Serbia - the first EU candidate country to produce a Gender Equality Index

04 February 2016
by eub2 -- last modified 04 February 2016

Serbia launched on 2 February the results of its Gender Equality Index making it the first non-EU country to produce an assessment of how equal women and men are in the various fields of society by applying a broad scale of indicators. Compared with the EU Member States Serbia’s overall score places it in 22nd position. With a score of 40.6 points out of 100 Serbia is almost half way towards gender equality. In comparison, the EU average is 52.9.

'I am glad that Serbia now has an analytical instrument that allows measuring our achievements and gaps regarding gender equality. This will be immensely useful both on the national level and in the EU accession process,' states Zorana Mihajlovic, Deputy Prime Minister and President of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality of the Republic of Serbia. 'I hope that our example and experience will inspire other EU accession countries so that we can also have good regional benchmarks and exchange of policies that deliver results.'

'Congratulations to Serbia for this significant milestone. The Gender Equality Index will be a handy and easy to use tool  for Serbian policy makers and gender equality supporters, just as it is in the EU  Member States,' says Virginija Langbakk, the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). 'It clearly shows which areas need increased attention, and which policies and laws are effective. The initiative of Serbia paves the way for a common monitoring tool with other EU accession and neighbourhood countries.'

On gender equality in decision-making, Serbia ranks among the top ten EU Member States.  The introduction of quotas for Parliamentary elections has contributed to boosting the political participation of women which is reflected in the Index ranking.

The Index also highlights other areas where further efforts are needed. For Serbia, as with most other EU Member States the important challenge is to break the tradition of what are typically considered masculine or feminine professions and to make working conditions more family-friendly.

The Gender Equality Index was first launched by EIGE in 2013 to monitor the progress in gender equality across the EU and over time. The Index provides a single summary measure and allows for assessment of the level of gender equality in each of its six core domains – Work, Money, Knowledge, Time, Power, and Health. While the Index is a sophisticated statistical and analytical tool, it presents complex data in a user-friendly and easy to understand way. It is updated every two years and the third edition is forthcoming in 2017.

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is an autonomous body of the European Union, established to support and to strengthen the promotion of gender equality and the fight against discrimination based on sex, as well as to raise awareness of gender equality in the EU and the Member States.

European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)