Women's Rights and Gender Equality in the European Union

Equality between women and men is a common value of the European Union that is enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty. Pursuant to the Treaty on the European Union, promoting gender equality is one of the Union's tasks (Article 3). In all its activities, it aims to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality between women and men (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 8).

The European Union has adopted significant legislation in the field of gender equality. Member States of the European Union are obliged to implement these directives. In addition to the legally binding directives, the Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025) represents a clear commitment to promote gender equality within the EU and a catalogue of measures to achieve this objective on EU and Member State level. Progress reports are presented annually by the European Commission.

The following points represent the European Commission's priorities in the Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025):

  • Ending gender-based violence
  • Combating gender stereotypes
  • Reducing gender gaps in the labour market
  • Achieving balanced participation of women and men in different sectors of the economy
  • Tackling the gender pay and pension gap
  • Reducing the gap in caring responsibilities
  • Achieving balanced representation of women and men in decision-making positions and politics
  • Gender mainstreaming and an intersectional perspective in EU policies

2024 Report on Gender Equality in the EU

The "2024 Report on Gender Equality in the EU" summarises the main policy developments and measures to promote equality between women and men in the EU Member States. Among other things, the report provides information on new initiatives and examples of good practice in the areas of employment, combating violence against women, equal pay for equal work and women in leadership positions. In addition, it identifies and quantifies existing inequalities between women and men.

It was a particularly important year for gender equality in the EU. According to the report, significant achievements were the directive on combating violence against women and the pay transparency directive on enforcing equal pay for equal work or work of equal value.

However, women continue to face major challenges in the labour market: Although female labour market participation has increased over the last 10 years, in 2022 (EU 27) it still remained at 69.3 percent, 10.7 percentage points below that of men (80.0 percent). The gender pay gap was 12.7 per cent on average in the EU in 2022, as it was in the previous year. The gender gap in pensions (pension gap) was 26 per cent in 2022 (EU 27). In addition, the proportion of women on the supervisory boards of the largest listed companies in the EU was around 33.8 per cent in 2023, which is an all-time high and an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to the previous year (2022: 32.2 per cent). Women are also still underrepresented in politics. The proportion of women in national parliaments was 33 per cent in 2023. Only 10 of the 27 national parliaments had a female president.

It is especially notable that Austrian initiatives, such as the "Girls in Politics" project, were mentioned positively in the report.

Documents

LGBTIQ Equality in the EU

An EU strategy for LGBTIQ equality was presented for the first time in 2020. The "LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025" sets out targeted measures in four pillars:

  • Tackling discrimination against LGBTIQ people;
  • Ensuring LGBTIQ people's safety;
  • Building LGBTIQ inclusive societies; and
  • Leading the call for LGBTIQ equality around the world.

These actions will be accompanied by increased gender mainstreaming in all EU policies, legislation and funding programmes.

Union of Equality: LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025, EUR-Lex

Documents and Links