The European community consists of millions of citizens each entitled to a right to be protected from discrimination in their work or studies, as consumers, or when travelling to other EU countries. This posed huge challenges to the Union and, therefore, in order to ensure this pledge was carried out efficiently, the Directorate-General for Justice was created.
"The Directorate-General consists of four directorates – Civil Justice, Criminal Justice, Fundamental Rights and Union Citizenship and, since January 2011, the directorate for Equality. Justice, fundamental rights and citizenship policies are based on Europeans' most cherished values and principles, such as democracy, freedom, tolerance and the rule of law" (European Commission 2011).
The EU attempts to end discrimination in the Union by firstly, raising awareness of the rights and obligations that every citizen of the EU is automatically entitled to, as well as promoting the benefits of diversity itself. It also aims to help out other actors in this process, such as non-governmental organisations and equality bodies who can aid the Union in its capacity to help end discrimination. Encouraging cooperation between states is also another apparent way of improving relations between people from different cultures, as well as initiatives to promote diversity in the workplace and anti-discrimination training.
The EU also asserts that "equality between women and men is a fundamental right, a common value of the EU, and a necessary condition for the achievement of the EU objectives of growth, employment and social cohesion" (European Commission 2011). It also admits considerable work is still to be done surrounding gender inequality, however measures implemented so far such as gender mainstreaming, equal treatment legislation and "specific measures for the advancement of women" (ibid.) are said by the Union to be improving the situation. Nonetheless, statistics from the most recent annual EU Report on Equality show a clear trend for men favoured over women, especially in the workplace (European Commission 2011, p. 18-28), demonstrating the necessity for reforms in this area. Further down, these are some examples of inequality found, as published in the European Commission website:
The employment rate of women increases but remains lower than that of men, although women represent a majority of students and university graduates.
Women continue to earn on average 17.8% less than men for every hour worked and this figure remains stable.
Women are still very under-represented in economic and political decision-making positions, although their share has increased over the last decade.
The division of family responsibilities is still very unequal between women and men.
The risk of poverty is higher for women than for men.
Women are the main victims of gender-based violence and women and girls are more vulnerable to trafficking of human beings.
(European Commission 2011)
Lists of statistics can be found on the official website.
Below are several videos (used with the consent of the original owner) concerned with Gender Equality:
European Commission (2011), 'Gender Equality'. Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion [Online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=418 (Accessed: 25th April 2011)
European Commission (2011), Report on Progress on Equality between Women and Men in 2010: The Gender Balance in Business Leadership. Luxembourg: Publications Office.
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