List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the tenth periodic report of Austria *

General

* Adopted by the pre-sessional working group on 27 February 2025.

1.Please provide information and statistics, disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, disability, ethnicity, geographical location and socioeconomic background, on the current situation of women and girls in the State Party to enable monitoring of the implementation of the Convention. In accordance with the State Party’s obligations under articles 1 and 2 of the Convention and in line with target 5.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, please indicate how the State Party intends to improve the collection and analysis of data pertaining to the areas covered by the Convention, so as to support policymaking and programme development and to measure progress towards the implementation of the Convention and the promotion of substantive equality between women and men, including with regard to the specific areas covered in the present document.

Constitutional framework and definition of discrimination against women

2.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that institutional mechanisms for coordination between the federal State and Länder are in place and effective. Please also provide information on steps taken to amend the Equal Treatment Act and the Federal Equal Treatment Act and other acts with a view to ensuring substantive and procedural protection against discrimination with regard to all prohibited grounds of discrimination in the private and public sectors. Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that anti-discrimination legislation adequately addresses and protects against discrimination arising from the use of artificial intelligence, including details on any specific legal provisions, monitoring mechanisms or remedies available to women and girls who experience such discrimination.

Access to justice

3.With reference to the Committee’s general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women’s access to justice, please provide information on measures taken to strengthen the effective coordination of anti-discrimination structures at all levels of government, particularly in view of concerns that the current situation whereby anti-discrimination legislation is scattered across numerous federal and provincial laws, combined with the complex distribution of institutions at the federal and provincial levels, may impede victims’ ability to claim their rights and obtain remedies. Please detail steps taken to ensure uniform implementation of the Convention throughout the State Party, including efforts to prevent confusion and legal uncertainty by addressing varying degrees of protection for different grounds of discrimination. Please update the Committee on measures taken, such as the establishment or strengthening of confidential, effective and gender-responsive complaint mechanisms, to ensure that women, including older women, women and girls with disabilities, women and girls belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and girls, have effective access to justice throughout the State Party and are aware of their rights and the remedies available to them to claim those rights.

National machinery for the advancement of women

4.Please provide information on the human, technical and financial resources allocated to the Federal Ministry of Women, Family, Integration and Media and its Division for Women and Equality. Please also provide detailed information on the percentage of the annual budget allocated to programmes promoting gender equality, the metrics used to measure the effectiveness of such programmes, how coordination between the Division for Women and Equality and other departments could be enhanced, and what additional resources would be needed to fully implement existing mandates for promoting gender equality and protecting against discrimination. In addition, please provide information on the budgetary allocations at the Länder and municipal levels for policies on women’s rights and gender equality, including details on how these resources are distributed across different levels of government, the percentages of Länder and municipal budgets that are allocated to gender equality initiatives, and what mechanisms are in place to ensure the consistent implementation of gender equality measures across all municipalities in the State Party.

National human rights institution

5.Please provide information on steps taken to ensure that the Austrian Ombudsman Board, which was reaccredited with A status in March 2022 by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, is in full compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles). In particular, please detail steps taken to implement the recommendations of the Subcommittee on Accreditation following the Board’s reaccreditation in 2022.

Temporary special measures

6.Recalling the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 (2004) on temporary special measures, please provide information about measures taken to:

(a)Adopt and implement temporary special measures and establish time-bound targets to accelerate women’s representation in decision-making positions and substantive equality between women and men in all areas in which women continue to be disadvantaged or underrepresented, such as in political and public life, education and employment;

(b)Undertake capacity-building programmes, targeting all relevant State officials and hiring managers, on the non-discriminatory nature and importance of temporary special measures for achieving substantive equality between women and men in all areas in which progress is slow or absent.

Stereotypes and harmful practices

7.Please inform the Committee about measures taken to eliminate stereotypical images and attitudes regarding the roles of women, men, girls and boys in the family and in society. Please provide information on measures taken to monitor the portrayal of women in the media and on the Internet, as well as in statements by public officials. What steps have been taken to encourage the media, including social media companies, to convey positive images of women and their equal status with men in public and private life and to eliminate the portrayal of women as sexual objects, including in advertisements?

