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Gender Equality Strategy 2025

TA-10-2025-0278 · P10_TA(2025)0278 · PE770.090

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Parliament calls on the Commission to present an ambitious Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 with concrete measures, covering gender-based violence, healthcare, work, poverty, education, care, climate, and civil society. It urges action on GBV, including including it as an EU crime, criminalising rape without consent, and addressing femicide, cyberviolence, and prostitution. It demands universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, including safe abortion, and calls for a financial mechanism to support member states providing abortion care. It calls for closing gender gaps in pay, pensions, and employment, and for measures to support women in STEM and digital sectors. It stresses the need to address female poverty, care responsibilities, and the impact of climate change, and to counter anti-gender movements.

Key points

  1. Calls on the Commission to present a Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 with concrete, measurable measures.
  2. Urges the Commission to propose including gender-based violence as a new area of crime under Article 83(1) TFEU.
  3. Calls for EU legislation to criminalise rape based on absence of consent, and for member states to align definitions with the Istanbul Convention.
  4. Urges recognition of femicide as a distinct crime and action against all forms of violence against women and girls.
  5. Calls for measures to combat cyberviolence, including enforcing existing directives and monitoring online platforms.
  6. Demands universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, including safe abortion, and a financial mechanism for member states.
  7. Calls for addressing the gender health gap, including specific action plans and gender-sensitive healthcare training.
  8. Urges measures to close the gender pay and pension gaps, including binding measures for equal pay for work of equal value.
  9. Calls for support for women's labour market participation, including reskilling programmes and legislation on teleworking and right to disconnect.
  10. Urges action to reduce gender gaps in STEM and digital sectors, including targets for women researchers and initiatives to motivate girls.
  11. Calls for a European Care Deal and measures to support informal carers, including financial support and inclusion in pension systems.
  12. Urges the Commission to counter anti-gender movements, including monitoring and accountability mechanisms and support for civil society.

Who is affected

  • Women and girls in the EU, particularly those facing intersectional discrimination, will benefit from stronger protections and services.
  • Member states are urged to ratify the Istanbul Convention and transpose directives on violence and work-life balance.
  • The Commission is called on to propose new legislation and strategies, including on gender-based violence and healthcare.
  • Civil society organisations and women's rights defenders will receive support and funding.

Figures and deadlines

  • 71.0 points out of 100 in the EU Gender Equality Index 2024.
  • 13% gender pay gap in 2023 and 15% less per hour in 2025.
  • 26.1% lower pension incomes for women on average.
  • 31% of women experienced physical or sexual violence in adulthood.
  • 20 million women in the EU lack access to safe and legal abortion.
  • One in six ICT specialists and one in three STEM graduates are women.
  • 7.7 million women kept from the labour market by unpaid care.