What is Gender Equality?

Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities
across all sectors of society, including economic participation and decision-making, and when the
different behaviours, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favoured.
The European Institute for Gender Equality has compiled an
online Glossary of gender mainstreaming concepts and definitions, drawn from international and
regional women’s human rights instruments, European Union and Council of Europe legislative
and strategy documents.
The Council of Europe has also compiled a Gender Equality Glossary based on the definitions and
terms of Council of Europe instruments and standards relating to gender equality and this is
available online.
How Do We Measure Gender Equality?
Gender equality is measured by looking at the representation of men and of women in a range of
roles.
The Central Statistics Office regularly publishes "Women and Men in Ireland", a compendium
of key statistics which enable us to map progress achieved towards de facto gender equality in
Ireland.
The European Union statistical office, Eurostat, publishes an overview
of gender statistics for the European Union from fields such as education, the labour market,
earnings and health, important for showing differences in the situations of women and men.
A number of international comparative gender equality indices also exist which offer a way to
compare Ireland’s achievements with those of other countries. Each index looks at a distinct list
of parameters and the choice of parameters affects the outcome for each country.
European Institute for Gender Equality EU Gender Equality Index
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) EU Gender Equality Index provides an easily
interpretable measure of gender equality in the EU across 6 key policy domains – work, money,
knowledge, time, power and health, and two satellite domains (violence and intersecting
inequalities).
United Nations Gender Inequality Index
The United Nations Gender Inequality Index is based on the premise that "all too often, women
and girls are discriminated against in health, education and the labour market with negative
repercussions for their freedom". The UN GII is a measure based on these inequalities.
World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report
The Global Gender Gap Report, introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006, is another
framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities which benchmarks
national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health criteria. This Index looks at
economic participation and opportunity deviation; educational attainment deviation; health and
survival deviation and political empowerment deviation.
Social Watch Gender Equity Index
Social Watch is a network comprised by national coalitions of civil society organizations and it too
prepares an index. The Social Watch gender equality index is based on the gap between women
and men in education, the economy and political empowerment.