Internationale Vrouwendag vindt zijn oorsprong in de eerste arbeidersbewegingen van de jaren 1900. Het is en blijft een dag waarop zowel de strijd voor vrouwenrechten wordt herdacht als de vooruitgang op het gebied van gendergelijkheid wordt gevierd. Het Europees Parlement is een van de meest uitgesproken voorvechters van gendergelijkheid binnen de EU. Het heeft belangrijke resoluties en wetten aangenomen om de rechten van vrouwen te beschermen, gelijke kansen te bevorderen en discriminatie te bestrijden.

Internationale Vrouwendag

In het eerste halfjaar van 2024 zijn in de EU meer dan 513 000 asielaanvragen ingediend. Een op de drie asielzoekers is een vrouw of een meisje. De EU zet zich in om de mensenrechtenproblemen aan te pakken die deze vrouwen en meisjes tijdens asielprocedures ondervinden. Zo wordt in het asielstelsel van de EU rekening gehouden met gendergevoelige elementen en erkent het Hof van Justitie van de Europese Unie gendergerelateerd geweld als reden om asiel te verlenen. Maar ondanks deze verbeteringen, zijn er nog meer inspanningen nodig.

De genderdimensie van asielaanvragen in de EU

Gender-balanced representation among the decision-makers of the European Union is an important step towards full realisation of the principle of equality between women and men enshrined in the EU Treaties. The Union has made steady and significant progress, starting from a very low presence of women among EU Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament at the time when those institutions were created. The European Parliament is today one of the world's most gender-balanced representative assemblies, but there are still significant divergences between EU countries.

EPRS Policy Podcast - Towards gender balance in the European elections: Electoral quotas

Equal pay for equal work is one of the European Union's founding principles, enshrined in Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). However, the implementation and enforcement of this principle remain a challenge. Due to a lack of pay transparency, pay discrimination often goes undetected and victims face difficulties in making a claim for redress. On 4 March 2021, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal on binding pay transparency measures. The proposed directive to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms focuses on measures to ensure pay transparency, and better access to justice for victims of pay discrimination.

EPRS policy podcast - Equal pay for equal work between men and women: Pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms

Statistics and research results show that in recent decades, before the coronavirus pandemic, the EU's labour market witnessed an increase in female employment rates. Women's employment seems to have been more resilient than men's to the economic and financial crisis in 2008. The coronavirus crisis, however, has had a harsher impact on women than on men when it comes to the labour market.

EPRS policy podcast - Recent trends in female employment

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International Women’s Day is held every year on 8 March. Equality between women and men is one of the objectives of the European Union.

Over time, legislation, case-law and changes to the Treates have helped shore up this principle and its implementation in the EU. The European Parliament has always been a fervent defender of the principle of equality between men and women.

On this occassion, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of Belarus’ democratic forces,&nbsp;Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, a Belarusian opposition activist,&nbsp;Leniie Umerova, a&nbsp;Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activist&nbsp;and Tata Kepler, a Ukrainian volunteer in military medicine highlighted the ongoing struggles for freedom, justice, and democracy in Belarus and Ukraine, stressing the deep connection between both countries' fates. They called on the EU to maintain strong support for civil society, independent media, and political prisoners, particularly the many women still unjustly detained.Testimonies exposed the brutal realities of occupation, including torture, forced labour, and systematic repression in Russian-controlled territories. The message was clear: only a strong and united Europe can help secure freedom for Belarus and Ukraine, ensuring peace and stability for the entire region.

International Women’s Day

The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the first legally binding international instrument on this issue. It establishes a comprehensive framework of measures for preventing such violence, supporting victims and punishing perpetrators.&nbsp;

MEPs have voted during May 2023 plenary to approve the European Union’s accession to the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, concluding Parliament’s role in the process. Six years after the EU signed the Istanbul Convention - it has still not been ratified because of the refusal of a few member states, despite&nbsp;Parliament’s multiple calls to this end.

However, the EU&nbsp;Court of Justice’s opinion of 6 October 2021&nbsp;confirmed that the European Union can ratify the Istanbul Convention without having the agreement of all member states. The Court found that the appropriate scope for the EU’s accession is asylum, judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and obligations of the EU institutions and public administration.

The EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention does not exempt member states from ratifying it themselves, MEPs have repeatedly said, urging the remaining six countries - Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia - to ratify the Convention without delay, so that it can protect women to the full extent of the Convention’s intended scope

Violence against women

Full gender equality is far from being achieved, and this has implications for the lives and life chances of individual women, girls, boys and men, the communities they live in and the EU as a whole. The European Parliament has consistently taken a strong, proactive stance on advancing gender equality, stressing the need to deliver on EU commitments.

The EP´s Committee of Women´s rights and Gender equality (FEMM) is in the heart of these discussions.

Options for further EU involvement could include better implementation and enforcement of existing legislation, moves to modernise it, fill gaps in protection and address emerging issues, and non-legislative measures such as data collection and monitoring, awareness-raising, and support for national and grassroots initiatives.

Promoting equal economic independence for women and men, closing the gender pay gap, advancing gender balance in decision making, ending gender based violence and promoting gender equality beyond the EU are the concrete areas of interest for the EU.

