Gender equality and institutional mechanisms : implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the EU Member States.
Date: 2014-03-12
Institutions: European Institute for Gender Equality
Subjects: EU Member State, anti-discriminatory measure, decision-making, equal treatment, gender equality, position of women, report

GENDER EQUALITY AND INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS
Implementation of the Beijing Platform  
for Action in the EU

POLICY CONTEXT

The Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) was officially adop­
ted  at  the  fourth  World  Conference  on  Women  held  in 
Beijing  in  1995.  All  EU  Member  States  are  committed  to 
implementing its strategic objectives at the national level. 
A series of indicators have been developed by each of the 
rotating  Presidencies  of  the  Council  of  the  European  Un­
ion since 1999 to monitor its implementation in the EU.

Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women 
(area  H)  is  one  of  the  12  areas  of  concern  of  the  BPfA.  It 
covers three strategic objectives:

•	 H1:	 create	 or	 strengthen	 national	 machineries	 and	

other	governmental	bodies;

•	 H2:	 integrate	 gender	 perspectives	 in	 legislation,	

public	policies,	programmes	and	projects;	and

•	 H3:	generate	and	disseminate	gender-disaggregated	
data	and	information	for	planning	and	evaluation.

In 2009, the Council emphasised the need to enhance the 
status of the national bodies for the promotion of gender 
equality in order to bring gender equality to the forefront. 
The  Council  also  stressed  that  the  conditions  necessary 
for  an  effective  national  institutional  structure  for  gender 
equality are that it is located at the highest possible level 
in the government, involves civil society organisations, can 
draw  from  sufficient  resources  and  has  the  possibility  to 
influence  the  development  of  all  government  policies. 
The European Commission’s Strategy for equality between 
women  and  men  2010­2015  also  highlights  the  need  to 
take  gender  equality  into  account  in  all  EU  and  national 
policies,  and  implement  gender  mainstreaming  as  an  in­
tegral part of policy­making, including through impact as­
sessment and evaluation processes.

FINDINGS

The report by the European Institute for Gender Equality 
(EIGE)  on  the  effectiveness  of  institutional  mechanisms 
for  the  advancement  of  gender  equality  (2013),  build­
ing  on  the  conceptual  and  methodological  framework 
laid  down  by  the  Finnish  Presidency  (Council  of  the  Eu­
ropean  Union,  2006),  reviewed  the  progress  of  Member 
States  since  2005  regarding  institutional  mechanisms  for 
gender  equality,  including  gender  mainstreaming.  On  9 
and  10  December  2013,  the  Employment,  Social  Policy, 
Health and Consumer Affairs Council of Ministers (EPSCO) 
adopted  conclusions	 on	 the	 effectiveness	 of	 institu-
tional	 mechanisms	 for	 the	 advancement	 of	 women	
and	 gender	 equality  on  the  basis  of  EIGE’s  report  and 
took note on four indicators in this area, including a new 
indicator  on  production  and  dissemination  of  statistics 
disaggregated by sex.

 EU-LEVEL INDICATORS

Indicator	1 

Indicator	2a 

Indicator	2b 

Indicator	3 
Indicator	4 

 Status  of  the  governmental  body  re­
sponsible for promoting gender equality
 Personnel  resources  of  the  governmen­
tal gender equality body
 Personnel  resources  of  the  designated 
body  or  bodies  for  the  promotion  of 
equal treatment of women and men 
Gender mainstreaming
 Production  and  dissemination  of  statis­
tics disaggregated by sex

By 2012, all 28 EU Member States had established govern­
mental gender equality bodies and designated bodies for 
the promotion of equal treatment. However, compared to 
2005,  no  substantial  progress  has  been  observed  within 
the  existing  institutions  in  relation  to  their  mandate, 
human resources and capacity to promote gender equal­
ity and ensure a more systematic implementation of gen­
der mainstreaming. In fact, there has been a tendency for 
gender  equality,  as  a  policy  area,  to  decrease  in  impor­
tance.

Indicator 1: Status of the governmental body 
responsible for promoting gender equality

improvement 

Compared  to  2005,  there  was  an 
in 
16 Member  States  in  terms  of  governmental  responsibil­
ity for gender equality by 2012, in particular in the area of 
accountability  for  gender  equality  policies.  The  percent­
age  of  Member  States  which  adopted  national  action 
plans  for  gender  equality  increased  from  60  %  in  2005 
to  82  %  in  2012.  In  addition,  the  percentage  of  Member 

States  which  established  regular  reporting  on  gender 
equality to the legislative bodies grew from 64 % in 2005 
to 93 % in 2012.

