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Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Data extracted in April 2026.

Planned article update: June 2027.

Highlights

EU trend of SDG 5 on gender equality

This article is a part of a set of statistical articles, which are based on the Eurostat publication ’Sustainable development in the European Union — Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context — 2026 edition’. This report is the tenth edition of Eurostat’s series of monitoring reports on sustainable development, which provide a quantitative assessment of progress of the EU towards the SDGs in an EU context.

SDG 5 aims to achieve gender equality by ending all forms of discrimination, violence and any harmful practices against women and girls. It also calls for the full participation of women and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making.

Gender equality in the EU: overview and key trends

Ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls and empowering women are crucial to accelerating sustainable development in the EU. Monitoring SDG 5 in an EU context focuses on the topics of gender-based violence, access to quality education, participation in employment, equal payment and a balanced representation in leadership positions. Over the assessed short-term period, the EU has continued to make good progress in most of these areas. The gender gap for early school leaving has narrowed, but men continue to fall further behind women in terms of tertiary educational attainment. Gender gaps for labour market-related indicators have narrowed, even though stronger progress will be needed to reach the 2030 target of halving the gender employment gap. Moreover, the share of women occupying leadership positions has increased. Despite these improvements, significant gender gaps persist on the labour market, and women hold only roughly one third of leadership positions in the EU.

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  Table 1: Indicators measuring progress towards SDG 5, EU
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  Table 2: Explanation of symbols for indicating progress towards SD objectives and targets

Gender-based violence

Gender-based violence is a severe human rights violation. It is deeply rooted in systemic power imbalances between women and men and is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality. Physical and sexual violence against women affects their health and well-being. Moreover, it can hamper women’s access to employment and harm their financial independence and the economy overall.

Every third woman in the EU has experienced gender-based violence during adulthood

The 2021 EU survey on gender-based violence against women shows that every third woman (30.7%) in the EU experienced physical or sexual violence in adulthood . Gender-based violence was reported most frequently by women aged 18 to 29, with 34.9% having had such experiences. In comparison, 31.2% of women aged 45 to 64 and 24.2% of those aged 65 to 74 reported similar experiences. The prevalence of gender-based violence as reported in the survey varies from one country to another. The percentage of women who said they had experienced physical or sexual violence in adulthood was highest in Finland, Sweden and Hungary, at 57.1%, 52.5% and 49.1%, respectively. Looking at the differences by degree of urbanisation, a higher share of women living in cities reported they have been affected by gender-based violence (34.0%) than women living in towns and suburbs (28.6%) or rural areas (27.3%) . Women with disabilities are even more likely to experience physical and/or sexual violence, depending on the level of disability — the higher the level of disability, the higher the reported rate of physical and/or sexual violence . It is important to note that the willingness of women to disclose their experiences of violence in the survey may be influenced by how such violence is perceived and tolerated within their communities.

Data from official crime statistics on intentional homicide and sexual offences show that women are much more likely to be a victim of sexual assault or rape than men. In 2023, 67 out of 100 000 women were victims of sexual assault, and 41 out of 100 000 women were victims of rape. The rates were significantly lower for men, with 12 per 100 000 men for sexual assault and 5 out of 100 000 men for rape . It should be noted that official crime statistics reflect only incidents of violence that are reported to authorities and therefore represent only a small subset of the actual prevalence of violent acts . Moreover, women are about twice as likely as men to be victims of intentional homicide by family, relatives or intimate partners. In 2023, 0.4 out of 100 000 women were victims of such homicide, compared with only 0.2 per 100 000 men . In Western Europe this type of homicide notably increased during the pandemic .

The prevalence of violence varies greatly across the EU. However, caution is needed when comparing countries’ official crime statistics. Their comparability can be affected, for example, by different legal and criminal justice systems or criminal law and legal definitions such as those concerning offenders, victims or prosecutable age. Also, aspects such as the organisation and efficiency of the police, prosecution and courts, and recording and reporting systems contribute to cross-country differences . The limitations of comparability also include the stigma associated with disclosing cases of violence against women in certain settings and to certain people, including interviewers. In addition, Member States that rank highest in terms of gender equality also tend to report a greater prevalence of violence against women. This may indicate a greater awareness and willingness of women in these countries to report violence to the police or an interviewer .

