European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Lahbib to the FEMM Committee at the European Parliament Brussels, 14 April 2026 Today the headlines are dominated by war in the Middle East and its consequences: rising energy prices, inflation, displacement, disrupted supply chains. But there is another battle being fought, quieter, less visible, but just as important: the fight for equalit...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Lahbib to the FEMM Committee at the European Parliament Brussels, 14 April 2026 Today the headlines are dominated by war in the Middle East and its consequences: rising energy prices, inflation, displacement, disrupted supply chains. But there is another battle being fought, quieter, less visible, but just as important: the fight for equality. I saw this first-hand last month in New York at the Commission on the Status of Women. Rights that were hard won are now being questioned. This fight is not just about half of humanity. It is about all of us because men and boys must be part of the solution. The world may have changed, but the European Union's commitment to gender equality has not. That is why I want to thank you, Honourable Members, and this Committee. During the last mandate, you helped make Europe more equal for women and girls. This resulted in truly impressive achievements: the Pay Transparency Directive; the Gender Balance on Company Boards Directive; the EU's accession to the Istanbul Convention; the first-ever Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence; and two Directives strengthening equality bodies. Now this mandate is about putting them into action. As we strive to make Europe fully fair and fully equal, we should not forget one thing: Europe is a good place to be a woman. But the road ahead is still long. No country has achieved full gender equality. Two things are certain: we will never go backwards, and we will keep moving forward. That is why your support for our Roadmap for Women's Rights was so important. If the Roadmap was our promise, this Strategy is our engine to make it happen. This Strategy is built on thirty concrete actions, across all areas of life and all EU policies. It looks at the full picture because women face not one barrier, but many. It responds with targeted actions. Allow me to repeat once again: men and boys are part of the solution. There should be more of them here today. Fairer, more equal societies are good for them too, improving their health and their quality of life. We are supporting this, for example, by encouraging more men to work in care and education, to take parental leave, and with flexible working arrangements. Equality at work starts with the choices we make at home. Let me highlight a few priorities of the Strategy. First, ending violence against women, online and offline. One in three women in Europe experiences gender-based violence. Every week, 18 women are killed in the EU simply because they are women. That is why we are supporting Member States to put into action our Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. It will help put a stop to violence, strengthen protection, and improve support for victims. It also recognises that some women face higher risks, for example, women with disabilities. It calls for tailored support, such as accessible helplines. We will also continue to promote a simple but essential principle: sex without consent is rape everywhere across the EU. Your committee's work is crucial on this. We must also adapt our response to today's new threats. Violence follows women online, in messages, threats, and images, such as sexually explicit deepfakes designed to humiliate. They do unspeakable harm. That is why we are enforcing the Digital Services and stepping up with a new action plan to fight cyberbullying. Online platforms are not neutral playgrounds. They shape behaviour and they must take responsibility. Our second priority is women's health. For too long, women have been treated according to male standards. No more. I know this is a priority for your Committee and that you are working on a report on gender inequalities in health. Women are underdiagnosed, for example, in heart disease. Research still too often ignores sex differences and women's pain is too often dismissed. These are not details. They are structural blind spots. Just imagine, that woman suffering in a hospital bed with a wrong diagnosis could be your wife, your daughter, your mother. We are launching a new initiative with the World Health Organization to build healthcare that actually reflects women's bodies and their lives. We will invest in gender-sensitive research, improve diagnostics and treatments, and make sure healthcare reflects women's real needs, not outdated assumptions. We will also do more on sexual and reproductive health and rights, in Europe and beyond. In February, we responded positively to the Citizen's Initiative “My Voice, My Choice”, recognising that unsafe abortion is a public health issue. This met your call for a positive reply. From now on, Member States can use the European Social Fund+ to support access to safe abortion. Tomorrow marks five years of war in Sudan. In every crisis, women and girls pay the highest price. Yesterday, I spoke with Rahaf, a young Sudanese refugee in Egypt. She is eighteen and just finished high school with top marks. She is full of dreams and ambitions. Maybe one day, she will lead the World Bank. We would be proud of this because it would be in part thanks to our EU support. We must stand with every woman like Rahaf, especially in moments of crisis and conflict, where too often rape and gender-based violence are used as weapons of war. We are therefore launching SHIELD, Sexual and Reproductive Health in Emergencies and Life in Dignity. It will improve access to sexual and reproductive health services and support survivors of gender-based violence. Our third focus is economic power and competitiveness. Gender equality is not just about fairness; it is about prosperity. The gender pay gap in the EU is still 11%. The pension gap is 25%. Women must be paid the same as men for the same work, no more excuses. We are working with Member States and social partners to fully implement the Pay Transparency Directive. We will also work with Member States to tackle the causes of the gender pension gap. The employment gap between women and men costs Europe €390 billion every year. That is lost skills, lost innovation, lost growth, and lost competitiveness. It also leads to increased poverty for women at the end of their lives. We also need to combat the stereotypes that put women and men into “typical” jobs. Women in care. Men in technology. We need to break free of these chains, once and for all. We need women to be part of building the future, coding and designing the technologies of tomorrow. To make this happen, we are launching an Action Plan on Women in Research, Innovation and Startups. Our goal is to make Europe the best place in the world for women in these fields by 2030. But none of this works if women don't feel safe at work. More than 4 in 10 young women in the EU face sexual harassment at work. As we prepare the Quality Jobs Act, we are working with social partners to strengthen prevention and accountability. We also need robust funding in our next EU budget.Finally, we need more women in public and political life. Women are half of our population but only one-third of our national parliaments and one in three senior ministers in the EU are women. That gap weakens our democracies. More women in politics means better decision-making and stronger democracies. But too many women face threats, harassment, and intimidation, especially online. When women are pushed out, democracy is pushed back. That is why we will present a Recommendation on safety in politics, as announced in the European Democracy Shield. It will protect those who step forward to serve, with special attention to women politicians. We are also addressing the toxic narratives and networks, such as incels, that draw young men into hatred and polarisation by working with communities and civil society to promote dialogue instead. Last month, I presented our new Gender Equality Strategy at the 70 th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York. I want to thank you for your resolution on Access to Justice for All Women and Girls and for sending a Parliament delegation. Your engagement matters, and it makes a difference. The session took place in a difficult political context. The backlash against gender equality is real. It is organised, funded, and growing, including against the UN system that supports it. For the first time, the adopted conclusions were put to a vote by the United States, breaking the long tradition of consensus. We held the line, but the ground is shifting. This goes along with the US withdrawal from many UN and international organisations addressing women's rights. It will have real consequences for millions of women and girls. In our external action, we are renewing our commitment to gender equality, as defenders of rights, as engines of progress, and as reliable donors. At the current pace, it will take at least fifty years to reach gender equality. Half a century. That is a lifetime. That means my granddaughter might be a grandmother by the time we get there. We simply cannot wait that long. SPEECH/26/806
Speech Brief