This publication contains the final report of the project ‘From Welfare to Knowfare. A European Approach to Employment and Gender Mainstreaming in the Knowledge based society’, whose work has primarily contributed to the area ‘The challenge of socioeconomic development models for Europe ’. The report contains information about the main scientific findings of WELLKNOW and their policy implications. The research was carried out by eight teams over a period of 36 months, starting in 1 December, 2002. The abstract and executive summary presented in this edition offer the reader an overview of the main scientific and policy conclusions, before the main body of the research provided in the other chapters of this report. As the results of the projects financed under the Key Action become available to the scientific and policy communities, Priority 7 ‘Citizens and Governance in a Knowledgebased society’ of the Sixth Framework Programme is building on the progress already made and aims at making a further contribution to the development of a European Research Area in the social sciences and the humanities.

Upon request by the FEMM Committee, this note provides an overview of the gender-equality legislation and policies in Germany, focussing on their recent developments and achievements. It reviews gender equality in decision-making, in employment, reconciliation of private and professional life, strategies to combat violence against women and sexual and reproductive health rights. Germany has achieved some progress in gender equality, mainly in the area of employment. European legislation has acted as the main driver for legal improvements in equal treatment and anti-discrimination.

The Country Profiles is a complementary publication to the main Gender Equality Index report. It provides the Gender Equality Index scores and gives supplemental comparable information on each Member State and the EU-27 overall. The Country Profiles offers a snapshot of national contexts, enhancing the usefulness of the Index scores and supporting their interpretation, to give policymakers and other users an update on the development of each Member State in the area of gender equality since 2005. It presents relevant variables to measure gender equality that are not included in the Index for methodological reasons.

The comparative study provides an overview of the situation in the 27 EU Member States and the EFTA/EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), as regards access to justice in gender equality and anti-discrimination law. It addresses procedural guarantees, the requirement for an effective, proportionate and dissuasive remedy and the effectiveness of the legal framework in practice.