How has the European Commission progressed in protecting women and dismantling gender bias? The European Commission (2025) reviews recent equality milestones, highlighting major legislative breakthroughs alongside widespread violence and persistent stereotypes.
The year 2024 represented an important turning point for EU gender policy with the adoption of the first-ever Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, alonside two Directives strengthening equality bodies. This legislation introduces EU-level definitions for specific crimes (notably cyberviolence) while implementing and reinforcing the EU’s 2023 ratification of the Istanbul Convention. These protections address an urgent reality documented by joint survey from Eurostat, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, and the European Institute for Gender Equality: one in three women in the EU has experienced physical or sexual violence in adulthood, one in six has faced sexual violence including rape, and one in five has experienced domestic violence.
Public attitudes reflect an equally complex landscape. While Eurobarometer surveys show that three-quarters of respondents recognize that gender equality benefits men and broader society, stereotypical views endure. Approximately one-quarter of respondents still consider it unattractive for women to express strong opinions in public, and data reveals growing polarization between young men and young women, with young men more likely to endorse traditional sterotypes. Furthemore, while the EU reached a score of 71 out of 100 on the 2024 Gender Equality Index (an improve,ent of 7.9 points since 2010) the current rate of progeess indicates that achieving full gender equality will take approximately 60 years. In response, the report evaluates measures taken between March 2024 and February 2025 across the core pillars of the Gender Equality Strategy: ending gender-based violence, challenging stereotypes, securing equal participation in the economy, and achieving parity in leadership.
Learn more about this report here:
European Commission (Ed.). (2025). 2025 report on gender equality in the EU. Publications Office. https://doi.org/10.2838/5262357