March 7, 2025

The following is a press release:

Annual conference to celebrate International Women’s Day comes ahead of new EU gender-equality Roadmap.

With the conference on "Women in Leadership: Empowering Women in a Changing World", held on 5 March 2025, the European Committee of the Regions has celebrated International Women's Day and boosted its efforts to deliver the initiative "More women in politics" .

While participants argued that increasing women’s participation in politics and business would boost Europe’s competitiveness, cohesion and democracy, the conference heard that indicators such as the Gender Equality Index 2024 of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) show women are still deeply underrepresented at many levels of political and business life.

In her opening speech, Kata Tüttő (PES/HU), President of the European Committee of the Regions, 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. Programs like the Young Elected Politicians network are key to inspiring and supporting the next generation of female leaders. When women and girls thrive, communities prosper, leadership strengthens, and society moves forward.”

Other speakers, including local and regional political leaders from EU cities and regions, called on all levels of government – European, national, regional and local – to accelerate efforts to close the gender gap in politics and increase the number of women in politics. Despite progress on gender equality, women are still significantly underrepresented in politics. In the EU, only about a third of political leaders are women. Leaders presented their experiences related to the challenges and opportunities faced by women in leadership positions.

The conference highlighted the need to empower the next generation by focusing on the specific obstacles that young women face when trying to take up leadership positions in different sectors, including politics, business and civil society. While general youth-empowerment initiatives aim to provide opportunities for all young people, young women often face additional and specifically gender-related challenges.

Breaking the glass ceiling remains very difficult: although open discrimination is becoming rarer, there are often invisible barriers that prevent women from being promoted to top management positions, despite having the right skills and qualifications.

Europe's regions and cities, as the closest link to citizens, can offer invaluable experience when it comes to promoting gender equality. The conference aimed to promote a fresh perspective on women's empowerment and social progress, also in light of a pending Roadmap to be presented by the European Commission to frame the EU Strategy for Gender Equality post-2025.

Quotes:

Tanya Hristova, (BG/EPP), Mayor of Gabrovo, 1st Vice-President of the CoR’s Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture: "In recent years, the EU has implemented binding measures to reinforce equal pay, gender balance in company boards, work-life balance and combating violence against women, in line with the EU Gender Equality Strategy. Empowering women and consolidating their rights is key. Maintaining political will in this new term is essential to continuing the fight for gender equality, especially as women's rights are increasingly being challenged."

Antonella Sberna, (ECR/IT), Vice-President of the European Parliament: "Every year, we listen to important testimonies and good practices that must drive us to do even more. Behind every statistic, there are faces, experiences, and dreams — often shattered by injustices we can no longer tolerate. I say this not only as a representative of the institutions but also as a woman, a mother, and a person fully aware of the challenges that millions of women face every day. In all of this, collaboration between the European Parliament, regions, and local authorities is crucial to bringing opportunities and addressing challenges in our territories. It allows us to work in a coordinated way and ensures that gender equality does not mean standardisation, but rather the recognition of diversity — an asset that enriches our Europe — while valuing everyone’s abilities, without discrimination."

Marko Vešligaj (S&D/HR), Vice-Chair of the FEMM Committee (Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality), European Parliament, said: “I truly believe that only by strong, joint actions can we reach the goal we all strive to: a European society which fosters and maximizes women’s’ potential, which enables women to fully participate in public life and which puts them where they belong: in leadership positions across each and every sector, institution, company and organisation.”

Sari Rautio (EPP/FI), President of the EPP Group in the CoR and member of the Hämeenlinna City Council, said: "Gender equality is not luxury! If we, the EU, want to be trustworthy we have to act. I am fed up with people talking about family values and then, the same people telling me that I, as a woman, I have to stay home. Gender equality brings happiness, competitiveness and a better quality of life for all of us. It is about both women and men."

Background

The European Committee of the Regions organises a conference each year to mark International Women's Day as part of its broader strategy to promote gender balance in local and regional politics and decision-making, to raise awareness and to promote the exchange of best practices.

The European Committee of the Regions, as the political assembly of local and regional politicians in the EU, has an advisory role in the EU legislative process. Recommendations on actions that can be taken to achieve gender balance in political representation and participation in equality and democracy can be found in the opinion on A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025.

For more information, please refer to the following publications:

Gender equality index 2024

CoR opinion on The Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025

Gender Equality Strategy for CoR Members

CoR's initiative "More women in politics"

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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.