On Tuesday 19 August, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) published an update of its methodological report on data collection for gender statistics in decision-making.
The report, entitled ‘Women and Men in Decision-Making’ (WMID), is part of the EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database and since 2003 has quantified the representation of women and men in decision-making positions in European countries (27 EU Member States, the candidate countries - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Turkey -, one potential candidate country - Kosovo - and three countries of the European Economic Area: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).
Initially managed by the European Commission, the database has been under the responsibility of the EIGE since 2017, and is used as a reference in the drafting of European Commission and Eurostat reports on Sustainable Development Goals. It allows us to measure the progress of the European strategy for gender equality 2020-2025, the achievement of United Nations Goal 5 on gender equality and the commitments made as part of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.
This data is also a major tool for monitoring the 2022 European directive on gender balance on the boards of listed companies and for calculating the EIGE Gender Equality Index.
The data covers twelve major areas of power, including politics, justice and public administration, as well as sport, the media, scientific research and institutions in the climate, transport and European funding sectors.
Finally, the EIGE guarantees the reliability of its approach by stating that at least 10% of organisations are checked by a second researcher, that the data is systematically compared with previous series to identify any anomalies, and that all subsequent corrections are recorded in the database’s public documentation. The Institute also pays close attention to comparisons between countries, even if their institutions are different, and to changes over time, taking into account reforms or reorganisations that modify the way institutions operate.
Read the methodological report: https://aeur.eu/f/i55 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)