Economic inequalities, cyber-violence and climate change affect women more than men. This is highlighted by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in its fifth review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, published on Tuesday 10 March.
This report analyses the application in the EU countries of the reference framework adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. In particular, it notes that women perform, on average, 13 hours more unpaid work per week than men.
However, economic inequalities due to the unequal sharing of unpaid household chores limit women's career opportunities and prevent them from accessing positions of power, notes the EIGE.
The report also identifies cyber violence as a growing concern: 20% of young women have been victims of sexual harassment online and about four out of ten women journalists reported self-censorship as a result of online abuse.
Finally, the EIGE points the finger at gender inequalities in the face of climate change. Older women on small pensions and single mothers, in particular "are the most affected by energy poverty, which means they have difficulty paying energy bills to heat their homes in winter or to keep the lights on", the institute said in a statement.
"Twenty-five years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, there is still a lot of work to be done", said Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness (EPP, Ireland) on Tuesday 10 March, the day the report was published, as she chaired a debate in the European Parliament on International Women's Day (see EUROPE 12443/4). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)