It’s a pleasure to be with you this evening. I want to thank Carlien and everyone at EIGE. You are powerful allies for a more gender-equal Europe. It’s great to see so many of you here today. I can see the sparks of passion in your eyes. It energises me and invigorates our work together.
As Commissioner for Equality, you can count on me to be a strong voice for women’s right and gender equality. EIGE’s Gender Equality Index is helping to make equality a reality by showing us where we stand. Women across the EU continue to face barriers in leadership, in the workplace and at home as regards care responsibilities. Women continue to face gender-based violence. This holds women back, and it holds our societies back.
Yet the tools for change are within our reach. In recent years, the EU has passed groundbreaking legislation — on pay transparency, gender balance on boards, and fighting violence against women. Now we must put it into action. And I will be 100% committed to making this happen. I will do everything in my power to build a true Union of Equality over the next five years. And we must do it across all our Member States. Life for a woman in Sweden should not be fairer than for a woman in Romania. Equality is for everyone.
Today’s event could not be more timely because the European Commission will adopt a new Roadmap on Women’s Rights on International Women’s Day next year. This will be followed by a new post-2025 Gender Equality Strategy. These will be the guiding compass for our work going forward. We will consult our stakeholders, and we want your ideas.
Thanks to EIGE’s Gender Equality Index, we see where we need to focus our attention. Just one example: in the workplace, gender gaps are most extreme among couples with children. Women still do the majority of unpaid care work and household tasks. This needs to change.
Today I was particularly moved by the exhibition on Young Migrant Women’s Experiences in the EU. Some of you may know my personal story. My father came to Belgium from Algeria looking for work. I was not expected to go to university, to become a war reporter, a special envoy and television anchor, Foreign Minister and now European Commissioner. But here I am.
I hope that my story is a ray of hope for all women and girls across Europe, to show that everything is possible in the European Union. Together, all of us in this room, we have the energy to break down barriers and to lift each other up. When we support each other, we have a superpower to build societies where equal treatment is the foundation.
Many of the barriers that women face are interlinked. I know this from my own experience. I will pay particular attention to intersectionality in our future Gender Equality Strategy. I will also make gender mainstreaming a priority in my work.
Today, for example, we heard about the tragic connection between gender inequality and war. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine documented 376 cases of conflict-related sexual violence between February 2022 and August 2024. It is crucial to mainstream gender and other equality considerations in crisis management and across all areas of government.
Young people are our future. We need to get them involved in building strong and fair societies of the future. It’s great to see so many young people here today. I look forward to meeting with you in the years to come. I have a message for you: in the first 100 days of my mandate, I will organise a Youth Dialogue to discuss the topics that fall under my responsibility. I will do this every year of my mandate. Our policies must reflect the voice of younger generations.
Gender equality must be at the heart of our Union. We must never underestimate the collective power of women to transform our communities, our continent, and our world. Together we can shatter the glass ceilings and build a future where every girl and woman can dream big and achieve their dreams.
Together, let’s dream big. Together, let’s make it happen.
Source – EU Commission