Gender equality
Gender equality refers to equality between women and men with respect to their rights, treatment, responsibilities, opportunities, and economic and social achievements. Gender equality is achieved when men and women have the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities across all sections of society and when the different interests, needs and priorities of men and women are equally valued.
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18 November 2025
23 October 2025
December 2025
About Gender equality
Learn more about this topic and its relevance for EU policy making.
Highlights for Gender equality
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
15 May 2023
Gender differences in motivation to engage in platform work
The rise of the platform economy during the last decade is one of the main disrupting forces for European labour markets. While standard employment remains the norm, platforms are expanding their reach and diversifying into novel business models. In doing so, they are also attracting an increasing number of women. This policy brief investigates why women are joining the platform economy and how the motivations to perform work on platforms differ between genders. It shows that while women join platforms to gain an additional income and because it allows them the flexibility to combine work with household chores or family commitments, men are driven by the opportunities provided by platforms to work globally and to expand their client base. At the same time, findings suggest that online platforms seem to provide women with a link to the labour market that can potentially prevent their withdrawal from the labour force during different life stages. These findings suggest that policy action should focus on extending working hours regulations and work–life balance measures to all platform workers, irrespective of employment status, and promote equal sharing of care responsibilities between women and men.
13 October 2022
COVID-19 pandemic and the gender divide at work and home
The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated inequalities in many dimensions of European societies, including inequalities between women and men in several key domains. This report looks at gender inequalities that existed prior to the COVID-19 crisis and describes in what ways the pandemic has impacted on gender divides. It also analyses the various policy responses of national governments across the EU to address gender divides, and to prevent their widening during the pandemic. The effects of the pandemic on employment at EU-level has been remarkably gender-neutral on the whole, with nuances emerging within different sectors and socioeconomic groups. The pre-existing gender gaps in unpaid work have persisted, leading to work–life conflicts, especially among teleworking mothers of young children. Finally, the report describes the outlook for gender inequalities in Europe, pointing to factors that will shape the future of equality between women and men: gender segregation in labour markets, gender divides in telework and hybrid work, and gender mainstreaming in policymaking – especially in relation to caregiving and care services.
14 December 2021
European Jobs Monitor 2021: Gender gaps and the employment structure
One of the most striking developments of the last half-century has been the huge rise in the labour market participation of women. Two out of every three net new jobs created over the last two decades in the EU were taken by women. At the same time, sharply rising employment rates among older workers due to population ageing and policy changes have increased the share of older workers in the labour market. This report examines the impacts of the changing contours of labour supply on the employment structure over the last quarter-century in Europe (1995–2019). The primary focus is on gender, with a secondary focus on ageing. Among the main findings are that employment shares in gender-balanced jobs have declined despite the rising female share of employment and that gender pay gaps are highest in well-paid jobs.
14 December 2021
Understanding the gender pay gap: What role do sector and occupation play?
Despite the increasing participation of women in the labour market and a higher share of women than men being hired into well-paid jobs in recent years, a gender pay gap exists across all EU Member States. Pay differentials between women and men have been shown to be significantly influenced by the economic sector where people work and the occupation they hold.
This policy brief examines these dimensions. It also identifies how much these and other factors contribute to gender disparities in pay. The analysis finds that, of the observable factors examined, the greater likelihood of women working in lower-paying sectors and working part-time are the most important contributors to the gender pay gap. Nevertheless, around two-thirds of the gap in the EU remains unexplained by individual and employment-related factors typically analysed, suggesting that other factors not captured by survey wage data account for the rest of it.
15 July 2021
Upward convergence in gender equality: How close is the Union of equality?
Over the last decade, the EU has made slow progress towards gender equality. As achievements in gender equality vary considerably by Member State, it is important to understand the evolution of disparities between the Member States and the implications this has for upward economic and social convergence in the EU. Crucially, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis not only threatens to undo past achievements but may well result in increasing disparities between Member States.
This policy brief, which was jointly prepared by Eurofound and EIGE, investigates patterns of convergence in gender equality as measured by the Gender Equality Index in the Member States over the 2010–2018 period.
9 December 2020
Women and labour market equality: Has COVID-19 rolled back recent gains?
Closing gender gaps in the labour market by achieving the equal participation of women is among the key objectives of the new Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025. Despite significant progress in reducing the gender employment gap, it has stagnated over the past few years. Moreover, segregation in employment across sectors and occupations is still pervasive.
Against this background, this policy brief investigates the evolution of female labour market participation in the last decade and shows that the persisting gender employment gap cost Europe more than €320 billion per year in 2018, corresponding to 2.4% of EU GDP. The analysis also examines the disproportionate effects that the current COVID-19 crisis is having on working women, including the risk of disengagement from the labour market and the unintended consequences of confinement measures. It ends with a review of policy responses to the pandemic that have supported female employment in the short term and proposes how policy should respond in the long run to avoid rolling back decades of gains achieved in gender equality.
Experts on Gender equality
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Sanna Nivakoski
Research officerSanna Nivakoski is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. Before joining Eurofound in 2021, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at University College Dublin's Geary Institute for Public Policy, the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She has worked in many research areas in microeconomics, including retirement income and wealth, pension saving, intergenerational transfers and the financial impact of widowhood. Sanna holds a PhD in Economics from Trinity College Dublin.
Barbara Gerstenberger
Head of UnitBarbara Gerstenberger is Head of the Working Life unit at Eurofound. In this role, she coordinates the research teams investigating job quality in Europe based on the European Working Conditions Survey and industrial relations in the EU. She joined Eurofound in 2001 as a research manager in the then newly established European Monitoring Centre on Change (EMCC). In 2007, she moved to Eurofound’s Information and Communication unit as Head of Communication Products, before being appointed Coordinator in the Directorate in 2011. Previously, she worked as senior research officer in the European Metalworkers’ Federation in Brussels. A graduate in political science from Hamburg University, she completed a Master's degree in Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Carlos Vacas‑Soriano
Senior research managerCarlos Vacas Soriano is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He works on topics related to wage and income inequalities, minimum wages, low pay, job quality, temporary employment and segmentation, and job quality. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2010, he worked as a macroeconomic analyst for the European Commission and as a researcher in European labour markets at the Spanish Central Bank. He holds an MA in European Economic Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and a PhD in Labour Economics from the University of Salamanca (Doctor Europaeus).
Karel Fric
Research officerKarel Fric is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. His work involves survey research, data analysis and project management, with a particular focus on working and living conditions, equality and discrimination. He previously worked as a researcher at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in Vienna, Austria, and at Panteia, a research and consulting organisation based in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands. Karel holds a PhD in Social Sciences from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Master’s degree in Economics from Utrecht University.
All content for Gender equality
This section provides access to all content that has been published on the topic.
