Panorama

Take a tour both on and off-line and you will see that equality between men and women is still met with a level of hostility right out of Margaret Atwood’s musings. Obscurantist backlash is but one obstacle to gender equality, especially when the importance of women’s economic empowerment  is also often-overlooked. This is even more relevant in poorer regions where women act as an accelerant of long-term social and economic development. According to estimates, greater gender equality is set to increase EU GDP per capita by up to 9.6 % by 2050.

Nevertheless, true equality still faces many obstacles and, in the EU, cohesion policy is specially placed to help overcoming them, increasing independence among women from various socio-economic backgrounds.

Care duties and unpaid work

Unpaid reproductive labour; or the disproportionate share of caring responsibilities is among these obstacles hindering and burdening women. In the EU, 94% of employed women perform unpaid care work several times a week, significantly reducing their free time. In comparison, this statistic concerns only 70 % of employed men. This highlights that nearly all working women are impacted, leaving only 6% of them free of this frequent burden. Additionally, women's hourly earnings are, on average, 13% lower than men's, a gap that has seen little change over the last decade.

Other barriers include women’s exclusion from economic opportunities, networks and decision-making. Although female entrepreneurship has grown steadily in recent decades, women still account for just 29 % of EU entrepreneurs. The EU’s gender employment gap remains significant, with 78.5 % of men and 67.7 % of women in work. In addition, only 35 % of municipal councillors in the EU are women.

Nonetheless, EU efforts to combat gender inequality have borne fruit. The Global Gender Gap Index – which benchmarks gender parity in economic participation, education, health and political empowerment – shows that the gender gap is being closed in Europe more than anywhere else in the world. Five of the 10 most gender-equal countries are EU Member States: Finland in second place, Sweden in fifth, Germany in seventh, Ireland in ninth and Spain in tenth. However, the distance between the top- and bottom-ranked European countries shows that wide intra-European disparities remain.

A stronger gender dimension

If policymakers want to reduce structural imbalances, they need to equip themselves with approaches that fully appreciate each policy intervention’s specific effect on women. Cohesion policy does so by promoting gender equality at all stages of its programmes. In concrete terms, Member States are required to build partnerships with bodies like gender equality organisations.

For 2021-2027, EU legislation governing cohesion policy has strengthened the gender dimension of all three relevant funds: the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the largest contributor to cohesion policy funding for gender equality; the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); and the Just Transition Fund (JTF).

To receive cohesion policy funding, Member States must put in place national gender equality policy frameworks and mechanisms to ensure compliance with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. When selecting operations for funding, Member States must set and apply criteria and procedures that ensure gender equality.

A new development for 2021-2027 is gender tracking of cohesion policy expenditure. Funding is categorised by gender equality impact to allow for better monitoring of investments. Scores are assigned to projects depending on whether:

• they directly improve gender equality,

• they entail gender mainstreaming measures for which improving gender equality is an important objective,

• do not target gender equality.

Funding channels

Out of the cohesion policy basket dedicated to gender equality funding, € 105 billion is dedicated to mainstreaming. Denmark and Sweden use 85 % of their cohesion policy investments to address gender equality through both targeted and mainstreaming actions – the highest shares in the EU. At 18 %, Austria has the biggest share earmarked solely for targeted measures.

ESF+ actions help Member States improve work-life balance, increase women’s employment, widen access to affordable care and tackle gender stereotyping. Reflecting the importance of gender equality to the green and digital transitions, the ERDF complements the ESF+ with investments in research and innovation, SME growth and competitiveness and renewable energy. These areas have received € 3.9 billion, € 2.5 billion and € 1.1 billion, respectively.

Further ERDF support comes in areas such as education, healthcare, social services and integration of marginalised groups. Another field contributing to the transition, and with an important gender dimension, is sustainable mobility and transport, which has received € 1.5 billion.