8.Please provide information on plans to develop and implement a nationwide strategy to address forced marriage and female genital mutilation and cutting, including details on ensuring adequate and sustainable funding for counselling services. Please outline steps taken to conduct awareness-raising and educational campaigns on the criminal nature of female genital mutilation and cutting and the need to eliminate the practice, particularly among medical staff, medical practitioners, parents, community leaders, religious scholars, women and girls, and men and boys. Please describe measures taken to provide victims and at-risk women and girls with information about complaint mechanisms available against perpetrators, access to legal aid and quality social and rehabilitation services. In addition, please provide information on measures taken to end child, early and forced marriage, in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Gender-based violence against women and girls

9.Please provide information on steps taken to adopt comprehensive measures to prevent, combat and punish all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls, including details on the allocation of adequate human, technical and financial resources for the systematic and effective implementation, monitoring and assessment of such measures. Please provide detailed information on the timeline and specific steps planned for fully implementing the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, particularly in the light of the significant number of femicides noted in the first thematic evaluation report regarding Austria by the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence published in 2024. Please elaborate on concrete measures taken to monitor and assess the responsiveness of the police and judiciary in cases of sexual violence. Has the State Party introduced mandatory capacity-building for judges, prosecutors, police officers and other law enforcement officers regarding the strict application of criminal law provisions with respect to gender-based violence against women and on gender-sensitive investigation procedures?

10.Please provide information on concrete measures taken to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of all hate crimes and attacks against refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and girls. In addition, please share detailed information on measures taken to reinforce the protection and assistance provided to women who are victims of gender-based violence, including by strengthening shelter capacity and ensuring that shelters meet the needs of victims and cover the entire territory of the State Party, and to enhance financial support to and cooperation with non‑governmental organizations that provide shelter and rehabilitation to victims. Please describe measures implemented to address the health-related effects of gender-based violence against women and girls, particularly regarding mandatory healthcare staff training programmes, the expansion of victim protection groups, the increased accessibility of trauma therapy services and specific provisions for high-risk groups such as women and girls with disabilities, single mothers, refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and girls, and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women and girls. Please provide information on plans to increase annual funding for violence prevention and protection services. Please also provide information on monitoring and identification procedures established to detect gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities in dependent relationships, particularly where victims may not report abuse due to either fear of losing their housing or inability to communicate. Please outline specific oversight mechanisms, accessible reporting channels and intervention protocols implemented when violence is suspected but not directly reported.

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

11.With reference to the Committee’s general recommendation No. 38 (2020) on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration, please update the Committee on steps taken to:

(a)Intensify international, regional and bilateral cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination;

(b)Ensure the strict enforcement of article 104 (a) of the Criminal Code by investigating, prosecuting and imposing adequate sentences on perpetrators of trafficking in women and girls;

(c)Create a uniform national system for identifying and following up on women who are victims of trafficking and discontinuing the return of victims of trafficking under Regulation (EU) No. 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the member States by a third-country national or a stateless person (the Dublin III Regulation);

(d)Ensure that women coming from States members of the European Union who are trafficked into the State Party are sufficiently protected under the Settlement and Residence Act;

(e)Revise immigration policies to ensure that laws and policies on the deportation of foreign women are not applied in a discriminatory manner, do not deter refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and girls from reporting crimes of trafficking and do not undermine efforts to prevent trafficking in women and girls, identify or protect victims or prosecute perpetrators;

(f)Strengthen capacity-building for the police, the judiciary, lawyers, law enforcement officers, border control officers, social and healthcare workers on the early identification and referral to appropriate services of victims of trafficking and on gender-sensitive investigation methods.

12.Please provide information on measures taken to protect women who are engaged in prostitution from discrimination, racism, stigmatization and institutional and structural violence, particularly in the light of restrictive migration policies that can lead to exploitation and poor living conditions. Please outline steps planned or taken to review the situation of and protect foreign women who are engaged in prostitution and to strengthen the assistance provided to women and girls who wish to leave prostitution, including by providing exit programmes and alternative income-generating opportunities. In addition, please provide information on measures taken to prevent and combat trafficking in women and girls for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced prostitution, including efforts to identify and assist victims, prosecute and adequately punish perpetrators, and address the root causes of trafficking and forced prostitution, particularly among migrant women and other groups in vulnerable situations. Please also provide information on measures taken to increase the number of temporary shelters for victims of trafficking and on steps to enhance psychological support services and free legal assistance services for victims.