During  the  same  time  period,  gender  equality  experi­
enced  a  decline  in  its  status:  fewer  governments  had 
cabinet ministers responsible for gender equality in 2012 
compared with 2005 (a decrease from 88 % to 79 %) and 
more  governments  placed  the  highest  responsibility  for 
gender equality with deputy ministers and assistant min­
isters. One third of Member States do not have their gov­
ernmental  gender  equality  body  located  at  the  highest 
level of governmental structures despite the recommen­
dation of the Council (2009) to do so.

Developments in the status of governmental respon-
sibility for promoting gender equality (GE) in the EU

Maximum score: 10 points

TOTAL SCORE

8.79 

8.36 

1.88 

Location of the highest 
responsibility for GE 
in the government

1.96 

Existence of a governmental 
body for promoting GE

1.40 

1.88 

1.24 

Level of location of the 
governmental body

Functions of the 
governmental body

Existence of national action 
plans on GE and accountability 
of the government

1.75 

2.00 

1.43 

1.86 

1.75 

2005
(25 Member States)

2012
(28 Member States)

Indicators 2a and 2b: Personnel resources

Notwithstanding the positive trends in institutional settings 
over the last decade, governmental gender equality bodies 
are  seriously  hampered  by  complex  and  expanding  man­
dates and insufficient personnel resources to address them. 
Since  2005,  the  personnel  resources  of  governmental  gen­
der equality bodies have decreased in 14 Member States.

In  2012,  following  Directive  2002/73/EC,  all  Member  States 
had set up independent bodies for the promotion of equal 
treatment, although this was not yet the case in 2005. Only 
five Member States have a separate designated body for the 
promotion  of  equal  treatment  of  women  and  men.  Other 
Member  States  demonstrate  a  trend  to  merge  equality 
bodies for the promotion of equal treatment of women and 
men  with  bodies  for  equal  treatment  on  several  grounds, 
one  of  which  is  sex.  Since  it  is  difficult  to  properly  iden­
tify  resources  dedicated  to  gender  equality  as  opposed  to 
other grounds, the information on the number of personnel 
working on anti­discrimination solely on the grounds of sex 
was not available in many Member States in 2005 and 2012.

Resources for gender equality and anti-discrimina-
tion on the grounds of sex are less visible in desig-
nated bodies for the promotion of equal treatment

36 %

50 %

14 %

Human resources increased

Human resources decreased

18 %

11 %

71 %

Data are not available

Governmental gender
equality body

Designated bodies 
for the promotion of 
equal treatment 
(employees working on 
the grounds of sex)

Note: Difference in human resources of governmental gender equality bodies 

Note: max. 2 points for each category, max. 10 points in total.

in 2005 and 2012, employees per population (1 000 000).

Human resources for governmental gender equality bodies decreased in more than half of the Member States

10 

5 

0 

-5 

LU  SE  EL  CY  PL  FR  SI 

IE  HU  LV  NL  CZ  DK 

IT  FI  SK  LT  AT  BE  UK  PT  ES  EE  DE  BG  HR  MT  RO 

Note: Difference in human resources of governmental gender equality bodies in 2005 and 2012 by Member State, employees per population (1 000 000). 

Indicator 3: Gender mainstreaming

The percentage of Member States which introduced a legal 
obligation or other type of formal commitment to gender 
mainstreaming increased from 36 % in 2005 to 47 % in 2012. 
Moreover, nearly all Member States have formal interminis­
terial  structures  for  implementing  gender  mainstreaming. 
However,  only  two  Member  States  used  gender  main­
streaming  widely  for  drafting  laws,  policy  programmes, 
action plans and projects in 2012. The existence of a legal 
obligation to gender mainstreaming does not guarantee its 
systematic and effective implementation in practice.

The  use  of  gender  mainstreaming  methods  and  tools  is 
still  rare  and  not  properly  institutionalised.  Gender  im­
pact  assessment  is  at  the  initial  stage  of  application  in 
the majority of Member States. In 2012, only eight Mem­
ber States had established a legal commitment to gender 
budgeting  and  only  three  Member  States  used  gender 
budgeting widely. Comparatively few Member States car­
ried out regular training and capacity building on gender 
equality  which  was  mostly  targeting  the  employees  of 
governmental gender equality bodies.

Use of gender mainstreaming methods and tools, percentage of Member States, 2005 and 2012

47 % 

44 % 

36 % 

40 % 

40 % 

32 % 

29 % 

12 % 

2005 

2012 

2005 

2012 

2005 

2012 

2005 

2012 

Legal obligation towards 
gender mainstreaming 

Gender impact assessment 
in law drafting is used 

Gender impact assessment 
of policy programmes/
projects is used  

Gender budgeting is used 

Indicator 4: Production and dissemination  
of statistics disaggregated by sex

A  major  precondition  for  effective  gender  equality  poli­
cies  and  legislation  is  the  availability  of  high­quality  sta­
tistics disaggregated by sex.