In a 2022 interview for the Regio waves podcast, Linda Gaasch, member of Luxembourg City Municipal Council and of the European Committee of the Regions, reminded the audience that ‘Women use more public transport than men,’  ,  ‘Also, the behaviour of women is different. For example, if you have to wait half an hour for a connection at night, as a woman, you don’t take the bus.’

This is a clue to how even the policies that seem most gender-neutral can reveal glaring shortcomings when examined through the lenses of gender equality. approach.

Strategies are being implemented under the JTF to manage gender-related challenges arising from the transition to climate neutrality. These entail redefining community identities to include more women, municipal budgeting involving community members to meet women’s needs and building on female participation in grassroots movements. Additional aspects include upskilling and reskilling of women, trade union involvement in working for gender equality and increased female entrepreneurship and workplace representation.

Concrete actions

Construction is one field with serious female underrepresentation. Women account for just 2 % of workers on building sites. With cohesion policy backing, the Women and Construction project in the Île-de-France is working to change that. It holds training courses exclusively for women to give them the skills to succeed in the sector. The project has run for some 30 years and over 60 % of participants find work in construction.

Responding to high female unemployment and obstacles to female entrepreneurship in the Croatian-Serbian border region is the Women Business Hub project. It is enhancing the local business environment and fostering economic empowerment of women to help them start their own companies.

Austria’s 100 Percent project is closing the gender pay gap by giving firms free consultancy services to help them design transparent remuneration systems and broaden opportunities for women in the workplace. In addition, 100 Percent shows companies how a diverse workforce promotes innovation and resilience.

Turning to healthcare, in Poland, breast cancers are the most common type of malignant tumour in women, comprising nearly 22 % of all cancers. They are also the main cause of cancer-related deaths among women, accounting for 13 % of oncology patient deaths. Cases have doubled over the last three decades. Cohesion policy funding made possible the addition of a breast unit to the Lower Silesian Oncology Centre in Wroclaw. The unit has a preventative examination area, a surgery department and diagnostic facilities. The project created 19 jobs – 17 of them for women.

Elsewhere in Poland, a centre has been set up at the Podkarpackie Regional Hospital in Krosno to provide perinatal care for mothers and babies and services including prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose and throat, eye, heart, neurological and rheumatological conditions. Annually, over 1 000 pregnant women and 1 200 newborns benefit from the services, while the children’s ward treats more than 1 700 patients.

Tackling gender-based violence is another area covered by cohesion policy. A project in Murcia, Spain, entitled ‘Coordination to improve gender-based violence survivors’ labour market integration and social inclusion’ provides training and support such as childcare grants for women who are victims of gender-based abuse. This helps to increase their chances of employment and economic independence. Some 220 women receive training each year, and most find work.

As one participant said: ‘I managed to get out of a very violent situation. The programme really helped me. I went from being a nobody to being a somebody: having a job, a home, my independence, and feeling hope for the future.’

Combining forces

Rather than advancing gender equality in a single area, seven cities – La Rochelle, France; Frankfurt, Germany; Trikala, Greece; Panevėžys, Lithuania; Celje, Slovenia; Barcelona, Spain; and Umeå, Sweden – came together to form the Genderedlandscape network and make all their policies and services gender equal.

One activity in Umeå was the introduction of a guided bus tour to examine the city from a gendered perspective and identify areas for improvement. The other cities drew on Umeå’s work to design plans to overcome their own gender equality challenges.

‘The goal is to create conditions for women and men to have equal power to shape society, as well as their own lives’ said Umeå City Council Gender Equality Officer, Linda Gustafsson.

‘Every time there is a new initiative in Umeå on urban planning or sustainability, we integrate an understanding of what this means for women, men, boys and girls in the city.’

Applying this kind of integrated gender equality approach in regional development will perhaps be the most valuable way that cohesion policy can help shape a truly equitable future for Europe.

More information

Find out more

Cohesion Policy 2021-2027

https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/stories/s/Cohesion-policy-supporting-gender-equality/gkxm-7hxd