European Commission - Questions and answers Questions and answers on the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 Brussels, 5 March 2026 Why do we need more gender equality? Gender equality benefits all and is a shared responsibility. A gender-equal society means greater social cohesion, a more robust democracy and a more competitive economy. First and foremost, it is one of the founding values of the European Union, and i...
European Commission - Questions and answers Questions and answers on the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 Brussels, 5 March 2026 Why do we need more gender equality? Gender equality benefits all and is a shared responsibility. A gender-equal society means greater social cohesion, a more robust democracy and a more competitive economy. First and foremost, it is one of the founding values of the European Union, and is integral to human rights. Across the EU, one in three women has experienced gender-based violence, and the European Institute for Gender Equality has estimated that the EU would only reach full gender equality in 50 years at the current pace. These persistent inequalities call for stronger and faster action. Gender equality also enhances economic competitiveness. A Eurofound analysis from 2023 shows that the gender employment gap costs the EU over €390 billion per year. Improving gender equality in the EU could lead to a 9.6% increase in GDP per capita, equivalent to €3.15 trillion, and an additional 10.5 million jobs by 2050, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality . By promoting gender equality and reducing the gender gaps in the labour market, the EU can tap into the full potential of its workforce, leading to increased economic growth, improved living standards, and enhanced social cohesion. Why is the Commission coming forward with this Strategy and what changes from the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025? The Commission is adopting the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 to accelerate progress towards achieving gender equality in the EU. The Strategy is also a clear response to the growing backlash against gender equality worldwide – the EU is not backing down, rather reinforcing action to promote women's rights and gender equality. The new Strategy builds on the previous one, with a renewed focus on areas such as gender-based violence, politics, economic empowerment, work-life balance and care. The Strategy includes concerted efforts to address emerging challenges, such as gender-based cyberviolence, and expands action in key areas of concern, such as women's health or the gender pension gap. The Strategy also promotes gender equality globally, such as through the announced launch of the EU Gender Action Plan IV and the launch of the renewed EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security . What new actions does the Strategy include in tackling violence against women? Many women in the EU face violence, or the threat of it, on a regular basis. 18 women die of femicide every week across our Union, based on Eurostat data , and one in three women experience gender- based violence in their lifetime. For this reason, the Strategy places a strong emphasis on combatting gender-based violence, both online and offline, including domestic violence, femicide and cyberviolence. This reflects what the public consultation for this Strategy revealed: fighting gender- based violence is the number one gender equality priority for citizens across the EU. The Violence against Women Directive is the EU's main tool to fight gender-based violence. The Strategy focuses on helping Member States implement its requirements before the transposition deadline of 14 June 2027. The implementation of the specific articles on cyberviolence, taking down illegal content and providing specialist support for victims of cyberviolence will be of particular importance to fight gender-based cyberviolence. The Strategy furthermore aims to step up monitoring, dialogue and guidance to online platforms in line with the Digital Services Act (DSA), to do more on combating gender-based cyberviolence. So- called ‘trusted Flaggers' will be supported in flagging gender-based violence content to online platforms, so that content can be flagged, identified and taken down more quickly where needed. The Strategy announces further action on bringing together law enforcement and national authorities to better detect risks of domestic violence and ensure victim's safety. To this end, the Commission will help develop guidelines for them, together with EU Agencies, such as Europol, Eurojust and CEPOL. Moreover, the Strategy underlines that sex without consent should be defined as rape across the EU. The Commission will support national reforms achieving this goal and will map the legal landscape in view of potential new actions, including legislative. Finally, the Commission, together with the European Institute for Gender Equality, will also support Member States in improving the collection of administrative data on gender-based violence to improve policymaking in this area. What new actions does the Strategy include in healthcare and sexual and reproductive health and rights? For the first time, this Gender equality Strategy has a dedicated section on health and announces specific actions in line with the Roadmap for Women's Rights principle that ‘ Every woman has a right to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health.' The Strategy acknowledges that health is not gender-neutral, and that women's health can be undermined due to a lack of gender-sensitive medical research, diagnostics and treatments. It also underlines the challenges in access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The Strategy announces a new project with the World Health Organization, to monitor and analyse how the accessibility and quality of healthcare can be improved for women, which will start in 2026. Moreover, the Strategy includes a study on the macro- and micro-economic and societal impacts of leaving the women's health gap unaddressed, for instance concerning menopause. On SRHR, a mapping of practices and international frameworks will support and complement Member States' health action in this area. This follows the Commission's recent Communication in reply to the ‘My Voice My Choice' European Citizens Initiative, in which it indicates that Member States are able to use EU's European Social Fund+ to enable women's access to safe and legal abortion. What new actions does the Strategy include to close the gender employment gap? The new Strategy commits to reducing the gender employment gap and gender segregation in the labour market by promoting women's participation in male-dominated sectors, including through an Action Plan on Women in Research, Innovation & Startups. The Commission will also ensure the full implementation of the Directive on Gender Balance on Corporate Boards , making it easier for women to progress to the top levels of management. To ensure full transparency in terms of pay, the Commission will continue