Compared to the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina lags in every aspect of the Gender Equality Index, the Anadolu Agency reported.

These are the findings of a report which was prepared by the Agency for Gender Equality of BiH, the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, the Agency for Statistics of BiH and UN Women in BiH as part of the project “EU Support for Gender Equality” financed by the European Union, in cooperation with the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

“Today we are joining the European practice of calculating the gender equality index. Bosnia and Herzegovina's Gender Equality Index currently provides complete information in two domains, namely in the domain of knowledge and power, and partial information for the domains of work and health,” said Samra Filipovic-Hadziabdic, director of the BiH Agency for Gender Equality.

According to her, the EU index has six categories, but due to the lack of relevant sources, research, and gender-disaggregated data, it was not possible to calculate all six in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Today, for the first time in BiH, we have an instrument that allows us to compare the gender situation in BiH with the situation in 27 EU states and countries in the region according to the Eurostat methodology in a statistically legitimate, objective and up-to-date manner,” she said.

“When it comes to comparison with countries in the neighbourhood, the countries of the Western Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina has the largest number of index points in the domain of power in the Western Balkans,” she said, adding that this figure measures the gender gap in participation in the structures of economic, political and social power.