Data extracted in February 2026
Planned article update: March 2027
Highlights
In the EU in 2024, the gender employment gap among adults living in households with children was less pronounced for women highly educated compared with those with lower levels of education.
In 2024, the EU gender pension median gap stood at 25%, meaning women aged 65 or over received pensions one quarter lower than men’s.
In 2025, young women (16–24) in the EU reported having encountered hostile or degrading online messages, whether directed at them or others, more often than young men (57% vs 50%).
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Gender equality remains a central social and economic challenge across the European Union (EU). Women are not a homogeneous group and may face multiple and intersectional inequalities shaped by factors such as age, migration background, disability and socioeconomic situation. Despite progress over recent decades, inequalities persist in areas such as employment, earnings, pensions, and access to essential services. This article explores the current state of gender equality and examines how these patterns vary across different areas within the EU today.
Tertiary attainment among women remains high, but unevenly distributed
In 2024, young women in the EU continued to lead in tertiary education attainment, with nearly half of women aged 25 to 34 holding a higher education degree (Figure 1). At 49.8%, women’s attainment rate significantly exceeded that of their male peers (38.6%). However, the data also reveal that not all women benefited equally from this trend. Women born in the reporting EU country had the highest levels of tertiary education, reaching 51.3% (39.2% for men), while the shares for those born abroad were at a lower rate of 43.1% (35.3% for men).
For women with disabilities, only 36.2% of women with activity limitations attained a tertiary qualification (23.0% for men), far below both the overall average for women and the rate for women without disabilities, which stood at 51.8% (40.4% for men).
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Source: Eurostat (edat_lfs_9912) and (edat_lfs_9920)
Women strongly represented in social and care fields of study, while men lead in STEM
In 2023, there was a higher proportion of women enrolled in social and people-focused fields of study compared to other disciplines, and this was higher than the proportion of men in these fields. Women made up significantly larger proportions of graduates in Education and in Health and Welfare, where their shares were 3 times and twice those of men, respectively (Figure 2)[1]. They also accounted for a higher share of graduates in Arts, Humanities and Communication, representing 22.6% compared with 14.4% among men.
Men were considerably more represented in STEM and life sciences, where their share (41.6%) was more than 2.5 times that of women, making it the most gender imbalanced field.
Business, Administration and Law was the only area in which men and women graduates participated at nearly the same levels.
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_grad02)
Gender employment gap increases steadily with age
The 2024 data reveal that the gender employment gap in the EU widens notably as age increases (Figure 3). Young people aged 15 to 24 showed the smallest gap, with women being 4.4 percentage points (pp) less likely to be employed than men. Among adults aged 25 to 54, the gap expanded to 9.6pp. The widest disparity was observed among workers aged 55 to 64, where the employment gap reached 12.1pp. A similar pattern was seen in part-time employment, where women consistently exceeded men across all age groups, reaching a notable gap of 24.1pp in the 55 to 64 age group.
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Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_a) and (lfsi_pt_a)
Gender employment gap less pronounced among highly educated women but higher when there are children in the household
Labour market outcomes in 2024 reveal gender gaps across the EU, particularly when education levels and number of children are taken into account (Figure 4)[2]. While higher education tends to increase employment rates for both women and men, wider gender employment gaps are observed among adults with children.
The employment rate for women with low education living in households with 3 or more children is at 31.3%, while men in the same situation stayed above 70%. At medium education levels, employment was higher overall, but the gender gap grew again for larger families. Even among the highly educated, women in households with children did not reach the same employment levels as men. However, a high level of education is associated with a reduced gender gap compared with those with lower levels of education.
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Source: Eurostat (lfst_hheredch)
Different patterns of involuntary part-time employment among women across countries
Across the EU, voluntary part-time work among women (23.0%) was far more common than involuntary part-time work (4.8%) in 2024 (Figure 5). The Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and Denmark recorded the highest rates of voluntary part time work. In contrast, Italy and Spain had much higher levels of involuntary part time work, suggesting that many women there would have preferred full time jobs but could not find them. Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia and Hungary reported low levels of both voluntary and involuntary part time work, indicating that part-time work was less common in these EU countries.
