EU Gender Equality Report 2015

Special Eurobarometer 428

Gender Equality Report

Fieldwork: November-December 2014 Publication: March 2015

Direct Link to FULL 229-Page 2015 Report: https://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_428_en.pdf

INTRODUCTION

It is widely acknowledged that gender equality (equality between men and women) is essential for economic growth and poverty reduction “… ensuring equality between women and men is not only a necessity from a rights perspective, but it also makes sense from an economic perspective … Women have massively entered the labour market and contributed to the EU’s economic growth and competitiveness”1 .

Gender equality is one of the European Union’s founding values, dating back to the beginnings of the European Community (the EEC) in 1957 when the principle of equal pay for equal work became a provision of the Treaty of Rome (Article 119). Fifty years on, gender equality was again one of the core values of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007. In recent decades the EU has made significant progress through the adoption of:

• Equal treatment legislation – in the areas of employment and training; social security and pensions; access to goods and services; and professional, private and family life

• Gender mainstreaming2 (the inclusion of gender considerations in all of its policies)

• Specific measures for the advancement of women The Strategy for equality between women and men represents the European Commission’s work program on gender equality for the period 2010-2015. It provides a coordinated framework for promoting gender equality in all policies of the Union, with five priority areas:

• Equal economic independence for women and men;

• Equal pay for work of equal value;

• Equality in decision-making;

• Promoting gender equality beyond the EU.

In March 2010, the European Commission also strengthened and deepened its commitment to equality between women and men with the Women’s Charter. Earlier this year (2014), ahead of International Women’s Day (March 8th), the European Commission adopted a renewed push for gender equality and a reduction in the pay gap between men and women, recommending that Member States improve wage transparency through a ‘toolbox’ of measures, including allowing employees to request information on pay, reporting by companies, pay audits for large firms and including equal pay in collective bargaining.

Member States should implement at least one of these measures, according to their own national situation, and need to report back to the Commission on what action they have taken to implement the recommendations by the end of 2015. With the help of focused policies at EU level, in the form of legislation, recommendations, co-funding and awareness-raising activities, much progress has been made.

However, gender inequalities in Europe still exist with:

• Women still paid on average around 16% less than men per hour of work across the entire economy

• Women continuing to be underrepresented in leadership positions, including decision-making functions in politics and in corporate boardrooms – with women holding only 27% of seats in national parliaments and governments; 18% of board seats; and 3% of CEO positions

• Violence against women remaining an issue, with an estimated 20-25% of women in Europe having been victims of physical violence at least once in their lives

• Persisting stereotypes of traditional gender roles meaning that women still carry a disproportionate share of the burden of housework and of caring for children, the elderly and other dependents In this context, this Eurobarometer Survey seeks to measure Europeans’ perceptions of gender inequalities within their own country: how widespread inequalities between women and men are, and whether the situation has improved or worsened compared with ten years ago; whether men or women are more likely to experience such discrimination among particular groups of people (young, old, people with disabilities, migrants, single parents, and working parents with young children); and the areas of life (e.g. work, school, media, politics) where gender stereotypes are deemed to be most prevalent. It also examines Europeans’ general attitudes towards gender equality and, more specifically, the role of women in the workplace and the role of men at home. In terms of tackling gender inequalities, the survey provides measures on Europeans’ opinions on which organisations have contributed most over the last ten years; whether this should be an EU priority; which areas should be dealt with most urgently; and what measures are considered to be the most effective at increasing the number of women in the workplace, and increasing the amount of time men spend on home care activities. Finally, the survey explores the issue of violence against women – what Europeans think this encompasses and which specific forms of such violence the EU should focus its efforts on.

A number of earlier Eurobarometer surveys have focused on gender equality. This 2014 survey is very similar to a survey conducted in 2009.3 However, the wording of some questions have been modified compared to the 2009 survey and therefore those modifications need to be taken into account when analysing the trends. Other Eurobarometer surveys concentrating on this issue include:

• A 2010 survey which explored EU citizens’ perceptions of gender violence4

• A 2012 survey which focused on women in decision-making positions across Europe5

• A 2012 survey which provided insight into the evolution of perceptions, attitudes, knowledge and awareness of discrimination (covering gender, ethnic origin, religion and beliefs, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity)6

• A 2012 survey which focused on gender inequalities in the EU7.

This survey was carried out by TNS Opinion & Social network in the 28 Member States of the European Union between the 29th November and 9th of December 2014. Some 27.801 respondents from different social and demographic groups were interviewed face-to-face at home in their mother tongue on behalf of Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. The methodology used is that of Eurobarometer surveys as carried out by the Directorate-General for Communication (“Strategy, Corporate Communication Actions and Eurobarometer” Unit)8.. A technical note on the manner in which interviews were conducted by the Institutes within the TNS Opinion & Social network is appended as an annex to this report. Also included are the interview methods and confidence intervals9 . The findings of the survey have been analysed firstly at EU level and secondly by country. As noted above, results have been compared with the 2009 survey where possible. Where appropriate, a variety of socio-demographic variables – such as respondents’ gender, age, terminal education age, occupation and ability to pay household bills – have been used to provide further analysis.

Other key variables that have been used to provide additional insight include:

• Respondents’ views about how widespread gender inequalities are in their country
• Respondents’ views on whether they think equality between men and women is a fundamental right
• Respondents’ views on whether tackling gender inequality should be an EU priority.

3  https://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_326_en.pdf

4 https://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_344_en.pdf

5 https://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_376_en.pdf

6 https://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_393_en.pdf

7 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/eurobarometre/2012/femme_mars/rapport_en.pdf

8 https://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm 9

The results tables are included in the annex. It should be noted that the total of the percentages in the tables of this report may exceed 100% when the respondent has the possibility of giving several answers to the question.

Note: In this report, countries are referred to by their official abbreviation. The abbreviations used in this report correspond to: ABBREVIATIONS BE Belgium LT Lithuania BG Bulgaria LU Luxembourg CZ Czech Republic HU Hungary DK Denmark MT Malta DE Germany NL The Netherlands EE Estonia AT Austria IE Ireland PL Poland EL Greece PT Portugal ES Spain RO Romania FR France SI Slovenia HR Croatia SK Slovakia IT Italy FI Finland CY Republic of Cyprus SE Sweden LV Latvia UK The United Kingdom EU28 European Union – 28 Member States EU15 BE, IT, FR, DE, LU, NL, DK, UK, IE, PT, ES, EL, AT, SE, FI* NMS13 BG, CZ, EE, HR, CY, LT, LV, MT, HU, PL, RO, SI, SK** EURO AREA BE, FR, IT, LU, DE, AT, ES, PT, IE, NL, FI, EL, EE, SI, CY, MT, SK

* EU15 refers to the 15 countries forming the European Union before the enlargements of 2004, 2007 and 2013

** The NMS13 are the 13 ‘new Member States’ which joined the European Union during the 2004, 2007 and 2013 enlargements

*** Cyprus as a whole is one of the 28 European Union Member States. However, the ‘acquis communautaire’ has been suspended in the part of the country which is not controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus. For practical reasons, only the interviews carried out in the part of the country controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus are included in the ‘CY’ category and in the EU28 average.