March 10, 2025

The following is a press release:

President Tüttő reiterates the CoR commitment to promote a new generation of female leaders in politics and regrets that the Commission’s Roadmap neglects the strategic contribution of regional and local actors in the mobilisation for women’s rights

On the eve of the International Women's Day, the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Kata Tüttő, and the Chair of the CoR Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC), Heike Raab, stressed the need to step up efforts to fight against inequality between women and men and regret that the Roadmap on Women’s Rights presented by the European Commission on 7 March, overlooks the vital importance of the work carried out by local and regional leaders on the ground to ensure equal opportunities.

The President of the European Committee of the Regions, Kata Tüttő, said: "International Women’s Day is a call to action not a celebration. Gender equality is a pillar of European democracy, yet women remain underrepresented in politics. The European Committee of the Regions has taken a step forward with its Gender Equality Action Plan, but more must be done. We call on Member States to ensure balanced representation and empower more women to lead at the local and regional levels. Programmes like the Young Elected Politicians network are key to inspiring and supporting the next generation of female leaders. As regional and local leaders we contribute every day to improve gender equality in key sectors such as health, education, work environment, and culture. Even though the newly presented Roadmap on Women’s Rights mostly elaborates on the role of national actors, with a lack of awareness of the importance of the local level in this endeavour, we will continue to work to ensure that the EU’s efforts rely on the full mobilisation of all levels of governments. When women and girls thrive, communities prosper, leadership strengthens, and society moves forward."

The Chair of commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) Heike Raab (DE/PES) State Secretary for Europe and Media of Rhineland-Palatinate said: "On International Women's Day, as Chair of the SEDEC Commission, it is important to me that we continue to strongly combat inequality between women and men. Every woman and every girl must have equal opportunities, regardless of their background. Access to education, employment, and social participation must be open to all. Only in this way can we create a truly inclusive and fair Europe without barriers. In 2025, discrimination based on gender must come to an end. The EU Roadmap for Women’s Rights is an important step. With it, we are setting the course to make gender equality a core principle of all EU policies – from economic development to healthcare and political representation."

Background

The European Commission unveiled on 7 March the EU Roadmap on Women’s Rights and Declaration of principles for a gender-equal society which aim to reinforce gender equality across the Union. It follows the commitments of the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and aligns with broader EU principles, including the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 5), acknowledging progress made but recognising persistent challenges, such as gender-based violence, the pay gap, and underrepresentation in leadership roles.

Since 2019, the EU has put in place binding measures reinforcing the principles of equal pay for equal work, gender-balanced company boards, work–life balance, binding standards for equality bodies and combating violence against women. However, the EU Gender Equality Index still shows significant variation across Member States, with Sweden scoring the highest (82) and Romania the lowest (58), while eight Member States (Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) are falling further behind the rest of Europe on the path to gender equality.

The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 – due to be revised by the end of this year– sets out a vision, policy objectives and actions to move forward on gender equality in Europe, so that both women and men can have equal opportunities and equally participate and lead in society. The Strategy pursues a dual approach of gender mainstreaming combined with targeted actions. Its key objectives are: closing gender gaps in the labour market and gender pay, pension and gaps in care; achieving equal participation across different sectors of the economy; challenging gender stereotypes; ending gender-based violence; and addressing the gender gap in decision-making and in politics.

The CoR has expressed its full support for the Strategy in its opinion on the subject and issued a specific opinion on stopping gender-based violence. In 2023, the CoR Bureau adopted its Gender Equality Action Plan, committing to enhancing gender equality in the workings of the CoR and amongst its members, and appointed a special Bureau rapporteur to follow up its implementation.

Contact

Wioletta Wojewodska

Tel: +32 473 843 986

Wioletta.Wojewodska@cor.europa.eu

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The European Committee of the Regions

The European Committee of the Regions is the EU's assembly of regional and local representatives from all 27 Member States. Created in 1994 following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, its mission is to involve regional and local authorities in the EU's decision-making process and to inform them about EU policies. The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission consult the Committee in policy areas affecting regions and cities. To sit on the European Committee of the Regions, all of its 329 members and 329 alternates must either hold an electoral mandate or be politically accountable to an elected assembly in their home regions and cities. Click here for more details on your national delegation.