Parliament calls for ambitious gender equality strategy

In the report, adopted with 310 votes in favour, 222 against and 68 abstentions, MEPs urge the Commission to present an ambitious gender equality strategy for 2026-2030, with concrete legislative and non-legislative measures in key areas.

Strengthening the response to violence against women

MEPs want the European Commission to propose to the Council to include gender-based violence as a particularly serious European crime with a cross-border dimension. They also call on the Commission to prepare the necessary guidelines for the implementation of the recently adopted directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence and to recognise feminicide (the killing of a woman or girl because of her gender) as a specific crime. The plenary urges the Commission to propose a definition of rape based on consent in EU law, and calls for ratification of the Istanbul Convention by those Member States that have not yet done so.

Ensuring the right to reproductive health

The text calls for action to ensure universal access to gender-sensitive health care and to reduce the gender health gap, addressing both gender-specific needs and risks and diseases that disproportionately affect women.

MEPs want the EU to establish a comprehensive and binding framework to ensure full and undifferentiated access to sexual and reproductive health services. Parliament believes that the right to safe and legal abortion should be incorporated into the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as ensuring universal access to gender-sensitive mental health care.

The Commission should actively promote the entry and retention of women in the labour market and take measures to reduce gender gaps in employment, wages and pensions, says the report. MEPs also call for the swift implementation of directives on adequate minimum wages, pay transparency and the presence of women on boards of directors, as well as the directive to promote work-life balance for parents and carers.

The plenary encourages the Commission to strengthen mechanisms to address democratic backsliding and attacks on women’s and LGBTIQ rights. It also calls on the Commission to implement the women, peace and security agenda as a central principle of the EU’s common foreign and security policy.

Rapporteur’s statement

After the vote, rapporteur Marko Vešligaj (S&D, Croatia) said: “By adopting this report, the European Parliament stands by all women and girls in Europe and sends a clear message to the Commission: the new gender equality strategy must be based on concrete legislative measures. No more hiding behind the argument of national competences; it is time to act and ensure equality, security and freedom for all people in the EU”.

Further information: European Parliament