Emakunde warns that women still take the majority of care and suffer more job insecurity in the Basque Country

On Monday, theBasque Institute for Women, Emakunde, approved the 2024 report on the situation of women and men in the Basque Country, which states that women continue to bear the greatest burden of care, taking 87% of child care leave and 72% of family care leave, despite the progress of the law on equality permits.

At the meeting of the Board of Directorschaired by President Imanol Pradales, a call has been made for "the whole of society, each within its sphere of influence" to work together to "continue to advance equality".

The Lehendakari also reiterated that equality is a "priority" for the Basque Government and highlighted the11 objectives set out in the 2030 Strategy for the Equality of Women and Men in the Basque Country, which include budgets, employment, wage equality, violence against women and education for equality.

Emakunde's director, Mira Elgarresta, invites us to study this report, which offers a "social X-ray" that obliges us to "look face to face with gender inequalities that still persist" in society.

The study highlights that the Basque Country is an "outdated society with a woman's face": from the age of 55 the number of women is higher than that of men, and among people over the age of 90 women account for 73% of the population.

In the area of employment, although women's participation has increased, there is still a clear gender distinction. "The average wage of men is €5,790 higher than that of women. "In addition, Emakunde has stressed that" women, in addition to obtaining less employment, achieve it under more precarious, unstable conditions and with a lower quality of contract. "66% of part-time work and 76% of temporary contracts are signed by women.

Withregard to socio-political participation, the data show that 34 per cent of mayors are headed by women, 46 per cent by councillors and 30 per cent by boards of directors.

Withregard to male violence, the report has recorded 6,572 victimizations in one year, an increase of 6.9 per cent over the previous one. Emakunde has stressed that this is a "structural and sustainable reality".

Together with the report, the Board of Directors has also approved the follow-up report on the evaluation of the Seventh Equality Plan and the balance sheet of Emakunde's activities in 2024, which shows that 81 per cent of the institutions have an Equality Plan.

Following the meeting, a meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission for Equalitywas held, at which each department of the Basque Government presented the most relevant actions carried out during the legislature in line with the 2030 Strategy for the Equality of Women and Men in the Basque Country.