“Women in the EU continue to be time-poor compared to men on average, as they shoulder a disproportionate share of household duties and care responsibilities. This is exacerbated by the low uptake of family leaves by fathers, limited flexibility at work, and difficulty in accessing quality care services.”

The 2024 Report on Gender Equality in the EU underscores that, without strengthened initiatives, full gender equality will take another 60 years to achieve. Despite progress, structural barriers and discriminatory norms and behaviours persist. Women are overrepresented in low-paid jobs and bear most household duties. Gender segregation in education continues. Recent crises, like COVID-19 and rising energy costs, have worsened these inequalities, impacting women disproportionately.

Building on its prior commitment and work to address these challenges, the European Commission has set up long-term policy objectives in the Roadmap:

• Ensuring safety and security for all women.
• Promoting women's health and well-being.
• Closing the gender pay gap and fostering economic independence.
• Supporting women's participation in the labour market through accessible care and support services.
• Ensuring fair and equal working conditions.
• Promoting gender equality in educational opportunities.
• Encouraging women's involvement in political participation and representation.
• Strengthening frameworks that deliver on women's rights.

The upcoming Gender Equality Strategy post-2025 will present concrete measures, with an open public consultation launching in spring 2025 to engage stakeholders actively. Furthermore, the EU will continue to mainstream gender equality across all policies and initiatives. This includes aligning the EU budget with relevant policy initiatives such as the Quality Jobs Roadmap, the Union of Skills, the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, among others.

Access the Roadmap here.