Croatia ranks well below EU average in 2025 Gender Equality Index

Croatia ranks well below the EU average in the 2025 Gender Equality Index, taking 21st place with 57.1 points out of 100, SDP MEP Marko Vešligaj announced in a statement.

The result marks a decline from last year and remains consistently below the EU average. Only Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Czechia, Hungary and Latvia rank lower, CE Report quotes HINA.

Since 2015, Croatia's score has risen by 3.0 points, and since 2020 by only 0.4 points. The slight improvement is mainly due to gains in earnings, where the score has increased by 5.3 points since 2020. Croatia remains weakest in the areas of power (23rd), work (20th) and health (20th).

Vešligaj warned that the deterioration in the health domain is alarming, citing obstacles women face in accessing services such as abortion, as well as gynaecological and obstetric violence. Two in five women believe they are treated worse than men by medical staff.

He said he is calling for concrete legal changes in his report on priorities for the new EU Gender Equality Strategy, including better access to quality healthcare and stronger measures against violence, particularly a new framework to combat obstetric and gynaecological violence.

Women make up only 16% of cabinet ministers in Croatia, six percentage points fewer than in 2023, and hold 34% of seats in Parliament. Their share in regional assemblies remains at 30%. Women account for 27% of management board members in the largest companies and just 9% in major Olympic sports organisations -- one of the lowest shares in the EU.

The gender pay gap has widened: in couples, women earn on average 84% of their partner's income, while men earn 32% more than their partner. Women's share of household earnings has fallen over the past decade, partly because the male share has grown. Yet women are more highly educated: 52% of women aged 30-34 have completed higher education, compared with 30% of men.

The Index also highlights persistent gender stereotypes. Half of men and over a quarter of women believe it is acceptable for a man to control his wife's finances, with younger women more likely to agree. Over half of both men and women think men are naturally less capable than women of running a household.

Vešligaj said such stereotypes remain widespread in Europe and Croatia and are fuelled by political developments, including alliances between the European People's Party and the far right, which he argues undermine women's rights. This, he said, reinforces stereotypes that lead to inequality and violence.