Men worked part-time at lower rates than women across all EU countries, with the EU average for men at 7.7%[3], far below the female rate (27.8%).
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Source: Eurostat (lfsa_eppga) and (lfsa_eppgai)
More than 60% of all clerks and skilled service employees in the EU are women, only 35.3% among managers
According to the classification of socio-economic groups[4] across the EU in 2024, women were slightly more represented in the categories of Professionals, accounting for 54.2% (Figure 6). However, they held an even greater share among Lower status employees, with a representation of 58.8%.
Conversely, men dominated the category of Skilled industrial employees, comprising 85.7% of this group. The higher proportion of men among Small entrepreneurs and managers, at 66.6% and 64.7% respectively, was reflected in a similar gender imbalance in roles such as Clerks and skilled service employees, where over six out of ten individuals were women.
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_esegg)
Gender pay gap for managers more than double the overall gender pay gap
Figure 7 shows that, in 2022 across the EU, the gender pay gap for managers (27.1%) was more than double the overall gender pay gap (12.2%), showing that pay inequalities were especially pronounced in senior roles. In Italy, women managers experienced the largest gap at 34.7%, despite the country’s overall gap being only 3.8%. Women in Germany (28.6%), Greece (28.0%), Hungary and Austria (both 27.1%) also faced pay disadvantages equal to or above the EU average. At the lower end, Romania (6.4%) and Belgium (2.4%) recorded the smallest pay gaps for women in management.
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Source: Eurostat (earn_ses22_47) and (earn_gr_gpgr2)
Higher deprivation risks among women with disabilities and women born outside the EU
Severe material and social deprivation affected women differently across population groups, with some groups facing much higher risks than others (Figure 8). In 2024, the highest rates among women were recorded for those with severe disabilities (14.5%) and for women born outside the EU (13.4%). Women with some disability also experienced higher severe material and social deprivation at 9.1%, clearly above women without disabilities.
Across age groups, rate of severe material and social deprivation was highest among women aged 50-64 (7.3%) and lowest among women aged 16-24 and 65 or over.
The rates observed for men showed similar pattern as for women across age, disability status and country of birth, but at slightly lower levels.
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Source: Eurostat (ilc_mdsd11), (hlth_dm010) and (ilc_mdsd16)
Unmet medical needs higher for women and rural areas
Access to medical care can vary depending on where people live, and this is reflected in the shares of people reporting unmet needs for a medical examination across different types of areas. As shown in Figure 9, in 2024 women reported higher shares of unmet medical needs than men (4.2% vs 3.4%). The lowest shares were reported in towns and suburbs, where both men and women were least likely to report difficulties accessing care. Shares recorded for cities were slightly higher, particularly among women. The highest shares for both sexes were observed in rural areas, suggesting that distance, availability of services, or transport constraints may limit access to medical examinations.
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Source: Eurostat (hlth_silc_21)
Women’s pensions 25% lower than men’s
The gender pension gap illustrates how differences accumulated over the life course translate into unequal incomes in old age. In 2024, the EU gender pension median gap[5] was 24.9%, meaning women aged 65 or over received pensions about one quarter lower than men (Figure 10). The widest gaps were recorded in Luxembourg, Spain, the Netherlands, and Austria, where women’s pensions were around 40% lower than those of men. Malta, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, and Germany, also had sizeable gaps above the EU average, reflecting long term differences in pay and employment patterns. By contrast, the smallest gaps were observed in Slovenia, Denmark, Hungary. In Estonia, the gap was slightly negative (-0.3%), meaning women’s median pension was marginally higher than men’s.