to support Member States in the effective and timely implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive in 2026. Supports will include a workshop for social partners and a step-by-step toolkit on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification for businesses, in cooperation with the European Institute for Gender Equality. The Commission will tackle the specific risks to which women are exposed at work, including sexual harassment. The Strategy also identifies AI and algorithmic management at work as potential areas for further EU action given the risk of gender bias of these systems. What new actions does the Strategy include in empowering women, namely to take up and stay in leadership positions? Empowering women and making sure they are equally represented in leadership positions in the private and public sphere is central to making progress. The Strategy includes an assessment by 2029 of the effectiveness of the Directive on gender balance on corporate boards, to ensure it addresses gender imbalances in businesses and companies' management. The Strategy also places emphasis on combating online violence against women in politics and public life, as women are disproportionately targeted. Actions include supporting Member States in implementing the Violence Against Women Directive to criminalise cyber violence and facilitating cooperation with internet platforms to counter gender-based cyber violence. The Commission will also present a Recommendation on safety in politics concerning offline and online threats, including as regards disinformation. This will pay specific attention to women, as they are disproportionately targeted. The Strategy also highlights the DSA Code of Conduct on Disinformation as key tool in this area. Additionally, the strategy aims to understand and tackle the source of damaging online narratives, such as anti-gender discourses. In relation to balancing better the care-workload, the Strategy will also seek to give parents the possibility to better combine their professional career with care responsibilities, as well as to provide the support they need in their care roles. This will be done through fully implementing the Work-Life Balance Directive while the future European Care Deal will address the challenges of the care sector and workforce with a strong gender perspective. What new actions does the Strategy include in education and training? Gender-specific challenges and stereotypes in education can lead to uneven educational outcomes for boys and girls and lifelong consequences on the professional paths they follow. While overall more young women than men graduate from higher education, there are almost twice as many men than women studying STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This not only increases gender segregation in the labour market, but it also restricts the EU's innovation potential. The Commission will present a comprehensive education package in 2026 to strengthen the acquisition of basic skills – including mathematics, sciences and digital competences. Together with the STEM Strategic Education Plan and the ‘Girls Go STEM' initiative, it will contribute to the target of training 1 million young women in STEM by 2028 through Erasmus+ , European Universities alliances and digital skills academies . Moreover, the Strategy announces efforts to attract men and boys to health, education, care and administration sectors through a ‘Boys in HEAL' (Health, Education, Administration and Literacy) approach. The Commission will develop a handbook on evidence-based solutions to reduce gender- based disparities in study choices and education outcomes. The Commission will further support the development of material to better support teachers in tackling gender stereotypes in the classroom. How will the new Strategy include boys and men more broadly in the path towards a gender equal Europe? The new Strategy recognises the importance of engaging boys and men in promoting gender equality, and the benefits of gender equality for them. The Strategy also puts emphasis on increasing the uptake of family leave and flexible working arrangements by fathers, to close the gender care gap and help them benefit more from their rights as parents. The Strategy furthermore includes initiatives to challenge stereotypes and launch actions such as the ‘Boys in HEAL Careers' approach in education, aimed at attracting more boys to paths such as health, education, and administration. Finally, the Strategy acknowledges that men and boys are particularly targeted by anti-gender narratives, networks and spheres. To combat these harmful influencers the Strategy includes a study on this and further actions to counter it, in particular with civil society and through community-building actions. How much funding will be allocated to support gender equality? Funding is a crucial instrument for promoting structural change and advancing gender equality policy objectives. In the 2021-2027 programming period, gender equality is a cross-cutting principle necessary in all stages of programming and implementation within the Cohesion Policy programmes. A total budget of €271 million is allocated to gender equality under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) 2021-2027, including to combat violence against women. Under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), Member States are required to promote gender equality through targeted actions, aiming to increase women's employment, enhance work/life balance, and tackle the feminisation of poverty and gender discrimination in labour markets, education, and training. Member States will use €4.3 billion of Union contribution to ESF+ to support actions directly targeting gender equality in the period 2021-2027. The forthcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034, though pending negotiations, presents an opportunity to reinforce gender mainstreaming in the EU budget. The proposed Performance Regulation outlines a robust framework supporting gender equality, making it a mainstream priority for relevant programmes, including National and Regional Partnership Plans. Furthermore, it introduces a methodology to track EU spending on gender equality. Under the next MFF, the new AgoraEU programme, which succeeds Creative Europe and CERV, is proposed to receive a boosted almost €9 billion budget and incorporates a ‘CERV+' strand focused on promoting equality, combatting gender-based violence, and supporting democratic participation. The Commission has proposed allocating €3.6 billion to continue efforts under the CERV+ strand and maintaining the gender equality mainstreaming approach in the overall budget. For more information Press Release Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 Roadmap for Women's Rights Annual Report on Gender Equality Gender Equality Strategy Monitoring Portal Factsheet QANDA/26/527 Press contacts: Eva HRNCIROVA (+32 2 29 88433) Anna GRAY (+32 2 29 80873) General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by email
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