Documento #id 75540

Gender equality is a core value of the European Union (EU) and a fundamental right under EU law. Over the past decades, the EU has adopted legislation to combat discrimination, reduce the gender pay gap, fight gender?based violence and promote equal rights.
In March 2026, the European Commission adopted the gender equality strategy 2026?2030. The new strategy builds on the previous gender equality strategy 2020?2025 and the roadmap for women’s rights, endorsed by all 27 EU countries in 2025.
The strategy focuses on gender-based violence and cyberviolence, equal pay and work-life balance, women’s health, AI-related risks and online platforms, and gender balance in decision-making, sport and culture.

Gender?based violence

Gender-based violence is violence directed against an individual because of their gender. It mainly affects women and girls, and includes rape, harassment and female genital mutilation, as well as psychological and economic violence.
The EU directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, adopted in 2024, criminalises female genital mutilation, forced marriage and several forms of gender-based cyberviolence. EU countries must incorporate it into their national laws by 14 June 2027.
The EU acceded in 2023 to the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention, a treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Bulgaria, Czechia, Lithuania, Hungary and Slovakia have not yet ratified the convention. In its November 2025 resolution, Parliament urged them to do so.

Employment

‘Equal pay for equal work’ is a principle set out in the EU treaties, and EU law prohibits gender-based pay discrimination. Despite this, women in the EU still earn on average 11.1 % less per hour than men.
The Pay Transparency Directive from 2023 requires companies to disclose salary information, report on pay gaps and take corrective action where gaps exceed 5 %. The burden of proof in discrimination claims lies with the employer.
The Women on Boards Directive from 2022 requires at least 40 % of non-executive director posts or 33 % of all director posts in the EU’s largest listed companies to be held by the under-represented gender by June 2026. The current EU average share of women on boards is 34 %.

The EU gender pension gap still stands at 25 %, contributing to older women being at greater risk of poverty and social exclusion than older men. EU laws also guarantee a minimum of 14 weeks of maternity leave, four months of parental leave per parent (at least two months paid and non-transferable) and 10 working days of paternity leave. Citizens can find more detailed information about their leave rights on the Your Europe website.

Healthcare

The 2026?2030 gender equality strategy is the first to treat women’s health as a separate policy area. The Commission plans to launch a joint initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO) on women’s healthcare, and work with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to ensure that differences between men and women are better taken into account in the development and approval of medicines.
In February 2026, the Commission replied to the ‘My Voice My Choice’ European citizens’ initiative on abortion, acknowledging that unsafe abortion is a public health concern. In its December 2025 resolution, Parliament expressed support for the initiative.

The 2022 revision of the VAT Directive already allows EU countries to apply reduced or zero VAT rates on menstrual products.

AI and online platforms

The strategy also addresses AI-related risks to women, including gender bias in recruitment and the spread of sexually explicit deepfakes. Under the Digital Services Act, in January 2026 the Commission opened an investigation into whether the provider of X properly assessed and mitigated risks related to its Grok AI tool, including the spread of manipulated, sexually explicit images.

The directive on combating violence against women requires that EU countries criminalise the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes, by June 2027.

Gender balance in EU institutions

The proportion of female MEPs in the European Parliament has steadily risen over the years. However, after the 2024 European elections, the share of women MEPs fell to under 40 %. In the Commission, 49 % of management positions are now held by women, up from 40 % in 2019. Since the start of Ursula von der Leyen’s second term in December 2024, 11 of the 27 Commissioners have been women.
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) monitors gender balance across the EU and supports EU countries in integrating a gender perspective into their policies.

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