Gender Equality Index 2023 : towards a green transition in transport and energy

In recent years, the world has been hit by repeated shocks and multiple crises. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a global crisis in health and care, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has precipitated an influx of refugees, mostly women and children, and a cost-of-living crisis, while climate disasters are increasing in frequency and severity. What remains constant is the fact that when crisis strikes, women and girls suffer disproportionally. They endure an unequal position in society and thus have fewer resources to withstand the impact of upheavals. The crises and shocks continuously threaten to create new challenges and reverse years of progress on women's rights and gender equality. The Gender Equality Index 2023 presents the EU in relation to gender equality amid crises and uncertainties. For the first time, it incorporates EIGE 2022 survey data on gender gaps in care, individual, and social activities. This data sheds new light on the domain of time, which has not been updated since 2016. The time domain measures gender inequalities in the allocation of time to care, domestic work and social activities, and is characterised by persistent lack of progress and growing inequality. The unequal distribution of paid and unpaid work is considered one of the root causes of gender inequality in society as a whole and in the labour market in particular. As a result, the time domain is closely interconnected with other domains, such as work, knowledge, power, and money, making up-to-date and regular data on time use crucial for better understanding and interpretation of the overall gender (in)equality dynamics measured by the Index. From now on, this recurring survey data will improve the capac¬ity of the Index to capture changes in the time domain regularly and in a conceptually sound and coherent way.