Gender Equality Strategy 2025

The European Parliament adopted by 310 votes to 222, with 68 abstentions, a resolution on the Gender Equality Strategy 2025.

Parliament asked the Commission to present an ambitious strategy for gender equality 2026-2030, accompanied by concrete, measurable and tangible legislative and non-legislative measures and objectives in the following key areas:

Gender-based violence

Parliament specifically invited the Commission to:

- present a proposal to the Council to make gender-based violence a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) of the TFEU;

- quickly publish its recommendation on the prevention of practices harmful to women and girls (gynaecological violence, forced abortion and sterilisation, refusal of abortion care, female genital mutilation and intersex);

- encourage a rapid transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1385 on combating violence against women and domestic violence and to develop guidelines on combating violence against women and domestic violence and on violence in all areas of life;

- recognise femicide as a stand-alone crime and distinct from other crimes;

- meet the specific needs of victims of gender-based violence, including through psychosocial support, housing for victims, lifelong learning programmes and childcare;

- present EU legislation aimed at criminalising rape or do not mention consent explicitly.

Comprehensive gender-responsive healthcare

Parliament asked the Commission to:

- guarantee universal access to gender-responsive, quality, patient-centred and outcome-oriented healthcare, in accordance with the highest standards for women and girls in all their diversity;

- urgently address the gender health gap, while paying particular attention to diseases that disproportionately affect women;

- address, at EU level, the disparities, inequalities and obstacles that prevent women, in all their diversity, including women from vulnerable groups, from accessing health care;

- create a comprehensive and binding framework and to guarantee full and equal access to all sexual and reproductive health services for everyone in the Union, regardless of their migration or residence status;

- include sexual and reproductive health and rights, including the right to legal and safe abortion care, in the EU charter of fundamental rights.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment in the world of work

Members called on the Commission to monitor and report to Parliament on the implementation of the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive, the Pay Transparency Directive, and the Directive on Women on Boards. They also urged the Commission to actively promote women's entry into and retention in the labour market, to take measures to reduce the gap in employment, pay, and pensions between women and men, and to invest in lifelong learning programmes for women and girls.

The resolution also stressed the need to strengthen policies and funding instruments to help women returning to the labour market after maternity leave, to propose a legislative framework to combat gender-based violence in the workplace, and to present a comprehensive plan to reduce the pension gap.

Members stressed that the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value must be applied in practice. They called on the Commission to tackle the systemic disparities in pay due to the lack of recognition and undervaluation of work in female-dominated sectors such as care, healthcare, education and retailing.

The Commission and Member States should strengthen economic and social measures aimed at combating poverty and social exclusion of women, particularly with regard to access to decent and affordable housing, energy and transport.

Parliament also reiterated the importance of:

- ensuring access to quality education for girls;

- considering consent-based, comprehensive, scientifically accurate and age-appropriate sexual and relationship education, founded on human rights and equality between women and men, as a key part of breaking down gender stereotypes;

- taking measures to reduce the gender gap, particularly in STEM, AI and digital fields;

- maintaining and continuing to develop a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of gender-based violence in the digital environment;

- ensuring a coordinated and comprehensive strategy regarding the link between climate change and gender equality in all of the Commission's work;

- strengthening mechanisms to combat democratic backsliding and attacks on the rights of women and LGBTIQ+ people and take intersectionality into account in all policies related to gender equality.

Parliament also stressed the need to implement the agenda concerning women, peace and security as a core principle of the Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).