Eurobarometer Study 2010

According to the 2010 Eurobarometer study, Europeans believe that gender inequality is still common in their lives today – this being felt more strongly by women than men. A slight majority finds not enough efforts are being made in the EU to combat gender inequality. Europeans citizens believe that all sectors of society are impacted by gender inequality and sexist stereotypes, primarily present in working life and advertising, which reinforce the situation. One of the ‘work-related stereotypes’, the existence of ‘female’ or ‘male’ types of work, is still present in European citizens’ answers.
Combating gender inequality is not an easy task, and the European Union has also an important role to play alongside the other actors which have contributed most to progress: associations representing women’s interests, the national equality bodies, and trade unions. Europeans citizens consider that the two top priorities for action are “Combating violence against women” and “Closing the gender pay gap”. Moreover, more than four-fifths of respondents said that these issues should be addressed as a matter of urgency.
It is also felt that women are under-represented in top positions not because they are less interested in positions of responsibility than men, but because of heavy family responsibilities. Also, most Europeans feel that the best measures to increase the number of working women are an increase in women’s pay so they earn the same as men for equal work and equal skills, and more care facilities for children and other dependents. Overall, it appears that most Europeans desire more equality in the future, but, compared to men, women desire greater change and do not consider there has been sufficient progress to date.