European Gender Equality Strategy post-2025 must make equality a lived reality for women

The European Parliament has today adopted its position on the upcoming European Gender Equality Strategy post-2025. This position is designed to influence the new Gender Equality Strategy that the European Commission will present in March 2026. It is a call for delivery: a strategy that upholds the standards already achieved while providing the tools to achieve genuine equality in everyday life.

Renew Europe played a key role in ensuring stronger implementation of existing EU legislation on equal treatment and gender-based violence, measurable targets for closing the pay and pension gaps, and new action to ensure women’s equal participation in political and economic decision-making. The report also calls on the European Commission to guarantee equal access to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to include the right to safe and legal abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It further promotes investment in care services to tackle the gender care gap and measures to break gender stereotypes in education.

The vote comes at a defining moment, as women’s rights and gender equality are increasingly challenged by organised anti-gender and anti-democratic forces across Europe and beyond. By adopting this position, the European Parliament sends a clear message: equality, freedom and dignity are non-negotiable. Europe must protect what women have fought to achieve and commit to an even stronger future for equality. For Renew Europe, defending these values is central to the European project itself.