Participation of women in political and public life

13.With reference to the Committee’s general recommendation No. 40 (2024) on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems, please provide information on measures taken to introduce statutory quotas to ensure 50/50 gender parity in decision-making bodies at the federal, Länder and municipal levels, in both elected and appointed positions, particularly in local government, senior leadership positions, the armed forces, the foreign service, the judiciary and sport federations, and on efforts to encourage trade unions to adopt similar measures. In addition, please provide information on awareness-raising campaigns implemented to enhance public understanding that the full, equal, free and democratic participation of women in political and public life is a requirement for the full enjoyment by women of their human rights.

Nationality

14.Please provide detailed information on measures taken to address the structural disadvantages women face in applying for Austrian citizenship, particularly regarding the “sufficiently secured livelihood”. Please explain how the current system accounts for women’s economic circumstances, including details on why unpaid care work is not considered in income calculations beyond six months of childcare allowance. Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that unpaid work is considered in determining a “sufficiently secured livelihood” when foreign women apply for citizenship. In addition, please outline steps taken to address the challenges faced by women with multiple responsibilities, especially single parents and migrant women in low-wage sectors, in meeting these income thresholds, and describe measures implemented to reduce excessive procedural waiting times, which can be to up to 18 months for initial appointments, across different federal provinces. Please provide an update on measures taken to remove barriers to the acquisition of Austrian nationality by children born out of wedlock and efforts to grant Austrian citizenship to otherwise stateless children born in the State Party, unless they can acquire citizenship of one of their parents immediately after birth through a non-discretionary procedure (such as consular registration, declaration, the right of option or other similar procedures).

Education

15.With regard to the Committee’s general recommendation No. 36 (2017) on the right of girls and women to education, please provide information on steps taken to conduct a comprehensive study assessing the impact of the Education in School Law, which entered into force in June 2019 and bans “ideologically or religiously influenced clothing” for girls under 10 years of age in primary schools, on the right to education of girls and their inclusion in Austrian society. Please provide details on measures to eliminate gender stereotypes, encourage diversification of the educational and vocational choices for boys and girls and the increased participation by girls in apprenticeships, crafts, science and technology and ensure the use of gender-sensitive teaching materials at all educational levels. In addition, please provide information on steps taken to adopt a strategy to reduce the school dropout rate at the upper secondary level among girls with a migration background and girls whose parents have lower levels of education, and ensure that women and girls who have dropped out are reintegrated into the education system.

16.Please provide information on school structures that support female pupils with non-German language and migration backgrounds, including dropout prevention measures and the evaluation of those measures. Please detail plans for accessible learning spaces in German, improvements to data collection systems to support the development of evidence-based education policy and steps to ensure that teachers have adequate gender and diversity skills. Please detail measures taken to ensure that all asylum-seeking and refugee girls have access to free language courses and integration programmes, regardless of their prospects of staying in the State Party. Please provide information on measures taken to ensure an inclusive and accessible education system that pay specific attention to addressing intersectional discrimination faced by women and girls with disabilities. Please detail steps taken to reduce high dropout rates among women with disabilities at universities, eliminate gender stereotypes in educational materials and ensure comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education for women and girls with disabilities. Please provide information on measures taken to increase the representation of women and girls in engineering, technology and other non-traditional educational programmes and internships, including specific strategies for enhancing scholarship accessibility and improving representation at the university level. In addition, please outline reforms to the dual education system to prevent the automatic placement of children with disabilities in special schools. Please also detail steps taken to develop accessible technical resources and educational programmes for girls with disabilities. Please provide information on protection and prevention measures implemented to address bullying of girls in schools, including details on early identification systems, intervention protocols, support services for victims and educational initiatives designed to prevent gender-based bullying in schools.

Employment

17.Please provide information on steps taken to:

(a)Enforce the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and ensure that all employers are aware of the right of women to stay in their jobs as long as men and encourage women to continue working as long as men;

(b)Eliminate horizontal and vertical occupational segregation and combat the underemployment of women in full-time jobs;

(c)Lower the threshold for the requirement that companies produce income reports, which currently applies only to companies with 50 or more employees;

(d)Facilitate the reconciliation of professional and private life, improve the conditions for paid maternity leave and encourage men to avail themselves of parental leave and extend the length of paid paternity leave;

(e)Ensure that workers in special employment centres are covered by an independent social insurance programme, receive wages and are protected by labour legislation;

(f)Outline specific actions implemented to prevent and combat sexual harassment in the workplace, including training programmes for employers and employees, reporting mechanisms, protection for complainants and the remedies available to victims;

(g)Create further employment opportunities for women belonging to disadvantaged groups, especially women with disabilities, Roma women, women belonging to other ethnic and religious minority groups and refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women.

