The Council of Europe has just published the 2016 annual report on the implementation of its 2014-2017 Gender Equality Strategy by its member states which looks at how existing challenges to women’s rights are being addressed.
Among the challenges identified in the report is the critical vulnerability of refugee women, increasing sexist hate speech and other forms of violence against women, attacks to women’s reproductive health and rights, reduced resources allocated to gender equality due to budgetary cuts and austerity measures, barriers preventing women from disadvantaged groups to benefit from gender equality policies and standards, shortcomings to achieving women’s balanced participation in political and public decision-making, and the spread of misconceptions about gender equality through the label of “gender ideology”.
“All these challenges result in a continuous gap between gender equality standards and their implementation. They call for a change of mind-sets in European citizens and decision-makers,” the report says.
The Council of Europe is committed to addressing these challenges and supporting member States in achieving the effective realization of gender equality in Europe and beyond, and its four-year Gender Equality Strategy offers the guiding policy framework in this area.
Over the past year, member states have been adopting new laws and policies to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, in line with the Istanbul Convention; conducting initiatives to address gender stereotypes in the education system and in the media; as well as actions to increase the participation of women in political decision-making and in public bodies. Legal measures to improve women’s access to justice, such as improved access to legal aid and strengthened capacity of the judiciary and equality bodies, were taken; and activities to combat sexist hate speech launched in 2016.
