Gender equality

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity has no place in our society, but for many people in Europe, it is a daily reality.

Tomorrow is International Women's Day! This is a good opportunity to promote respect for women's rights, encourage people to fight against discrimination and gender-based violence, and to fully engage both women and men in all aspects of life. Because this is such an important event, the European Commission is marking the occasion in a number of different ways.

On 7 March 2017, DG Justice and Consumers has opened a new call for proposals under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme to establish new 4-year Framework Partnership Agreements with EU-level networks. This is the second of its kind under the current Multi-Financial Framework 2014-2020.

On 6 June 2016, DG Justice and Consumers' Gender Equality Unit organised a meeting entitled "EU Projects on Violence Against Women – Learning for Meaningful Change", bringing together 55 managers of EU funded campaigns against violence and Daphne projects running from 2012 to 2015. The event was moderated by Policy Officers Emilie Jarrett and Anne Van Nistelrooij of the Gender Equality Unit, and Conrad Taft of DG HR. The event was held in a participatory format, meaning that attendees largely shaped the content of the day in which the aim was to harvest knowledge and best practice for future project funding.

[i]The European Commission has recently published a report on [b]"Legal implications of EU accession to the Istanbul Convention"[/b][/i].

Today, on 17 May, the European Commission marks the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

[i]Today we celebrate the role of women in our communities and remember the daily struggles that many women in the EU and beyond still face, as well as the historical fight for gender equality. At EU level, a lot has already been achieved to combat gender-based discrimination through many legislative initiatives and actions in different policy areas, but the work is far from finished.[/i]

The EU has continued to promote gender equality over the last year, with some encouraging results, as illustrated in the present report. I am proud of the work we have done with Member States and with civil society and of the progress we have made. The report also documents the remaining challenges.

Today, the European Commission has proposed for the European Union to ratify the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention, a comprehensive international treaty on combatting violence against women and domestic violence. This reaffirms once more the European Union's solid commitment to fight gender-based violence.

On the occasion of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, Commissioner Jourová, together with the HRVP Mogherini and Commissioner Mimica, reaffirms the European Commission's commitment to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation, a violation of human rights and children's rights.