Welcome to EIGE’s Frequently Asked Questions. This page provides clear answers to some of the most common questions we receive about gender equality, our work and how we approach challenging areas.
Our aim is for you to have a more comprehensive understanding of important gender equality topics that are the most relevant today, supported with references to our publications, resources and events.
Is gender equality just for women?
Gender equality is a cause for all.
It is about eliminating inequalities for everyone – women and girls, men and boys, and persons who do not identify themselves on the gender binary scale.
Gender-equal societies have stronger communities, improved well-being, and more prosperous economies.
For example: a gender-equal workplace will see equal opportunities for all employees. These workplaces will typically have increased productivity, equal access to opportunities and resources, such as career development, work-life balance measures for women and men, and mental health resources.
Added to this, we also see the benefits of gender-balanced leadership in companies where decision-making is equally contributed to by women and men.
As a result, they are typically healthier and happier places to work, thus contributing to productivity and growth.
Having said this, women face disproportionately greater inequalities. That is why the greatest gains which can be made for a gender-equal future, will be in overcoming these challenges for everyone’s benefit.
What are you doing about the challenges faced by men and boys?
Men and boys are just as susceptible to systemic inequalities as women and girls – such as gender bias, gender stereotypes, norms and expectations.
Evidence from our
Gender Equality Index 2021 addressed how harmful masculinity norms can affect the health status and health behaviour of men, leading to premature deaths or self-destructive behaviour (e.g., suicides) in extreme cases. We also covered men’s lack of engagement in care and its implications in our
Gender Equality Index 2022 report. It’s a recurring theme in our research in how women and men use their time differently.
Gender inequalities impact and limit men’s lives and opportunities. Keeping men’s challenges and roles central to the conversations on gender equality is essential.
We collaborate with other EU institutions, international organisations, NGOs and member states to help promote a gender equal future for boys and men.
We discussed how men and boys can play an active role for gender equality at our
Gender Equality Forum 2024.
What is the difference between gender equity and gender equality?
Gender equality is ensuring equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities to women and girls and men and boys in all their diversity.
Gender equity is ensuring resources and opportunities are tailored to specific and individual needs.
Gender equity is a concept more prevalent in UN structures, international organisations and the USA. The EU uses the concept of equality which means that each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.
What is sex disaggregated data and why is it so important?
Sex disaggregated data is collected and categorised separately for women and men. It allows for the measurement of differences between women and men on various social and economic grounds.
Sex is a primary classification variable in gender statistics and a standardised social variable. You can find out more about this in our
Gender Statistics Database.
It is important to fully reflect the realities of the lives of women and men, as well as policy issues relating to gender.
Can you give an example of how EIGE combines both gender and intersectional perspectives?
To tackle gender and other social inequalities in more transformative ways, we are strengthening our intersectional approaches. Through greater reflection of how gender intersects with other grounds for discrimination in our research, analysis and data collection, we support policy makers in the EU and Member States to design the most inclusive and effective policies. In our
Gender Equality Forum, we had a session dedicated to understanding the progress and challenges related to evidence on gender and intersecting inequalities for developing people-centric policies.
In our core work for example, The Gender Equality Index contains a domain on intersecting inequalities which examines how elements such as disability, age, level of education, country of birth and family type, intersect with gender to create different pathways in people’s lives.
In addition, our publication, ‘
Quality considerations for EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database (2nd edition)’ looks at evolving trends and includes guidance on producing gender equality data with intersectional perspective. With further advancement of our Gender Statistics Database with available statistics on intersecting inequalities, we are continuing to provide evidence for better policy-making.
We also contribute to the EU equality statistics and data developments and closely follow the data and research done by NGOs and international organisations.
How do gender stereotypes influence gender equality?
Gender stereotypes are the preconceived ideas whereby women and men are arbitrarily assigned characteristics and roles determined and limited by their gender. Such as the idea that women are better and more natural care givers than men, and men are better leaders than women.
Gender stereotypes not only impact women’s and men’s, boys’ and girls’ behaviours and choices, but also negatively affect LGBTIQ persons and individuals who do not identify themselves on the gender binary scale.
Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours based on gender stereotypes can determine access and control of resources, information, knowledge building, and decision-making.
Our guide: ‘Words Matter: Supporting Gender Equality through Language and Communication’ is a good starting point to address gender stereotypes to avoid unintentionally perpetuating gender inequalities. It will be published by the end of 2024.
Why do you mainly stick to a binary approach to gender in your work and how are you going to reflect nonbinary data in your research?
Equality between women and men in all their diversity is at the heart of our mandate.
While we strike to place greater emphasis and focus on gender identity, in many EU member states, official and/or administrative data is not available.
Despite this, where it is relevant and feasible, we reflect on gender identity data in our research. For example, our CARE survey which looks at how women and men use their time across social, individual and caring activities, integrates sex and gender identity variables.
In our publication, ‘
Quality considerations for EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database (2nd edition)’ you can find guidance around best practices for collecting survey and administrative data relating to sex, gender and gender identity.
What are anti-gender narratives?
Term ‘anti-gender’ refers to concerted efforts to undermine policy and legal provisions for reproductive rights - including access to safe and legal abortion services - gender-affirming care, sexuality and relationships education, and LGBTIQ+ rights. Ideologically, it refers to movements and actors that see gender equality and diversity, sexual freedom, and feminism as threats to the sanctity of the family and the moral order of the nation.
Anti gender narratives are carefully crafted messages against gender equality and women’s rights with the purpose of derailing gender equality progress. Driven by organisations and individuals opposing gender equality, the very word ‘gender’ is tactfully misinterpreted by movements to gather support for restrictive gender roles.
The term ‘anti-gender movement’ is now frequently used to describe the transnational networks of actors working to maintain the traditional gender roles and power hierarchy in all areas of social, political, economic, and cultural life.
What is the difference between gender-based violence and violence against women?
Gender-based violence and violence against women are terms that are often used interchangeably, as it has been widely acknowledged that most gender-based violence is men’s violence against women.
However, using the ‘gender-based’ aspect is important as it highlights the fact that many forms of violence against women are rooted in power inequalities between women and men.
Gender-based violence against women is defined by the Istanbul Convention as "violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately".
When talking about gender-based violence do you look into violence against men as well as the LGBTIQ+ community?
We adopt a gender-sensitive lens in how we analyse gender-based violence. This means we take into account women’s social and economic standing in society relative to men and how this makes them specifically vulnerable to violence. Therefore, our work on gender-based violence conceptualises it as a consequence of gender inequality.
However, we take an intersectional approach to analysis of gender-based violence, wherein gender differences are analysed simultaneously with other social characteristics such as age, ethnicity, migrant background, class, sexual orientation, etc. to examine which groups are most vulnerable to violence.
Our upcoming EU gender-based violence survey carried out by Eurostat, EIGE and the Fundamental Rights Agency look at the prevalence of gender-based violence in the EU and explicitly includes sexual orientation and gender identity as disaggregating variables, highlighting LGBTIQ+ communities.
What is the difference between EIGE’s Gender Equality Index and the World Economic Forum’s Index?
The different indexes were created for different reasons.
EIGE’s Gender Equality Index is a unique tool providing a close-up analysis of the progress of gender equality in the EU. It supports policymakers in designing more effective policies where gender equality measures feature prominently.
The World Economic Forum Index provides a broader view of global challenges.
We use the best data to inform the most detailed picture of the everyday reality for women and men in the EU today.
Our scores identify gaps and inequalities both within and in-between EU Member States.
What is EIGE’s role in combatting crises and conflicts around the world?
While our Agency’s work revolves around EU-based priorities, we acknowledge the significant impact of the volatile situations in all ongoing conflict zones around the world – particularly on civilians, including women and girls.
Violence against women, including sexual violence, which is used as a weapon of war, is prevalent in situations of armed conflict.
We make efforts to collect data when EU member states are involved in supporting women and girls affected by conflicts and crisis in other parts of the world.
In support of women and girls fleeing Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine for example, we provided a
mapping of sexual and reproductive healthcare services in the EU under the Temporary Protection Directive such as emergency contraception, sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention and treatment, obstetric and gynaecological care, psychological counselling, and safe abortion and post-abortion care.
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