On women’s entrepreneurship in rural and island areas and outermost regions
A-10-2026-0058
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality · Rapporteur: Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska
- Voted on · Adopted 404–102–67 · See the decision →
- Full procedure 2024/2124
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This resolution addresses women's entrepreneurship in rural, island, mountainous, and outermost regions. It calls for improved access to funding, education, digital infrastructure, and support services, and for gender mainstreaming across EU policies and budgets.¶¶¶ It urges measures to support women farmers, including access to land, credit, and CAP funds, and to address gender-based violence and social protection gaps.¶¶¶
Committee position. The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality proposes a motion for a resolution with comprehensive recommendations to empower women entrepreneurs in rural and island areas and outermost regions.¶¶
Key points
- Calls for improved access to funding, including innovation funding, for women entrepreneurs in rural and island areas and outermost regions, and for their full participation in the green and digital economies.¶
- Urges Member States to prioritize investment in early childhood education and care in ESF+ and ERDF programmes, as lack of childcare is a main barrier to women's entrepreneurship.¶
- Calls for programmes ensuring women's access to education in digitalisation, finance, and business administration, and for mentorship networks and peer-learning platforms.¶
- Requests the Commission to introduce a 'female founders fund' and to address gender bias in access to finance, including a European network of gender-aware investors.¶
- Calls for targeted investments in digital infrastructure and skills to ensure rural women, especially in island and outermost regions, benefit from the digital transition.¶
- Urges measures to improve women's access to land, finance, and training, and to tackle structural barriers in farm ownership and succession, including gender representation benchmarks in CAP-funded cooperatives.¶
- Calls for a 'fast track' for access to finance and public procurement for women-led micro and small enterprises in rural areas, with reduced administrative burdens.¶
- Requests adequate funding for women's entrepreneurship in the post-2027 MFF, including through CAP, Horizon Europe, LEADER, and Digital Europe, and a comprehensive EU strategy.¶
- Calls for systematic collection of gender-disaggregated data and for gender-responsive budgeting across all EU programmes, including the CAP.¶¶
- Urges support for women's traditional crafts and local value chains, and for the creation of a thematic sub-programme for rural women within CAP Strategic Plans.¶¶
- Calls for measures to ensure equal access to social protection for self-employed women and assisting spouses, and to address gender-based violence in rural areas.¶¶
Who is affected
- Women entrepreneurs and farmers in rural, island, mountainous, and outermost regions of the EU.¶¶
- Member States and the European Commission, called on to implement policies and funding.¶¶
- Women in precarious situations, including migrant workers, women with disabilities, and older women.¶
- Agricultural cooperatives and producer organisations funded under the CAP.¶
Figures and deadlines
- 30 % of EU population lives in rural areas, which account for approximately 83 % of EU territory.¶
- Employment gap between men and women in rural areas is around 13 percentage points, exceeding 20 in some Member States.¶
- Women's participation in workforce in rural areas was only 31.6 % in 2022.
- Economic loss due to gender employment gap amounts to around EUR 370 billion per year.
- Improving gender equality could raise EU GDP by up to EUR 3.15 trillion by 2050.
- 30 % of entrepreneurs are women, but they receive only 2 % of non-bank financing.¶
- Women receive only 1-2 % of venture capital funding.¶
- One family place per 10 000 head of population for women's shelters, per Istanbul Convention.¶
Legal basis: Articles 8 and 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and Article 174 TFEU.¶¶