The JRC Composite Indicators Research Group participated at the launch event for the Gender Equality Index, developed by the European Institute for Gender Equality, upon request of the European Commission.

Held in Brussels, on June 13th, the launch conference included speeches of Herman Van Rompuy (President of the Council of the EU), Kathleen Lynch (Presidency of the Council of the EU, Minister of State for Equality, Ireland), Professor Anne Glover (Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission), Mikael Gustafsson (Chair of FEMM Committee, European Parliament), and Algimanta Pabedinskiene (Minister of Social Security and Labour, Lithuania). The JRC was actively involved in the panel session “The Gender Equality Index, pain or gain?” together with participants from Eurostat and the Institute for Gender Studies of Radbout University. The JRC is also acknowledged in the GEI main report for having offered suggestions that helped to improve the statistical properties of the index.