Catalonia ranks fourth in Europe according to the gender equality index, an instrument that measures the degree of equality between women and men in the 28 European Union countries, using a methodology promoted by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

With 76.5 points, Catalonia is in fourth place, behind Sweden (82.2), the Netherlands (77.9) and Denmark (77.8). It is ahead of Spain (76.4), Belgium (76) and France (75.7), among others, and six points above the EU average of 70.2. Catalonia has risen five places and 2.4 points this year, from ninth place last year with 74.1 points.

The data helps assess fulfilment of equality objectives based on 31 indicators in six dimensions (work, money, knowledge, time, power and health) drawn up by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat) and the Observatory for Gender Equality, attached to the Institut Català de les Dones (Catalan Women’s Institute), with data from 2021, as established by the EIGE.

Health, the area with the highest score

Catalonia performs better than the European Union average in five of the six areas analysed. Among them, health (89.6) stands out as the area with the highest score, one point above the average.

Access to healthcare is the highest rated of the three health indicators analysed (98.3). This is followed by health status (93.8), which consists of people’s perception of their own health, years of life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. It is worth noting that life expectancy in Catalonia is one of the highest in the EU, at 86.3 years for women and 80.7 for men.

After health, money and power are the areas with the highest scores, both with 80.8. The latter is one of the areas in which Catalonia has the best position compared to EU countries, with an average of 59.1. One of the factors contributing to this position is the political representation of women on electoral lists: more than 50 per cent of the members of the Catalan Government and Parliament are women.

Time, second only to the Netherlands

The time dimension (75.9) is the one in which Catalonia is best positioned with respect to the rest of the EU countries, occupying second place in the ranking behind only the Netherlands (76.9). A score of 85.5 points in gender equality for time spent on care activities is particularly notable, although time spent on social activities has a poorer result (67.3).

With regard to work, of particular note is the full-time employment rate and the number of years in employment for women and men (86.7). In money, financial situation (86.2) scores higher than financial resources (70), calculated on the basis of average monthly salary and average annual income.

The area with the lowest score is knowledge (66.1), although this is also above the European average (63.6). Broken down by indicator, Catalonia scores 77.6 points for women’s and men’s education completed and in progress, but drops to 56.2 when analysing gender bias in the choice of studies.

The executive director of the Institut Català de les Dones, Èlia Soriano Costa, stressed that “it is important to highlight the fact that we have objective data and a methodology guided by Europe, as this allows us to assess the development of gender equality in our context”.

She also stressed that “the data shows that Catalonia is on the right track in the feminist transformation, as demonstrated by the good results in most of the areas analysed, which indicate a downward trend in inequalities. In this respect, the policies being developed by the Ministry of Equality and Feminisms are essential, and it must continue to push for further improvement in the results”.