Brussels, 8 March 2024
Equality between women and men is a fundamental value of the European Union enshrined in the Treaties. A great deal of progress has been made over the years – now we have a substantial body of legislation and other measures aimed at furthering equality between men and women. The EU is a global leader on gender equality, with 14 of the top 20 countries worldwide in terms of gender equality being EU member states.
International Women’s Day on 8 March is always an appropriate time to celebrate progress made towards achieving gender equality. This year, the Council Library and Archives have delved into their files and research publications in search of the first women to participate in and/or chair Council and European Council meetings and other preparatory bodies. Some are well known, others less so.
Obstacles still exist
International Women’s Day is also an opportunity to highlight continuing obstacles. The Diversity & Inclusion Office at the General Secretariat of the Council is dedicating its International Women’s Day conference on 14 March to addressing a less well-known, but important, issue – the data gender gap.
Women represent half of the world’s population, yet their needs tend to be forgotten when most data focus on the default male norm. The gender data gap is a significant issue that affects how our world functions and has a harmful impact on women’s lives, their economic status, health, and overall well-being.
When data is collected and tabulated separately for women and men, it allows for the measurement of differences between women and men on various social and economic dimensions. When data is not collected in this way, women can become ‘invisible’, which can lead to unintentional bias in areas such as urban design and planning, safety and security, healthcare and in the use of Artificial Intelligence.
Happy Women’s Day!
This post does not necessarily represent the positions, policies, or opinions of the Council of the European Union or the European Council.
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Source – EU Council