Implementation of the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017 — Annual report 2016

Implementation of the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017 — Annual report 2016

Date: Feb 2, 2017

Highlights

The third year of the implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017 brought closer the overarching goal of the Gender Equality Strategy: to achieve the advancement and empowering of women and hence the effective realisation of gender equality in Council of Europe member States by supporting the implementation of existing standards’.

Member States have continued to engage in activities related to the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy, as illustrated by their national reports. Most member States are developing new laws, policies and measures to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, in line with the Istanbul Convention. In addition, many initiatives have been developed to address gender stereotypes in the education system and in the media. Increasing the participation of women in political decision-making and in public bodies have also been priorities for our member States, both through compulsory quotas and voluntary measures. Action to improve women’s access to justice has been taken in a number of countries, including through new laws, improved access to legal aid and increased capacity of the judiciary and equality bodies.

The seminar on the need to combat sexist hate speech jointly organised with the Council of Europe No Hate Speech Movement campaign, catalysed action on this topic and generated momentum for further work to combat sexism, with the initial discussions to prepare a draft Committee of Ministers recommendation to combat sexism.

Gender mainstreaming made further progress within the Council of Europe, with more Gender Equality Rapporteurs appointed in intergovernmental committees, partial agreements and monitoring bodies, and new sectors taking account of a gender equality perspective in their work. To enhance this progress even further, the Council of Europe is benefitting from a Senior Gender Equality Adviser (seconded by the Dutch authorities since September 2016).

Member States are also actively addressing the need for gender mainstreaming in all policies and measures, including by adopting specific action plans and setting up institutional structures to coordinate gender mainstreaming efforts, by integrating gender budgeting in their decision-making process, and by providing relevant training to government officials.

The Tallinn Conference took stock of the implementation of the Council of Europe Strategy on Gender Equality and launched discussions on the priorities for the next Strategy, to be prepared in 2017. The Estonian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers included gender equality as one of its priorities, an important commitment which has been shared by other Chairmanships and which places political priority and leads to increased visibility of Council of Europe standards, activities and impact in this field.

Targeted co-operation projects and activities in the field of gender equality have continued, always on a demand-led basis and focusing on relevant standards and the tools and expertise necessary to apply them.

The Council of Europe places a great importance in maintaining strategic partnerships with other regional and international organisations and civil society working for the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality. These efforts have been further enhanced in 2016, notably with the United Nations, the European Union and the Organisation of American States.

Challenges to gender equality and women’s rights continue to thrive in Europe and beyond, including 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, 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”.

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