Education

Education is a driving force for social change and a condition for achieving fundamental human rights. Equipping people with the right skills also allows them to find quality jobs and improve their chances in life and thus combat the risks of social exclusion. Economic independence also makes it easier to leave a difficult situation, such as a violent home. In education and training, it is important to eliminate gender stereotypes and promote gender balance in traditionally ‘male’ or ‘female’ fields. In general, equal access to quality education and training is thus an important foundation for gender equality and an essential element of sustainable development.

Young women continue to outperform men in education, but trends in the gender gaps are mixed

Women overall tend to stay longer in the education system than men. In 2025, 10.6% of men and 7.5% of women aged 18 to 24 had left education and training early in the EU, having attained lower secondary education at most. This resulted in a gender gap of 3.1 percentage points in 2025. Over the short term, the gap has fluctuated between 3.1 and 3.8 percentage points since 2019. Nevertheless, the long-term trend shows the gap has narrowed compared with 2008, when it was 4.2 percentage points. The gender gap is wider for people with a migration background, amounting to 5.7 percentage points for people born outside the EU and 5.6 percentage points for non-EU citizens in 2025 .

A major expansion in higher education systems has taken place in the EU since the early 2000’s, when the Bologna process put in motion reforms to make higher education more compatible, comparable, competitive and attractive for students. As a result, the share of the population aged 25 to 34 who completed tertiary education rose steadily between 2002 and 2025. The increase was particularly fast for women, whose tertiary educational attainment rate rose from 25.3% in 2002 to 50.6% in 2025. For men, the increase was slower, from 21.0% to 39.3%. This caused the gender gap to surge almost continuously from 4.3 percentage points to 11.3 percentage points between 2002 and 2025. Nevertheless, since 2022 tertiary attainment rates have increased almost at the same pace for women and men, and the gender gap has consequently remained between 11.3 and 11.2 percentage points since then. Looking at individual fields of study, there are more female than male graduates from tertiary education in most areas. The main exceptions are information and communication technologies (ICT), and engineering, manufacturing and construction studies, where men accounted for more than 70% of graduates over the past few years .

Employment

Ensuring high employment rates for both men and women is one of the EU’s key targets. Reducing the wide gender employment gap, which reflects the difference between the employment rates of men and women aged 20 to 64, is important for equality and a sustainable economy. The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan consequently includes the target of at least halving the gender employment gap by 2030 compared with 2019.

Women tend to be more highly educated than men in most EU countries. Despite this, women on average are still paid less, as evidenced by the persistent gender pay gap. Among other factors, the reasons for this gap include women being under-represented in senior positions and over-represented in part-time and non-permanent forms of employment. Moreover, women often adapt their work patterns to caring responsibilities. This results in lower lifetime earnings and aggravates their risk of poverty and social exclusion, especially in old age, because employment and pay gaps largely influence the gender pension gap .

The employment rate for women continues to increase, but the EU is not on track to halving its gender employment gap by 2030

In the EU, the employment rate for women grew from 60.7% in 2010 to 71.3% in 2025. For men, the rate started from a higher value and increased more slowly, from 73.4% in 2010 to 80.9% in 2025 (see the article on SDG 8 'Decent work and economic growth' for more detailed analyses on employment rates). As a result, the gender employment gap narrowed by 3.1 percentage points between 2010 and 2025. Most of this decrease took place in the period leading up to 2013, with the gap then remaining at just over 11 percentage points until 2020, before decreasing further during the following years. Although the drop to 9.6 percentage points in 2025 represents a new record low, it also means the proportion of working-age men in employment still considerably exceeds that of women. Moreover, the gap is not narrowing quickly enough for the EU to meet its 2030 target of at least halving the gender employment gap compared with 2019. Meeting this target would require the difference in the employment rate between men and women to be reduced to 5.7 percentage points or lower.

An analysis by degree of urbanisation shows a variation in the gender employment gap between cities, towns and suburbs, and rural areas. In 2025, the gap was smallest in cities, at 8.1 percentage points, while it amounted to 10.3 percentage points in rural areas and 10.9 percentage points in towns and suburbs .

The gender employment gap is considerably higher for adults living with children, at 16.5 percentage points in 2024 for those aged 25 to 54 years. In this age group, men with children have a higher employment rate (91.9% in 2024) than men without children (83.9%). For women, the trend is the opposite: women with children have a lower employment rate (75.4%) than women without children (80.2%) .

