On Wednesday 20 November, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) published an update to its methodological report on data relating to women and men in decision-making positions. This tool, which is central to the ‘Women and Men in Decision-Making’ (WMID) database - previously managed by the European Commission - provides a detailed analysis, harmonised according to common methodological criteria, of gender distribution in the political, economic, judicial and social spheres across 38 European countries, including the 27 EU Member States.
The report serves as a benchmark for assessing the progress made in the context of the European Strategy for Gender Equality 2020-2025 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5).
It covers a wide range of areas, including parliaments, governments, major companies, NGOs and the media.
The aim is to provide reliable data that is comparable between countries and regularly updated, in order to measure gaps and guide public policies.
According to the latest analyses, women hold an average of 33% of seats in national parliaments and 25% of ministerial posts in EU governments.
In large listed companies, they represent 22% of board members, well below the European target of 40% to be achieved by 2026.
In contrast, the judicial sector is the exception, with almost 45% of appointments to the judiciary held by women.
The report also highlights major geographical disparities: while the Nordic countries have female representation rates of over 40% in many areas, other countries, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, struggle to exceed 20%.
This methodological update incorporates improvements in data collection and processing, in particular to better reflect local and international realities.
The EIGE is calling for a standardisation of practices between countries and greater transparency for organisations, particularly in sectors that are still under-documented, such as NGOs and local institutions.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/efa (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)