News

On September 18 the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights presented its Roma pilot survey at a joint public hearing of the Parliament  on ‘The EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies’.

The survey shows that the overall educational attainment levels of Roma women are increasing in most of the EU Member States covered by the survey. On a more negative note, only 24% of Roma women aged 20–64 years were reported to be in paid employment, compared to 40% of Roma men. In the area of health, Roma women aged 50 or above reported their health status as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ almost twice as often as non-Roma women (55% and 29% respectively). And almost half (42%) of the Roma households surveyed said were reported as facing severe housing deprivation, which is defined as lacking running water and/or no connection to the sewage system or a sewage tank, and/or electricity. This compares with 12% of the non-Roma households nearby reporting similar conditions.

FRA is working closely with the Commission and Member States to develop indicators and data collection tools that are sensitive to gender-driven differences and can regularly measure the progress of Roma integration strategies, particularly at local level.

For more information about the study and the findings please visit FRA's website