There is also a clear difference between employed women and men aged 20 to 64 when looking at the rate of part-time working. In 2025, 27.5% of employed women in this age group worked part-time, while for men this share was only 7.8%. This difference resulted in a gender gap of 19.7 percentage points for part-time employment . Caring responsibilities for children or for adults with disabilities were a main reason for this gap. In 2025, 27.5% of women working part-time reported caring responsibilities as the main reason for doing so, compared with only 7.3% for men . Beyond working hours, gender differences are also observed in contract types. The gender gap for employed persons with temporary contracts was much less pronounced, at 2.4 percentage points in 2025 (11.2% of employed women and 8.8% of employed men) .

The confinement measures during the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected women in the labour market. Specifically, women saw a sharper decline in working hours compared to men, while taking on additional care responsibilities. This highlighted once again women's role as primary caregivers in society and underlined the urgent need to enhance access to early childhood education and long-term care services to increase women’s labour market participation and reduce gender inequalities in employment .

The gender pay gap in the EU continues to narrow but remains considerable

Women do not only have lower employment rates than men, they also tend to earn less. Between 2019 and 2024, the gender pay gap narrowed by 2.6 percentage points in the EU. However, in 2024, women’s gross hourly earnings in the EU were still on average 11.1% below those of men and differences between Member States vary strongly.

There are various reasons for the existence and size of the gender pay gap. A part of the difference may be explained by the ‘sectoral gender segregation’. This means that women tend to be concentrated in the low-paying economic sectors such as education and health, whereas men tend to work more in better paid sectors such as finance and IT sectors. Similarly, ‘occupational gender segregation’ may also explain part of the gender pay gap because men are more likely to be promoted to supervisory and management positions than women, often due to discrimination or self-restraints. The term ‘glass ceiling’ is a commonly used metaphor to describe an invisible barrier that keeps women from rising beyond a certain level in an enterprise’s hierarchy. Moreover, the inequalities that women face in gaining access to work, career progression and rewards — along with the consequences of career breaks or part-time work due to caring responsibilities, labour market segregation, the parenthood penalty and stereotypes about the roles of men and women — are inevitably linked to the persistent gender pay gap . In some cases, women also face pay discrimination, meaning they earn less than men for equal work. However, a large part of the gender gap in the EU remains unexplained and cannot be linked to worker or workplace characteristics such as education, occupation, working time or the economic activity the person works in .

Caring responsibilities remain an important reason why women are out of the labour force, although the gender gap has narrowed in recent years

Women still tend to take on a larger share of caring responsibilities for children and other family members. In 2025, 0.8% of women aged 20 to 64 were outside the labour force due to caring responsibilities while wanting to work, which was eight times higher than the 0.1% rate for men. This resulted in a gender gap of 0.7 percentage points. Overall, 0.5% of the total population aged 20 to 64 were outside the labour force due to caring responsibilities for adults with disability or children while wanting to work. This is likely to be related to the lack of available, accessible and quality formal care services, especially for children .

Between 2021 and 2025, the share of the total population aged 20 to 64 that was outside the labour force due to caring responsibilities while wanting to work fell from 0.6% to 0.5%. For women, this share fell by 0.3 percentage points, while for men it stagnated at 0.1%. As a result, the gender gap has narrowed by 0.3 percentage points since 2021. Nevertheless, taking care of adults with disabilities or children was one of the three most common reason for women for not seeking employment in 2025, while it was the third least cited reason for men. Both men and women most frequently cited ‘other reasons’ or ‘own illness or disability’ as the main reasons for not seeking employment .

Leadership positions

Traditional gender roles, a lack of support to allow women and men to balance care responsibilities with work, and political and corporate cultures are some of the reasons why women are underrepresented in decision-making processes. Promoting equality between women and men in this area is one of the EU’s priorities for achieving gender equality.

The increase in the share of seats held by women in national parliaments has slowed in recent years

The share of seats in national parliaments in the EU held by women has increased almost steadily since 2003, reaching 33.6% in 2025, which is the highest level recorded to date. However, the rate of increase over the past five years has slowed compared with previous years, with the share growing by only 1.5 percentage points since 2019. There are considerable variations between Member States. In 2025, national parliaments (lower house and upper house, where relevant) in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands all had representation rates of at least 40% for each gender. At the other end of the spectrum, women accounted for less than a fifth of the members of national parliaments in Cyprus and Hungary. Between 2019 and 2025, women’s share of representation declined in one quarter of Member States, including the two best performing countries (Sweden and Finland). Consequently, no EU country has yet achieved gender parity by 2025. Looking outside the EU, Iceland almost achieved parity in 2024, with women occupying 49.2% of seats. However, this share fell back to 46.0% in 2025.

