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Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in Vilnius, along with several of our members, to share information about our priorities, exchange views and seek future synergies and cooperation.

Gender equality is an obligation and fundamental value of the EU; article 8 TFEU clearly states that it is the Union’s responsibility to “eliminate inequalities, and to promote equality, between men and women.” Therefore, when the Juncker Commission states that it wants to be big on big things and small on small things, equality between women and men should be one of those “big things”. In this spirit, the European Commission must follow up on last week’s resolution from the European Parliament for a new European Strategy for Gender Equality and take into account the contributions from our members such as the European Women’s Lobby, ILGA-Europe and Transgender Europe.

There are many reasons why the EU should be big on gender equality. I will mention two of them:

First is the existence of extensive gender inequality, not just in the area of employment. EIGE’s 2013 index stated that, “despite 50 years of policies and actions at European level, member states have not managed to overcome gender gaps”. On 25 June, EIGE will release its second Gender Equality Index. The results are kept under embargo but I doubt much improvement was made in the last two years. The latest Eurostat statistics show that the gender pay gap is still 16.4% in the EU. Areas revealing the biggest gender gaps were positions of power in the workplace, time spent on unpaid care duties and domestic activities (see our blog about “A gender gap from pay to pension“).

Second is the fact that the “violence” category of the 2013 index was conspicuously empty due to a lack of comparable data to support the fight against gender-based violence. I hope that we will see considerable efforts made by EU countries on combatting violence against women in this year’s index. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’s (FRA) EU-wide survey shows alarming figures that should be more than enough evidence to convince the Commission that this is a big issue for each and every member state.

Adopting a new EU Strategy for Gender Equality, including the proposals made by the European Parliament and civil society organisations would be a good first step. A number of our members will contribute to a European Commission consultation on gender equality policies to ensure that civil society continues to steer the debate.

Together with the support of EIGE, FRA and civil society decision-makers, the EU must commit to “big things” to truly combat inequality and promote gender equality in Europe!

Let’s engage!

Pierre Baussand, Director