Earlier this year, I had the chance to visit the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in Vilnius, Lithuania, together with my colleagues from the Women’s Organization of the Swedish People’s Party in Finland. The office is located in the center of the city, a seemingly quiet European capital which might come across as remote for some. Why was EIGE placed in Vilnius? The obvious answer is that an increased representation of the different specialized agencies of the EU is needed in the newer member states. However, since the European Union Agency of Fundamental Rights (FRA) is located in Vienna, Austria, there has been a debate on whether EIGE should relocate and settle there, next to its ‘sister agency’ FRA, which is also carrying out rights-based work. When we posed this question to the staff at EIGE, however, they responded that there are no such plans at all; FRA and EIGE are, though, working closely together through special agreements in order to collaborate and exchange information. Also, having a gender equality institute placed in Lithuania, where gender equality still lags behind in comparison to other EU member states, can, indeed, serve a strategic function.
What precisely does EIGE do? Barbara Limanovska, Senior Gender Mainstreaming Officer at EIGE, was happy to receive our questions. She explained how the main task of EIGE is to produce reports and studies for the European Commission, as well as for the rotating Presidencies of the Council of the European Union. It works like this: the member state acting as President for a given year chooses a topic from the Platform for Action stemming from the World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, and strives to work with and develop this topic in the EU context during its Presidency. This year, Ireland has this position, and they have chosen women and the media as their topic. At EIGE, Barbara says, “we are quite happy that the rotating Presidencies of the EU tend to take our recommendations in their chosen areas very seriously. According to our mandate, we are to give technical assistance, but instead our recommendations are almost always acted upon which makes our work so much more interesting”.
EIGE is currently working to develop a database containing a complete set of documentation covering gender equality in all member states. More information about EIGE is available on their website.
Svenska kvinnoförbundet, i.e. the Women’s Organization of the Swedish People’s Party in Finland, had the opportunity to visit EIGE earlier this year
Andrea Nyberg's Gender Blog 