The new indicator includes the following: 
•	 government	 commitment	 to	 the	 production	 of	 sta-

tistics	disaggregated	by	sex;

•	 government	 commitment	 to	 the	 dissemination	 of	

statistics	disaggregated	by	sex;

•	 methods	in	use	for	the	dissemination	of	gender	sta-

tistics.

Two thirds of Member States have a national legal obligation 
to regularly collect and disseminate statistics disaggregated 
by  sex.  National  statistics  bodies  or  other  national  author­
ities of the majority of Member States produce publications 
on gender statistics, usually on a regular basis. Two thirds of 
Member States have a dedicated website for gender statis­
tics.  However,  in  some  policy  fields,  such  as  gender­based 
violence, sex­disaggregated data are not always available at 
the national level. At EU level, differences in definitions and 
data collection methods mean these data cannot be used 
in  a  comparable  way.  Moreover,  there  is  a  need  to  ensure 
that  sex­disaggregated  data  are  collected  in  line  with  key 

strategies  at  EU  level.  For  example,  the  assessment  of  the 
implementation  of  Europe  2020  is  seriously  challenged  by 
a lack of data in policy areas such as research and develop­
ment, innovation and technologies, climate change and en­
ergy.  Finally,  although  collecting  sex­disaggregated  statis­
tics is a prerequisite to gender mainstreaming, there is still 
a need to move from collection to utilisation. Indeed, avail­
able gender statistics are not always being used as much as 
they might be to monitor and evaluate the implementation 
of gender mainstreaming, including gender impact assess­
ment and gender budgeting, in various policy areas.

Commitment to the production and dissemination 
of sex-disaggregated data, 2012 

21 Member
States  

21 Member
States 

19 Member
States 

24 Member
States 

Production

Dissemination

Website 

Publications 

Regular commitment

Gender statistics

 
 
M
H

­
0
2
­
1
3
­
4
8
3
­
E
N

­
C

RECOMMENDATIONS

Institutional structures

Strengthen the institutional structures by:

•	 ensuring  that  there  is  a  governmental  body  responsible  for  gender  equality,  located  at  the  highest  possible 
level in the government, falling under the responsibility of a cabinet minister, with adequate responsibility and 
means for action;

•	 ensuring  that  gender  equality  remains  a  policy  priority,  is  mainstreamed  in  other  policy  areas  and  comple­

ments the work of addressing cases of discrimination based on sex;

•	 setting  clear  and  measurable  strategic  objectives  for  gender  equality  with  specific  targets  and  timeframes, 
ensuring  that  the  governmental  body’s  mandate  and  capacity  allow  it  to  influence  the  development  of  all 
government policies, to formulate and review legislation and to coordinate and monitor the implementation 
of government decisions;

•	 establishing  or  strengthening  an  advisory  board  on  gender  equality  or  another  permanent  entity  involving 
relevant branches of government, women’s NGOs and other civil society organisations, researchers and social 
partners on a regular basis.

Gender mainstreaming

Promote the effective implementation of gender mainstreaming via:

•	 an interministerial structure and focal points in every ministry;
•	 legal obligations for the use of gender mainstreaming tools and methods, including training for gender main­

streaming, gender impact assessment, gender budgeting, monitoring and evaluation;

•	 appropriate budgets to have these carried out;
•	 raising awareness on the benefits of gender mainstreaming;
•	 strengthening the legal and institutional commitment to improving the gender competences of civil servants 

across the different sectors.

Sex-disaggregated data

Promote the collection and dissemination of gender statistics by:

•	 having legal obligations or binding structural agreements with statistics institutions and/or other organisations 

on the collection and publishing of statistics disaggregated by sex;

•	 producing  statistics  and  establishing  new  indicators  where  they  are  lacking  in  areas  such  as  gender­based 
violence, attitudes on gender roles and intersecting inequalities (data disaggregated by sex and also by other 
grounds for discrimination, such as ethnicity, age, etc.);

•	 ensuring  that  gender  statistics  represent  relevant  gender  issues,  by  consulting  different  stakeholder  groups 

when developing indicators;

•	 ensuring  that  gender  statistics  are  freely  available  to  policymakers,  researchers,  NGOs,  social  partners  and  all 

citizens;

•	 considering  the  establishment  of  targets  and  indicators  in  the  action  plans  for  gender  equality  to  measure 

progress and evaluate developments.

European	Institute	for	Gender	Equality
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is the EU knowledge centre on gender equality. EIGE supports policy­
makers and all relevant institutions in their efforts to make equality between women and men a reality for all Europeans 
by providing them with specific expertise and comparable and reliable data on gender equality in Europe.
More	information:	http://eige.europa.eu

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doi:10.2839/1848