The share of female members of government (senior and junior ministers) in the EU was still lower than for men, at 31.9% in 2025, although this was a 9.3 percentage point increase from 22.6 % in 2003. However, striking differences exist between Member States. Governments were gender-balanced (represented by at least 40% of each gender) in seven countries but remained predominantly male (meaning less than 20% of women) in six countries. The number of female heads of government in EU countries has also shown an increase, albeit at a low level. In 2025, four Member States — Denmark, Italy, Latvia and Lithuania — had a female prime minister, accounting for 14.8% of heads of government in the EU. Over the period from 2003 to 2025, the highest share of female heads of government was observed in 2022 and 2023 with 22.2%, meaning there were never more than six women holding this executive position at the same time . A key factor limiting women's access to these positions is the persistent under-representation of women in leadership roles within political parties, with about three quarters of party leaders in the EU being men .

The shares of female directors of the largest listed companies have increased further and the EU is on track to meeting its 2026 targets

Women held 33.6% of all director (executive and non-executive) positions and 38.2% of non-executive director positions in the largest listed companies in 2025. This level of representation was achieved after a steady 18.9 percentage point increase for all director positions and a 21.4 percentage point increase for non-executive director positions since 2012. The EU has thus already met its target for at least 33% of all director positions and is on track to meet the target for 40% of non-executive director positions in listed companies to be held by members of the underrepresented sex by 2026. However, the numbers also show that most director positions in the largest listed companies are still held by men. In 2025, the share of women in all director positions (executive and non-executive) varied strongly across the EU, from 46.5% in France to 8.5% in Cyprus. Eleven countries already exceeded the 33% target.

Gender-based violence against women

This indicator is based on the results of the 2021 EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV). Gender-based violence against women is defined as ‘violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or violence that affects women disproportionately’ (Istanbul Convention, Article 3.d). This indicator covers physical (including threats) or sexual violence in adulthood.

Figure 1: Women who have ever experienced physical or sexual violence in adulthood, by age group (% of women, EU, 2021)
Source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Eurostat (sdg_05_11)

Figure 2: Women who have ever experienced physical or sexual violence in adulthood (% of women, 2021)
Source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Eurostat (sdg_05_11)

Gender employment gap

The gender employment gap is defined as the difference between the employment rates of men and women aged 20 to 64. The employment rate is calculated by dividing the number of people aged 20 to 64 in employment by the total population of the same age group. The indicator is based on the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).

Figure 3: Gender employment gap (percentage points, EU, 2009–2025)
Source: Eurostat (sdg_05_30)

Figure 4: Gender employment gap (percentage points, 2019 and 2025)
Source: Eurostat (sdg_05_30)

Gender pay gap in unadjusted form

The gender pay gap in unadjusted form represents the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees and of female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. The indicator has been defined as unadjusted because it gives an overall picture of gender inequalities in terms of pay and measures a concept which is broader than the concept of equal pay for equal work. The gender pay gap is based on the methodology of the structure of earnings survey (SES), which is carried out every four years.

Figure 5: Gender pay gap in unadjusted form (% of average gross hourly earnings of men, EU, 2010-2024)
Source: Eurostat (sdg_05_20)

Figure 6: Gender pay gap in unadjusted form (% of average gross hourly earnings of men, 2019 and 2024)
Source: Eurostat (sdg_05_20)

Gender gap for being outside the labour force due to caring responsibilities

The population outside the labour force comprises individuals who are not employed and are either not actively seeking work or not available to work (even if they have found a job that will start in the future). Therefore, they are neither employed nor unemployed. This definition used in the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) is based on the resolutions of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) organised by the International Labour Organization. The reason for being outside the labour force covered by this indicator is ‘care of adults with disabilities or children’, which includes care for own children or spouse’s children living inside or outside the household and care for adult ill/elderly/incapacitated/disables relatives (aged 15 or more), but excludes care responsibilities for friends, non-relatives or their children, care as a job, and care as a volunteer work. Only people who express willingness to work, despite being outside the labour force, are considered.