Gender balance

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The right to health, including sexual and reproductive health, is protected internationally.&nbsp;Access to sexual and reproductive healthcare goods and services is a fundamental component of sexual and reproductive rights.

Under international human rights law and standards, European Union Member States should ensure access to safe and quality sexual and reproductive healthcare.

A range of United Nations (UN) treaties ban discrimination in general terms, effectively outlawing discrimination in sexual and reproductive health and rights. These rights include the right to health and the right to family planning, equal access to service, freedom from violence and the right to life. Specific international treaty protections exist to combat discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability but not sexual orientation or gender identity.

At European level, the Council of Europe protects sexual and reproductive health and rights through the European Convention on Human Rights and through the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention).

Sexual and reproductive health and rights

Women in defence, security and peace building. A special meeting of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality with members of national parliaments and invited panellists – including women in leadership roles in the military, academics, and activists – is scheduled in the run-up to the International Women's Day (8 March). The meeting will include introductory remarks by the European Commissioner for Equality, Hadja Lahbib, and will focus on 'Strengthening the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda – Upholding Women's Rights in Defence, Security, and Peacebuilding. (Thursday) A media seminar is organised on Wednesday afternoon, with EP President Roberta Metsola, MEPs, and guests from Ukraine, Israel, Palestine and international organisations.

Inter-parliamentary committee meeting on "Strengthening the Women on the occasion of the International Women's Day 2025

FEMM.- Presentation by EIGE (European Institute for Gender Equality) of the Gender Equality Index

Find out about the economic inequalities that continue to persist between women and men in the EU.

It has been more than 25 years since the adoption of the UN’s Beijing Declaration, which aims to promote equality between men and women. The same goal lies behind the creation of UN Women - dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women - and the inclusion of gender equality in the Sustainable Development Goals.
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So where do we stand? Progress has been made, but inequality between men and women persists, including on the labour market. On average, women in the EU are paid less than men.

Gender pay gap in Europe: facts and figures

SANT- Exchange of views with Hadja Lahbib, Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management and Equality on gender aspects of the health portfolio

AGRI - Exchange of Views on Gender equality and diversity : challenges for farming and food”, organised in the framework of the Gender Equality Week 2024

FEMM.- Securing Gender Equality and Women's Rights in the Digital Sphere

EMPL Meeting - Gender Equality Week: Ensuring gender equality in the labour market: addressing the gender pay gap and the ‘sticky floor’

EP Plenary session - Urgent need to tackle the gender pay gap

High Level Group on Gender Equality and Diversity Constitutive meeting

EP Plenary session - Oral question - The EU priorities for the 68th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women

Roberta METSOLA, EP President, provides support to Belarusian political prisoners with extract of the chamber, meeting with EP groups leaders, ambiance shots with EP members signing postcards to support Belarusian political prisoners, statements of Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, leader of democratic forces of Belarus and Sakharov Prize laureate 2020

Support to Belarusian political prisoners, in presence of Roberta METSOLA, EP President: extracts

MEPs celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March) at a special event in the Strasbourg hemicycle. Four women fighting for freedom, peace and justice in their home countries – Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, Leader of Belarusian democratic opposition forces, Palina SHARENDA-PANASIUK, released Belarusian Political Prisoner, Leniie UMEROVA, Released Crimean Tatar Political Prisoner, Tata KEPLER, Ukrainian Volunteer and Humanitarian Activist – have all been invited to address plenary. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

International Women’s Day: speeches by Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, Palina SHARENDA-PANASIUK, Leniie UMEROVA and Tata KEPLER

MEPs celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March) at a special event in the Strasbourg hemicycle. Roberta METSOLA, EP President, makes an opening speech during the event. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

International Women’s Day: opening speech by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

MEPs celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March) at a special event in the Strasbourg hemicycle. Four women fighting for freedom, peace and justice in their home countries – from Belarus, leader of the country's democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and Palina Sharenda Panasiuk; and Lenie Umerova and Tata Kepler from Ukraine – have all been invited to address plenary.

International Women’s Day: atmosphere shots from the chamber

The European Parliament marks International Women’s Day (8 March). Four women fighting for freedom, peace and justice in their home countries – from Belarus, leader of the country's democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and Palina Sharenda Panasiuk; and Lenie Umerova and Tata Kepler from Ukraine – have all been invited to address plenary.

International Women's Day Celebration: arrival of Belarusian and Ukrainian political activists and released prisoners and meeting with Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Parliament authorities

The European Parliament marks International Women’s Day (8 March). Four women fighting for freedom, peace and justice in their home countries – from Belarus, leader of the country's democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and Palina Sharenda Panasiuk; and Lenie Umerova and Tata Kepler from Ukraine – have all been invited to address plenary, and were officially welcomed by Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament.

International Women's Day Celebration arrival of political activists and released prisoners from Belarus and Ukraine and meeting with Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Parliament authorities

Women continue to face gender imbalances in certain professions and are not always equally represented across industries. This infoclip includes illustrations of women making significant contributions in key roles across various sectors, including scientific and artificial intelligence research, medicine, the maritime industry, and academia.

Infoclip: Women’s Rights: Empowering women in key sectors

On the occasion of her visit to Malta, in the "Saint Albert the Great College", European Parliament President Roberta Metsola addresses to the Malta Diversity & Inclusion Charter conference on "Women on Boards".

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