Women’s Network news round-up: masculinist discourse a ‘threat to national security’ says French advisory body, and more
Here’s our roundup of women-focused and gender equality news from the last few weeks, including a policy brief that highlights the mental health burden on Indigenous women globally, the finding that gender equality in Europe is “out of reach for another 50 years”, and a report that highlights that more than half a million women are ‘missing’ from the UK tech sector.
Gender equality in Europe ‘at least’ 50 years away, says institute
The EU’s latest Gender Equality Index stands at 63.4 out of 100. This is a 10.5 point uptick since 2010, showing a “minimal” 0.7-point annual rate of progress that puts “full equality out of reach for another 50 years”, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality.
The index aims to help policymakers design inclusive measures in all areas of life and tracks gender equality across six dimensions – work, money, knowledge, time, power and health – as well as analysing gender in the context of violence.
The index shows “how deeply engrained gender norms continue to influence our daily lives, choices and opportunities. Men are still widely seen as breadwinners and leaders, while women face subtle, yet pervasive, biases affecting their confidence, ambition and safety.
“Although attitudes are slowly changing, dismantling gender stereotypes is fundamental for true equality.”
Look at the breakdown by country, and Sweden, France, and Denmark rank highest among the EU-27 for gender equality across all domains, scoring between 71.8 and 73.7 points out of 100 each. Cyprus, Hungary and Czechia perform worst, at 47.6, 51.6 and 53.2 points respectively.
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Masculinist discourse ‘threat to national security’, says French advisory body
In other EU news, the High Council for Equality in France published its annual report on the state of sexism in the country earlier this month.
It finds that 17% of people aged 15 and over – equating to nearly 10 million people – adhere to ‘hostile sexism’, defined as violent sexism that results in hostility towards women and can include aggressive or demeaning attitudes.
“Certain expressions of hostile sexism are no longer just the result of isolated individual practices, but are part of a logic of adherence and collective ideological mobilisation,” the report said.
The report also includes analysis of ‘masculinism’. This, it said, is a “structured ideological system that is now permeating the younger generations with a massive bombardment of digital content”.
It added that “adults are not spared from the spread of masculinist discourse, which can legitimise the act of violence, trivialise violence and, in its most extreme forms, go as far as apology for rape and murder. It is a threat to public order and a national security issue”.
The report’s 25 recommendations include making the EVARS programme – which focuses on emotional, relational and sexual education – mandatory in schools; making algorithms transparent to put users in control of their online experience; and integrating “misogynistic terrorism” into security doctrines.
Policy brief highlights mental health burden on Indigenous women
Preventable mental health morbidity and death rates among Indigenous women “will continue to rise within the next decade” without targeted action, a global policy brief has warned.
The article – written by Miranda Field, an academic in educational psychology at the University of Regina, and published in the peer-reviewed Frontiers journal – identifies that, globally, Indigenous women face disproportionate mental health burdens across the life course.
This includes suicide rates, perinatal depression, caregiver stress, and menopausal symptom severity, “and yet international, national, and local systems rarely provide culturally safe, community-led, and gender-responsive care”.
The article also highlights “a persistent lack” of validated Indigenous-specific screening tools and gender-disaggregated data.
The brief recommends an integrated, rights-based strategy that funds Indigenous governance of culturally safe mental health services across the life course, builds an Indigenous women’s mental health data strategy grounded in data sovereignty, “embeds traditional knowledge and place-anchored healing in coverage policies”, and extends targeted support for caregiving and menopausal transitions.
“Implementing these measures would operationalise reconciliation commitments, reduce documented inequities, and generate long-term social and economic benefits for communities and health systems alike,” the brief says.
Half a million women ‘missing’ from UK tech sector, says IT institute
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT in the UK, is calling for action to improve representation of women in tech roles – particularly AI.
In its latest Gender Diversity in the Tech Sector Report, which was published in December, it found that there were 441,000 female IT specialists in the UK in 2024, accounting for 22% of the total number of IT specialists in the country at the time. This is up 1% on the previous year.
This means over half a million more women would need to become IT specialists to equal their representation in the workforce as a whole, which stands at 49%.
In the foreword to the report, Allison Gardner MP, chair of the AI all-party parliamentary group, said: “As we build the foundations of a new AI profession, we have an extraordinary opportunity, and responsibility, to make it truly representative of the society it serves. Artificial intelligence will shape our economy, our public services, and the way we live. But if the people designing, coding, and governing it do not reflect the full diversity of our country, we risk embedding bias into its very architecture.”
She added: “We cannot talk about the future of AI without also talking about who builds it. Diversity is not a ‘nice to have’ it’s a competitive advantage. Teams that bring together different perspectives build fairer systems, innovate faster, and spot risks others miss. British AI must draw from the fullness of British talent if it is to reach its potential.”
The report’s recommendations include ensuring greater diversity across STEM subjects in schools, which it said would be helped by the recent introduction of a broader and future-focused computing GCSE qualification, which includes greater emphasis on areas like AI; working to lower the 12% gender pay gap across tech specialist jobs through the introduction of equitable pay practices and prioritising pathways for women to progress to more senior levels; and introducing flexible working practices to allow women with caregiving responsibilities to progress in their careers.
In other women in tech news, Connecting Women in Digital was launched late last year.
Supported by the EU’s DIGITAL Programme, it brings together policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, and civil society to tackle gender inequality in the digital domain through structured dialogue and shared evidence, and includes a pan-European forum that enables EU member states and stakeholders to analyse national strategies, identify gaps, and exchange effective practices. Read more
And in India, the EY report Breaking the Code: The rise of women in India’s STEM landscape has found that AI-driven upskilling and rising female enrolment in science and engineering are beginning to reshape India’s STEM talent pipeline, but that the gains are yet to translate into sustained workforce participation, particularly in enterprise technology roles. Read more
Women into Leadership seminars
Global Government Forum’s Women into Leadership seminars are designed for women in the civil service who want to understand what works in terms of overcoming obstacles and achieving promotion, why it works, and how you can make it work for you.
The intention is to help you develop a far deeper understanding of the external and internal factors that can hold women back, and most importantly, what actions you can realistically take to overcome these obstacles.
Women into Leadership I – next taking place on 20 February
Women into Leadership II – next taking place on 5 March
About Mia Hunt
Mia has been editor of globalgovernmentforum.com since 2019. She has 15 years’ experience as a journalist and editor and specialises in writing for civil and public servants worldwide, including covering sustainability policy and related issues. She has led the Global Government Women’s Network since it launched in 2023. Previously, she covered commercial property having been market reports and supplements editor at Property Week and deputy editor at Retail Destination. She graduated from Kingston University London with a first-class honours degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.
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