Estonia places 14th in EU Gender Equality Index

Photo: Corbis / Scanpix

Estonia ranks 14th among the 27 member states of the European Union in terms of gender equality, the newly-released first-ever Gender Equality Index shows.

The biggest disparities between men and women were observed in two critical gender equality areas - power and money, spokespeople for the gender equality and equal treatment commissioner reported.

"With regard to Estonia, we can say that we are only halfway towards equality between men and women," the commissioner, Mari-Liis Sepper, said.

The index provides a good overview of gender gaps in society, she added. "The index highlights several sore points that clearly show the areas in which the parliament and the government need to make an effort to achieve a fairer situation," she said.

According to the index, Sweden, Finland and Denmark have the highest levels of gender equality. Estonia placed 14th with a score of 50 on a scale of 1 to 100 where 1 stands for no equality and 100 for full equality. The EU27 average was 54.

Estonia scored above the EU average in the area of time use and education and training but did very poorly in the area of power. Women's representation in decision-making in the political and economic spheres is very low. To bring about equal division of power between men and women, two-thirds of the road still remains to be covered.

The head of the gender equality department at the Social Affairs Ministry, Liina Kanter, said the index is a good tool for policy-makers so as to strive more consciously towards gender equality. "Better gender balance in different areas gives a positive impetus to the economy and enables people to make the best possible use of their abilities," she added.

The index developed by the European Institute for Gender Equality measures equality in six core domains - work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.