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Relationships between women and men, young women in education, employment, health, violence, the media, decision-making and European legislation on equality between women and men : these are the themes that young European women have chosen to analyse in this guide. The aim is to highlight where progress has been made towards equality between women and men in Europe and to identify how the European Union can contribute to further progress.

This guide was designed by young women for young women, as a resource for raising awareness, to support lobbying actions in the European Union and to facilitate debate in the Member States. The themes of this guide are by no means all encompassing; rather, they reflect a number of the key concerns of young women in the European Union.

For each theme, “ The Facts ” provides an overview of the situation of young women in Europe, “ The Law ” lists the main actions taken and European legislation on the subject and “ Young Women’s Ideas ” outlines the specific recommendations of young women for ongoing progress between women and men on each theme. This final section incorporates the opinions of many different young women, although of course it does not reflect the complete range of all young women’s opinions or the full diversity of women’s lives.

The young women’s ideas were brought together in meetings and by means of questionnaires distributed through the network of young women created as part of the project “ Mobilising Young women for Equality ”.
This project, launched by the EWL in July 1999, aims to raise the awareness of young women in the European Union of opportunities that have been created in relation to equality between women and men as well as the many challenges that still exist. The objective is to encourage national and European policy-makers to take young women’s concerns into consideration and to create a European network of young women.

The project is a model of good practice in the area of equality in Europe. It is one of the very few to have established a European network of young women, and it has already gone beyond “ organised ” young women and men, who were already aware of the problems, to reach young people who were not concerned about or involved in discussions on equality.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Changing relationships between women and men.

2.Young women and education.

3. Young women and work.

4. Young women and health.

5. Young women and violence.

6. Young women and the media.

7. Young women and decision-making.

8. European legislation on equality between women and men.

Complete document in pdf format