The latest edition of the Gender Equality Index, the 2024 edition, highlights the fact that the EU is battling a host of emerging challenges, from increasing effects of climate change and extreme weather events to high geopolitical tensions, rapid digitalisation, volatile political situations and growing political extremism across the region.
While such phenomena claim the attention of decision-makers, they not only occur against the backdrop of long-standing gender equality issues such as violence against women but also make gender equality a more relevant and pressing issue than ever.
Mounting evidence shows that when crisis strikes violence against women and girls intensifies. The fact that millions of women in the EU continue to be exposed to serious forms of violence, including physical and sexual violence and femicide, due to their gender remains one of the most unacceptable forms of gender inequality.
This report provides an overview of the current state of violence against women in the EU, which is a thematic focus of the Gender Equality Index 2024. It examines recent legal and policy developments across the EU and its Member States, presents findings from the EU gender-based violence survey, includes an analysis of the extent of disclosed violence against women in the EU, and explores societal attitudes towards and public perceptions of violence against women and the media’s role in shaping awareness of this violence.
