Commission on Gender Equality

News on gender equality issues

The European Institute for Gender Equality has presented its first report. This report links on to issues the UBC Commission on Gender Equality describes in the thematic Bulletin (no. 2/2010) e.g. gender budgeting, the reconciliation of work and family life as a condition of equal participation in the labour market, etc.

Women still remain the main carers of children and the elderly today. In Europe, women aged 25 - 44 spend three times longer than men on childcare per day. The main findings of the first EIGE Report specifically focus on the topic of reconciliation of work and family life as a condition of equal participation in the labour market. Working for a gender equal labour market creates a social and economically sustainable development in our cities and regions.

These findings include the main legislative developments on the EU level concerning maternity, paternity and parental leave. They also present the latest available sex disaggregated data for parental leave, for the time spent in different activities, and for the accessibility and availability of care facilities for elderly persons.

Also, the use of available childcare services in the EU Member States is presented and discussed.

Campaign material
The Commission on gender Equality has prepared the campaign to raise awareness of the importance of gender equality and what gender equality means. The campaign posters have been printed in English, Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian. hopefully, they will inspire the cities around the Baltic Sea Region. The campaign posters will be sent out to all member cities of the union of the Baltic Cities this autumn.

MORE

Helene Brewer
helene.brewer@umea.se

The findings show the progress in legislative frameworks given that a number of EU Member States have already made changes to allow for the increased involvement of fathers in childcare. Improvements have also been made in the availability and access of childcare services to parents from across the Member States.

(Extract from the EIGE newsletter and information)