Introduction
The 2025 edition of the European Gender Equality Week highlighted a clear message: Europe’s progress on gender equality is real, but not fast enough — and the cost of inaction is high. For Gender Five Plus, the findings underline the need for systemic change to ensure women and gender-diverse people can fully participate, lead, and shape Europe’s future.
Below are the key takeaways and what they mean for gender equality advocates across Europe.
- The talent gap remains a structural barrier
The central conclusion of the week was that Europe continues to suffer from a significant “talent gap”: women remain underrepresented in essential fields such as STEM, innovation, and senior leadership roles.
This is not a question of talent, but of access. Women possess the skills — yet structural barriers in education, hiring, and workplace culture continue to limit their participation and progression.
For Europe, the consequence is clear: when half the population’s talent is underused, the entire economy and society lose out.
- Investment disparity holds women back
A pilot study released during the week painted a stark picture of gender inequality in finance and innovation:
- In 2025, women-led start-ups attracted only 15.8% of total investment.
- Female fund managers controlled just 9% of assets under management.
These numbers show how deeply gender bias is embedded in economic structures. Without equitable access to capital, women innovators and entrepreneurs face steep uphill battles — limiting Europe’s competitiveness and its ability to generate inclusive growth.
- More women in leadership is essential for democratic and economic strength
There was broad consensus that women’s leadership in politics and business is still far from where it needs to be.
Increasing representation is not symbolic: it ensures decision-making that reflects the whole population, strengthens institutions, and contributes to healthier economies.
Leadership diversity consistently correlates with better governance, higher innovation, and more resilient organisations — yet women still struggle to reach top-level roles.
- Education and employment must harness women’s talents
Discussions stressed the need for more inclusive education and training systems, particularly in:
- industrial sectors
- digital technologies
- high-growth industries
The message was clear: Europe must ensure that women are not just participating in the workforce, but thriving in future-oriented sectors. That means active policies for training, reskilling, and removing gender stereotypes from education.
- Climate action needs gender equality to succeed
The EU reaffirmed that climate justice and gender equality go hand in hand.
Women must be included in climate-related decision-making, and financing must become more gender-responsive — particularly for women-led environmental initiatives.
Climate strategies that do not integrate gender perspectives risk reinforcing inequalities and missing opportunities for innovative, community-based solutions.
- Policy progress: pay equality and violence prevention
The week also reinforced the EU’s ongoing policy commitments:
- Binding measures addressing the gender pay gap and workplace discrimination.
- A strengthened EU framework to combat violence against women, including the network on the prevention of gender-based violence.
These measures matter: they protect fundamental rights, support survivors, and create conditions where women can participate fully in society.
What this means for Gender Five Plus
For Gender Five Plus, the findings of the 2025 European Gender Equality Week directly reinforce the work we are already doing to close gender gaps across Europe.
We advance feminist, evidence-based policy change through research and publications — including the recent policy paper by Cecilia Francisco Carcelén, which sets out a feminist vision for the European Green Deal and highlights why climate policy must be gender-responsive.
Through our role as a feminist think tank, we advocate for structural reforms in the economy, digital transition, climate action and the care sector. We also strengthen democratic participation through initiatives such as G-EPIC, which supports young people’s engagement in gender-equal politics.
Across all our projects, we amplify the voices of women and gender-diverse people, push for accountability on pay equality and violence prevention, and highlight the economic and social cost of the persistent talent and investment gaps.
These findings confirm that Europe needs feminist, intersectional policymaking — and Gender Five Plus is committed to turning that need into action.