Stories at
the Table
Opportunities for the Future
The majority of the countries located in Europe are members of the European Union, therefore the majority of the reports that concern girls’ education and numerous data are provided by EU commissions, European policy centres etc.
In the EU countries , numbers suggest that gender equality has improved. However as the EU 2020 Gender Equality Index there is a long way to go until gender equality is achieved.
When it comes to change created from a grassroots level Europe is an interesting case. Women’s movements in Europe has been active since the 70’s and although women’s groups have actively tried to remain non-partisan in some cases their objectives collided with leftist and socialist political parties. As a result, a lot of work towards that was done by activists, was later translated into policy that was produced by activists blended with politicians. There was a rise of women’s transnational organizing at the European level and the most prominent organization of that rise was the umbrella organization European Women’s Lobby (Recillard and Bereni). Today, this organization deals with a variety of issues that concern women, including a chapter for Young Women.
NGOs’ work and activism is an integral part of EU institutions that work on gender issues and gender equality.
In 2016, the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizen’s Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, examines the activities of new feminist organizations in the EU which emerged physically and online since 2010.