Press Release 31/05/2022

GENDER EQUALITY INDEX. 2022

(This note has been revised due to an error in the wording that does not affect the data but the position of the province of Gipuzkoa)

The Gender Equality Index of the Basque Country improved yet again, standing at 73.1 points out of 100

The highest values were found in the Health, Money and Employment domains, while the lowest was in Power

The Gender Equality Index (GEI) in the Basque Country stood at 73.1 points out of 100 in 2019, the latest available year, according to Eustat data. Between 2010 and 2019, five measurements were carried out that reflected the successive advances in the value of the GEI in the Basque Country, going from 68.9 points in 2010 to 73.1 in 2019, which translates into an increase of 4.3 points.

The Gender Equality Index is a synthetic indicator that summarises in a dimensionless scale, on which 1 signifies total inequality and 100 signifies total equality, the inequalities that still exist between men and women in a series of significant aspects that affect their welfare and personal development.

The methodology comprises 31 indicators structured hierarchically into six domains that are in turn divided into 14 sub-domains.

Eustat prepares the Gender Equality Index (GEI) for the Basque Country using the methodology of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), which enables advances in gender equality in the Basque Country to be compared with advances made in the European Union and its 27 member countries, as well as its evolution over 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

With 92.4 points, the domain of Health came closest to total equality between persons of different genders, although it must be taken into account that, in this case, the slight inequality was the result of the better situation of women.

At the other extreme, the greatest inequality was found in the domain of Power, with a partial indicator of 62.7 points out of 100. Specifically, it was the domain relating to economic power that obtained the poorest score, 45.1 out of 100.

The Basque Country obtained a better score than the EU27 average in all of the domains and eleven of the fourteen sub-domains

The highest values for gender equality in 2019 in the Basque Country were reached in the Health, Money and Employment domains, with the lowest value being for Power. Compared to the EU27 average, the Basque Country reported a higher score in all domains, with a maximum difference of 9.2 points for Time being the most significant. However, in one area within this domain, time spent on social activities, the Basque Country obtained a value of 58.5, below the European average of 61.0. The other two sub-domains in which the Basque Country placed below Europe were economic power and social power.

All the GEI domains improved between 2010 and 2019

Between 2010 and 2019, an improvement was seen in the GEI in the Basque Country, which obtained 68.9 points in 2010 and 73.1 in 2019.

Likewise, advances were made in the gender equality indicators in all domains, especially in Power, where the indicator gained 8.4 points, mainly due to the improvement of Political Power, which went from 81.7 points in 2010 to 96.7 in 2019. The next domains with the most progress were Knowledge and Employment, which improved by 4.4 and 4 points, respectively.

The Basque Country was on par with Ireland, coming in seventh place in the ranking of the 27 member states of the European Union, in line with surrounding countries.

The Gender Equality Index in Spain stood at 73.7 points in 2019, 0.6 points up on the 73.1 corresponding to the Basque Country. However, in four of the six partial indicators of the domains, the Basque Country obtained higher values than Spain: the domain in which the Basque Country most comfortably exceeded the result of Spain was Time, with a difference of 10.1 points, but it also came out on top in the domains of Money (+6.9), Health (+2.1) and Employment (+0.9). On the other hand, it was behind in the domains of Knowledge (-2.2) and, above all, Power (-14.2), and stood below Spain in both Social (-18.6) and, above all, Economic Power (-25), although the indicator of Political Power in the Basque Country exceeded that of Spain as a whole by 10.3 points.

In 2019, the gender gap was null in the Health and Dental Care indicators, but very high for the Economic and Social Power indicators

As well as the comparison with the European Union and its member countries, the internal situation in the Basque Country can be analysed using the gender gap indicator, understood as the difference existing between men and women in the different areas described, the values of which range from 0 (total inequality) to 1 (total equality).

In this manner, it can be seen that the gender gap was null or extremely small in the components relating to health, such as Health and Dental Care (1.00 in both cases), Healthy Life Years (0.99), Self-perceived Health (0.97), Life Expectancy (0.97) and Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption (0.94). It was also very small in other components, for example, Ongoing Education, Parliamentary Representation and Income Distribution (0.99 in all cases).

In contrast, the widest gender gaps were observed in Sports Federations (0.34), Public R&D funding (0.38), Public/Semi-public Bank Management (0.40), Segregation by activity sectors (0.44), Business Management (0.49) and Segregation by field of study (0.66), where there continued to be gender differences.

Compared to 2010, there were both positive and negative trends, but standing out were the gender gap reductions in Public Media (from 0.67 to 0.96) and Business Management (from 0.26 to 0.49) and the negative trend of the indicators in Public R&D funding (from 0.51 to 0.38) and Public/Semi-Public Bank Management (from 0.50 to 0.40).

The Gender Equality Index also improved across all three provinces of the Basque Country

Between 2017 (the first year in which they were calculated) and 2019, the GEIs of the three provinces improved, particularly that of Bizkaia, where the GEI rose by 2.4 points. Bizkaia thereby narrowed the gap separating it from Álava and Gipuzkoa in terms of its achievements in gender equality. For its part, Gipuzkoa remained in first place, with a GEI 1.6 points above that of Bizkaia and 1.3 above that of Álava.

The most notable differences, if they can be defined as such, were found in the domain of Power, where Gipuzkoa had a lead of 4.7 points over Bizkaia and 1.8 points over Álava.

Gipuzkoa also obtained higher scores in the domains of Employment, Money and Time, thus raising the Gender Equality Index to 73.5 points; it was followed by Álava with 72.2 and Bizkaia with 71.9.

These data mean that gender equality in Gipuzkoa was at levels close to the sixth highest European country in the ranking, only behind Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Spain.

Gender Equality Index. Structural Indicators

Methodological information:

Basic methodology

List of indicators

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel.: 945 01 75 62