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Source: Eurostat (ilc_pnp13m)
Young women report encountering online hostility …
Figure 11 shows how often young people in the EU encountered hostile or degrading content online, whether directed at them or others, in 2025. Overall, young women aged 16 to 24 years reported such situations more frequently than their male peers (57.2% vs 50.4%). The most frequently perceived reasons for these attacks encountered by both men and women were political or social views (42.5% among women), racial or ethnic origin (38.2% among women), and sexual orientation or LGBTIQ identity (37.8% among women). Considerable proportions of young women noticed hostile content based on religion or belief (34.3%) and on sex (30.9%), whether directed at them or others.
Across all categories in Figure 11, the shares observed for young women were consistently higher than those for men, with the largest gaps in messages perceived as targeting groups because of sex (+6.0 percentage points) and because of sexual orientation or LGBTIQ identity (+5.2 percentage points).
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Source: Eurostat (isoc_ci_hm)
… and stalking
Stalking remains a serious form of violence that affects many young women across the EU. In 2021, about three in ten young women aged 18 to 29 (28.3%) reported having experienced stalking (Figure 12). Among EU countries, rates were highest in Slovakia, Luxembourg, and Finland, pointing to very widespread exposure. By contrast, several countries reported lower levels, notably Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia[6].
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Source: Eurostat (gbv_st_age)
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
The data used in this article is derived from the Eurostat database which includes indicators from:
- the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS),
- the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC),
- the Structure of earnings survey (SES),
- the EU survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in households and by individuals, and
- the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV).
Context
Gender equality is a core value of the EU. To advance gender equality, the European Commission adopted the Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025, which applied an intersectional approach to addressing inequalities. It affirms the commitment to leave no one behind and achieve a gender equal Europe for everyone, regardless of their sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
Substantial progress has been made in the European legislation to protect women’s rights, including new EU rules on pay transparency, measures to improve gender balance on company boards, and legislation to and combat gender-based violence.
Gender equality remains a priority in the Commission’s Political Guidelines 2024-2029, which emphasise closing gender gaps across society, strengthening women’s rights, and promoting equal participation in leadership, work and public life to build a more inclusive and resilient Europe.
In March 2025, the European Commission adopted the Roadmap for Women’s Rights, setting a long term framework to tackle persistent gaps in areas such as gender based violence, equal pay, work life balance, employment, education, health, and political representation. The Roadmap provides guidance for the future measures in the forthcoming Gender Equality Strategy.
Footnotes
- The indicator for comparison of women and men tertiary graduates includes the ISCED-F13 fields categories F01 Education; F04 Business, administration and law; F09 Health and welfare, as well as the furtherly aggregated categories: Arts, humanities and communication, which includes the ISCED-F13 fields F02 Arts and humanities and F03 Social Sciences, journalism and information. The STEM and life sciences category includes F05 Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics; F06 Information and communication technologies; F07 Engineering, manufacturing and construction and F08 Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary. Finally, the category Other contains the ISCED-F13 fields of “Generic programmes and qualifications” and “Services”. ↑
- The indicator measures the employment rate of all adults aged 25–49 living in households, broken down by sex, level of education and presence of children in the household. ↑
- Persons in part-time employment by age - % of total employment [lfsa_eppga] ↑
- European Socio-economic Groups (ESeG) is a derived classification which allows the grouping of individuals with similar economic, social and cultural characteristics throughout the European Union, based only on core social variables to ensure comfortable use in all social surveys providing comparable results. The main core social variables used are "ILO working status", “Status in employment”, “Occupation in employment” (according to ISCO-08) and “Self-declared labour status”. For the detailed classification and explanatory notes, please consult the Eurostat-Metadata (ESeG). ↑
- The median gender pension gap is defined as the difference between women’s and men’s median (gross) pension income, expressed in percentage. Pension income includes old-age benefits, survivors’ benefits, and regular pensions from individual private plans. ↑
- To understand the prevalence by survey respondents, it is important to take into account the extent to which violence is tolerated in the wider community, as it might influence the number of women who are willing to share violent experiences in the survey. ↑