Brussels, 10/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - From boards of directors to community colleges, European women are struggling to have their voices heard. Decision-making is believed to be the area in which women lag behind the most in the European Union. These are the findings of the gender equality index, which was published by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) following International Women's Day and in the run-up to the European elections. The index, which was presented on Monday 10 March, scrutinises a number of different areas - work, money, health, power, amongst others - and gives them scores out of 100, depending on the degree of equality.
Political and economic decision-making. The worst score in terms of gender equality relates to the division of power, with an average of 38/100. This leads the director of the EIGE, Virginija Langbakk, to remark that the EU is not even halfway towards achieving parity in positions of power, be they economic or political. Indeed, the score is even worse in economic decision-making, standing at just 29/100, dragged down by a disappointing score of 23.3 for the presence of women on the boards of directors of large European companies. The European Commission would like to get to work turning the tide in this area, by bringing in quotas (see EUROPE 11034). As regards the political arena, things are a little better with a score of 49/100. In Europe, just 25% of ministers are women and 23% of national MPs are women.
National scores. It comes as no surprise that the Scandinavian countries tended towards greater equality in the halls of power, with the top mark going to Sweden (74.3), followed by Finland (68.8) and Denmark (60). It is the smaller countries like Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg, but also Italy, which have the most to do to roll out equality in the exercise of power. For its part, Italy has already adopted legislation on quotas for women on the boards of directors of companies in order to improve its score.
Health, money, employment. Access to healthcare is the fairest area for women in Europe, with a gender equality tendency of 90.1/100. The efforts to be made as regards money, specifically the economic situation and the redistribution of resources, and employment, are identical, with scores of 69 and 68.9/100 in these intrinsically linked areas. (MD)