Figure 7: Persons outside the labour force due to caring responsibilities by sex (% of population aged 20 to 64, EU, 2006-2025)
Source: Eurostat (sdg_05_40)

Figure 8: Persons outside the labour force due to caring responsibilities by sex (% of population aged 20 to 64, 2025)
Source: Eurostat (sdg_05_40)

Seats held by women in national parliaments

This indicator refers to the proportion of women in national parliaments in both chambers (lower house and upper house, where relevant). The data stem from the Gender Statistics Database of the European Institute for Gender Equality.

Figure 9: Seats held by women in national parliaments (% of seats, EU, 2003-2025)
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Eurostat (sdg_05_50)

Figure 10: Seats held by women in national parliaments (% of seats, 2019 and 2025)
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Eurostat (sdg_05_50)

Positions held by women in senior management

This indicator measures the share of female directors (executive and non-executive) and non-executive directors on formal boards in the largest publicly listed companies. The data presented in this section stem from the Gender Statistics Database of the European Institute for Gender Equality.

Figure 11: Positions held by women in senior management (% of positions, EU, 2012-2025)
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Eurostat (sdg_05_61)

Figure 12: Positions held by women in senior management (% of executive and non-executive directors, 2019 and 2025)
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Eurostat (sdg_05_61)

Source data for tables and graphs

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Context

The Roadmap for Women’s Rights sets out a long-term vision for gender equality including a Declaration of principles for a gender-equal society. The goal is to provide a basis for future legal and policy measures, especially the new Gender equality strategy adopted in March 2026.

Under the EU Cohesion Policy, Member States must ensure that equality between men and women, gender mainstreaming and the integration of a gender perspective are taken into account and promoted when preparing, implementing, monitoring, reporting and evaluating programmes. Under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), Member States have the obligation to promote gender equality, equal opportunities and non-discrimination.

Gender-based violence

The EU’s accession to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in 2023 was a milestone in the EU’s commitment to stepping up actions against gender-based violence. The Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence provides a comprehensive framework to effectively prevent and combat violence against women. The proposal for a revised Victims’ Rights Directive provides for a set of targeted measures to improve victims’ ability to rely on their rights.

Education

The Strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (2021–2030) prioritises improving quality, equity, inclusion and success for all in education, and sets a monitoring framework via policy targets to be achieved by 2030.

Employment

The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan sets the headline target of raising the overall employment rate to at least 78% by 2030. This includes the complementary target of halving the gender employment gap by 2030 compared with 2019 levels.

The Pay Transparency Directive promotes equal pay for women and men for the same work or work of equal value. The 2022 Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union addresses the adequacy of minimum wages and workers’ access to minimum wage protection, and aims to reduce the gender pay gap.

The Work-life Balance Directive aims to help women and men reconcile work and caring responsibilities.

The European Care Strategy aims to enhance women’s labour market participation. The strategy is accompanied by two recommendations for Member States on the revision of the Barcelona targets on early childhood education and care and on access to affordable high-quality long-term care.

Leadership positions

Achieving gender balance in decision-making and in politics is a priority area for the European Commission. The Directive on gender balance in corporate boards seeks to improve the gender balance in corporate decision-making positions in the EU’s largest listed companies. The Directive sets a target for the under-represented sex to make up 40% of non-executive directors or 33% of all directors by June 2026.

Explore further

Other articles

• All articles on sustainable development goals
• Women in the EU

Database

• Sustainable development indicators

Thematic section

• Sustainable development indicators

Publications

Further reading on gender equality

• European Commission (2024), 2024 Report on gender equality in the EU, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
• European Commission (2025), Joint Employment Report 2025, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Brussels.
• European Commission, Women’s situation in the labour market.
• European Institute for Gender Equality (2021), Gender inequalities in care and consequences for the labour market.
• Eurostat (2022), Gender pay gaps in the European Union — a statistical analysis — Revision 1, 2021 edition, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg
• Encinas-Martín, M. and M. Cherian (2023), Gender, Education and Skills: The Persistence of Gender Gaps in Education and Skills, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris.
• UN Women (2022), Gender equality for health and well-being: Evaluative evidence of interlinkages with other SDGs.
• UN Women (2024), Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2024.
• World Economic Forum (2023), The Global Gender Gap Report 2023.

Methodology

More detailed information on EU SDG indicators for monitoring of progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as indicator relevance, definitions, methodological notes, background and potential linkages can be found in the introduction as well as in Annex II of the publication ’Sustainable development in the European Union — Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context — 2026 edition’.

External links

Further data sources on gender equality

• European Institute for Gender Equality, Gender Statistics Database.
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Gender Statistics.
• UN Women, Women Count.