Women's conditional freedom EU actions to overcome the gender gap and combat violence against women

Abstract

In recent years, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation for women has worsened. This deterioration has affected women in all European countries to varying degrees, with direct consequences for national social and economic systems. Today, women are increasingly insecure and poorer, and they are also frequently subjected to offline and online violence. No category is exempt: politicians, journalists, business executives, married or single women, Italian or foreign. Given the seriousness of the situation at European level, in April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the first EU rules to combat violence against women, with the aim of preventing gender-based violence and protecting victims, particularly victims of domestic violence. With this directive, the EU has renewed and strengthened its support for women, which began in 2000 with the declaration of equality between men and women. Starting from three specific questions about the status of women (whether it is determined by social and economic factors or by cultural behaviours that are difficult to eradicate, or whether it also depends on a lack of confidence in women's emancipation), the document aims to reflect on the causes of what can be defined as the “conditional freedom of women”. Consisting of three parts, the work analyses the elements that condition the status of women over time, namely the body, education and salary, before moving on to the socio-economic elements that characterise the current status of women in European society (gender gap, gender pay gap and gender digital gap), as well as the EU's driving and monitoring role, with particular attention to combating violence against women. The work concludes with a reflection on women's body in light of European and global political changes.