Health

18.Please provide information on concrete measures taken to:

(a)Ensure that modern contraceptives are accessible, affordable, covered by health insurance and available throughout the territory of the State Party to all women and girls, in particular those living in poverty;

(b)Ensure access to safe abortion services, mainly by allowing doctors working outside of hospitals to provide abortifacients and ensure that such procedures are reimbursed by health insurance programmes;

(c)Detail mechanisms established to investigate cases of obstetric violence, including data on related criminal cases, and outline prevention measures implemented to protect women from obstetric violence during childbirth and other reproductive healthcare procedures;

(d)Ensure that the exercise of conscientious objection by healthcare personnel does not pose an obstacle for women who wish to terminate a pregnancy;

(e)Ensure that school curricula include mandatory and age-appropriate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights for girls and boys, including on responsible sexual behaviour;

(f)Guarantee that free and informed consent is obtained for any medical treatment, without exception, and, when necessary, provide supportive decision-making services;

(g)Raise awareness among medical professionals about the cultural and linguistic obstacles that refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women encounter when seeking healthcare, ensure the availability of female healthcare practitioners when requested and introduce awareness-raising initiatives, in relevant languages, to help refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women understand how to gain access to general and reproductive healthcare services;

(h)Ensure that undocumented migrant women and girls have access to the documentation necessary for non-emergency health services without the risk of being reported to the authorities and subsequently deported;

(i)Establish and implement healthcare guidelines for intersex women and girls that protect their rights, ensure full disclosure of medical options to girls and parents, maximize girls’ involvement in treatment decisions, respect their choices and guarantee that all medical interventions occur only with their free, prior and informed consent.

Refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and girls

19.Please provide comprehensive information on measures taken to ensure that refugee status determination is gender-sensitive and address the specific needs of refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and girls. Please detail how the State Party systematically identifies and addresses vulnerabilities of women and girls, particularly for those who are victims of torture, in reception contexts and during asylum procedures. Please outline steps taken to provide specialized reception facilities for single women and members of households headed by women, and ensure access to shelters and services for women affected by gender-based violence, regardless of legal status. Please inform the Committee about measures taken to ensure gender-sensitive asylum procedures, including the availability of same-sex officers, judges and interpreters, and training for immigration staff on identifying sexual and gender-based violence as grounds for international protection. In addition, please detail steps taken to amend national legislation to provide beneficiaries of temporary and subsidiary protection with equal integration and social protection opportunities as recognized refugees, particularly in view of the fact that beneficiaries of temporary protection currently remain in the basic care system with an income limit of €110 per month in most Länder. Please provide information on measures to address specific challenges faced by refugee women, especially single mothers from Afghanistan and Ukraine, in gaining access to employment due to insufficient childcare facilities. Please outline plans to address the barriers to access to the labour and housing markets created by temporary residence permits, particularly in view of the fact that beneficiaries of temporary protection have been eligible since October 2024 to transition to a long-term residence status but only qualify to do so upon meeting strict employment conditions and high-income thresholds, which makes meeting eligibility requirements difficult for many to achieve. Please inform the Committee about steps taken to ensure the provision of long-term residence permits and full inclusion in social protection schemes for beneficiaries of temporary and subsidiary protection in order to prevent discrimination and foster economic independence, which enables women to leave violent relationships. Please provide information on legislative measures adopted to strengthen the identification and monitoring mechanisms for refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and girls who are victims of torture and gender-based violence, including amendments to relevant statutory provisions. In addition, please detail the extent to which the State Party has incorporated into its domestic legal framework the definitions and procedural safeguards concerning stateless persons as established in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

Rural women

20.With reference to the Committee’s general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women, please provide information on efforts to realize the social and economic empowerment of rural women working in agriculture, including measures to ensure their access to professional training, social protection, land ownership and equal participation in decision-making alongside rural men. Please detail how existing policies and programmes protecting migrant women and women working temporarily in agriculture are being strengthened and implemented, particularly regarding their access to social protection and labour rights on an equal basis with nationals.

