Ahead of International Women’s Day, on 8 March, the European Commission set out its Roadmap for Women’s Rights and presented the 2025 Report on Gender Equality. The Roadmap drives the gender equality agenda forward and brings a political long-term vision to advance women’s rights.
The European Union is home to some of the most gender-equal societies in the world, setting the global benchmark. The Roadmap builds on the significant progress achieved under the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025. In the past five years, the EU has made historic progress with rules on pay transparency, work-life balance for equal care responsibilities, gender balance on company boards, and combating violence against women.
With the Roadmap, the Commission is reaffirming and reinforcing its commitment to empower women and girls and fully realise a gender-equal society across Europe and the world. The Roadmap provides guidance for the future measures in the next Gender Equality Strategy.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “There is no reason why a woman should be paid less than a man. Or why she should have lower health standards or face violence because of her gender. We know that societies where women and men are treated equally are better, fairer and more successful. So let us tap into the vast reservoir of talents and skills of everyone, men and women alike. Today’s Roadmap shows our strong commitment to continue building a European Union of gender equality and women’s rights.”
A guiding compass towards women’s rights
While the EU has adopted several decisive initiatives under the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, progress towards gender equality remains slow and unequal across areas and Member States, as highlighted in the 2025 Report on Gender Equality. One in three women in the EU has experienced physical and/or sexual violence. Employment and pay gaps are narrowing only slowly in the EU, and violence against women, discriminatory norms, and stereotypes persist. Women are overrepresented in lower-paid positions and under-represented in decision-making roles.
The Roadmap aims to address structural discriminatory norms in our societies, in view of achieving:
- Freedom from gender-based violence, including through preventing and combatting all forms of violence against women and girls, such as sexual violence, including rape, based on lack of consent, and ensuring support and protection for victims of violence.
- The highest standards of health, through supporting and complementing health action by Member States on women’s access to sexual and reproductive health and rights in full respect of the Treaties, and promotion of gender-sensitive medical research, clinical trials, diagnostics, and treatments.
- Equal pay and economic empowerment, such as by closing the gender pay gap and pension ga,p promoting financial literacy among women and girls, and tackling the undervaluation of jobs done by women.
- Work-life balance and care, notably by promoting the equal sharing of care responsibilities between women and men, and promoting investments in the long-term care sector to ensure quality care jobs.
- Equal employment opportunities and adequate working conditions, such as by eradicating the gender employment gap, eliminating sexual harassment in the world of work, and ensuring quality jobs and equal career prospects.
- Quality and inclusive education, for example, through promoting a gender-balanced perspective at all levels of education, encouraging girls and women to engage in the STEM sectors, and encouraging boys and men to engage in the education, health, and welfare sectors.
- Political participation and equal representation, including by promoting gender-balanced representation in all spheres and all levels of public and political life, ensuring women’s safety in public life and combatting sexism.
- Institutional mechanisms that deliver on women’s rights, notably by ensuring specialised institutional infrastructures for gender equality and gender mainstreaming, and sustainable funding for gender equality policies and women’s rights organisations.
The Commission calls on the European Parliament, the Council, Member States, and other institutions and stakeholders to unite around the Roadmap and put forward actions within the remit of their competences to turn this EU-wide commitment to women’s rights into a reality.
