender equality in the EU. The 6th edition of the Index covers a range of indicators in the domains of society and life most afected by the COVID-19 crisis.

Although Index scores are mostly based on 2019 data, and therefore cannot capture the full impact of the crisis on gender equality, the report provides ample evidence of the pandemic's negative repercussions on women in the domains of work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.

It also addresses the spike in violence against women and how the most disadvantaged and marginalised groups of women and men in society have borne the brunt of the impact.

Health, the thematic focus of this report, explores an additional three dimensions – health status (including mental health), health behaviours and access to health services. It also provides a gender and intersectional analysis of SRH and the COVID-19 pandemic."

"‘If the pandemic taught us one thing, it is that time is precious. And caring for someone you love is the most precious time of all,' Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted in her State of the European Union speech in September 2021. It was an indication of COVID-19 bringing formal and informal care to the fore, exposing the frailty of a sector vital to life and well-being. Social isolation, school closures and movement restrictions keeping people within their homes led to unprecedented informal care needs and work–life tensions for people looking after others. Women and lone parents, mostly mothers, have borne the brunt of the upheaval, including the more acute socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The service sector, with high female employment rates, was among the hardest hit, and the working conditions of front-line women workers were severely impacted. Coupled with the ongoing war in Europe, with its immense impact on the economy and people's lives, the developments in gender equality over the last several years have now taken a turn for the worse, and the threat to future progress is real."

"In recent years, the world has been hit by repeated shocks and multiple crises. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a global crisis in health and care, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has precipitated an influx of refugees, mostly women and children, and a cost-of-living crisis, while climate disasters are increasing in frequency and severity. What remains constant is the fact that when crisis strikes, women and girls suffer disproportionally. They endure an unequal position in society and thus have fewer resources to withstand the impact of upheavals. The crises and shocks continuously threaten to create new challenges and reverse years of progress on women's rights and gender equality. The Gender Equality Index 2023 presents the EU in relation to gender equality amid crises and uncertainties. For the first time, it incorporates EIGE 2022 survey data on gender gaps in care, individual, and social activities. This data sheds new light on the domain of time, which has not been updated since 2016. The time domain measures gender inequalities in the allocation of time to care, domestic work and social activities, and is characterised by persistent lack of progress and growing inequality. The unequal distribution of paid and unpaid work is considered one of the root causes of gender inequality in society as a whole and in the labour market in particular. As a result, the time domain is closely interconnected with other domains, such as work, knowledge, power, and money, making up-to-date and regular data on time use crucial for better understanding and interpretation of the overall gender (in)equality dynamics measured by the Index. From now on, this recurring survey data will improve the capac¬ity of the Index to capture changes in the time domain regularly and in a conceptually sound and coherent way."