Women and girls with disabilities

21.Please provide information on measures aimed at ensuring that women and girls with disabilities have access to the open labour market, are able to make independent decisions about their living arrangements and have access to services for victims of gender-based violence. Please detail how women and girls with disabilities are included in all gender equality policies and programmes, including information on any temporary special measures addressing their situation. Please provide information on measures taken to address the low rate of participation of women with disabilities in the workforce, including steps to develop vocational training and support services for women and girls with disabilities. In addition, please outline progress made towards implementing a nationwide de-institutionalization strategy with clear targets, deadlines and funding, with particular attention to women and girls with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities living in institutions, and describe measures to ensure the provision of needs-oriented personal assistance across all areas of life. Furthermore, please detail efforts to ensure access to healthcare services, including supported decision-making for medical interventions, and measures to protect the reproductive rights of women and girls with disabilities and prevent coercive treatments. Please describe specific measures taken to encourage women and girls with disabilities to engage in sports, including steps to eliminate discriminatory stereotypes and raise public awareness about the benefits of participation in sports. Please also describe steps taken to support women with disabilities in exercising their right to family life, including the provision of assisted parenthood services and efforts to combat stereotypes about their parenting abilities.

Older women

22.Please provide information on measures taken to counteract the risk of poverty among older women, particularly in view of the information before the Committee that indicates that more than two thirds of people over 65 affected by poverty in the State Party are women and that the average gross monthly pension of women in the State Party falls below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. Please detail plans to revise and “poverty proof” the minimum pension, which is currently €280 below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold and disproportionately affects women, who comprise two thirds of recipients. In addition, please outline how the State Party evaluates the impact on old-age poverty of raising the retirement age for women, particularly considering the high gender pension gap, lower rates of participation in the labour market among women than men, inadequate childcare facilities, career breaks and the effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and inflation crisis, and describe measures taken to enable age-appropriate employment opportunities for older women.

Climate change and disaster risk reduction

23.Please describe steps taken to integrate a gender perspective into national policies on climate change in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. Please indicate any measures taken to ensure the effective participation of women and girls in decision-making processes on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and land and environmental resource management, including allocation of the necessary resources.

Marriage and family relations

24.Please provide information on legislative measures undertaken to establish a no-fault divorce system. Please detail the legal and institutional mechanisms, including capacity-building for the judiciary, to ensure that due weight is given to a history of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, in custody proceedings, particularly regarding the application of concepts such as “parental alienation syndrome”, “attachment intolerance”, or “false memories”. Please provide information on statutory provisions and administrative measures adopted to ensure financial security for single-parent households that are unable to secure child maintenance or advance child maintenance payments, noting that 48 per cent of single-parent households face the risk of poverty or social exclusion, and outline remedies available to address institutional discrimination in custody proceedings and financial support systems, particularly in view of information before the Committee that indicates that maintenance is received by only 50 per cent of eligible children and advance payments by only 10 per cent. In addition, please provide detailed information on the legislative, administrative and judicial measures adopted to address deficiencies in the alimony payment system, including enforcement mechanisms established to secure the prompt and complete execution of maintenance orders. Please outline specific statutory provisions governing the automatic indexation or periodic reassessment of maintenance amounts in response to inflation and changes in the financial circumstances of the divorcees. Furthermore, please describe the legal remedies and administrative procedures available to custodial parents facing non-compliance with maintenance orders, including information on any specialized legal aid services, court-expedited procedures for enforcement, administrative penalties for non-payment or inter-agency coordination mechanisms established to locate defaulting obligors and enforce cross-border maintenance obligations in accordance with relevant international agreements. Please also provide statistical data on enforcement rates, average processing times for maintenance claims and the effectiveness of remedial measures implemented to address systemic barriers to maintenance enforcement.

Additional information

25.Please provide any additional information deemed relevant with regard to legislative, policy, administrative and other measures taken to implement the provisions of the Convention and the Committee’s concluding observations since the consideration of the previous periodic report in 2019. Such measures may include recent laws, developments, plans, programmes and ratifications of human rights instruments, as well as any other information that the State Party considers relevant. Please note that, further to the issues raised in the present document, the State Party will be expected, during the dialogue, to respond to additional questions relating to areas covered by the Convention.