Providing evidence for the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030
Gender equality is a fundamental right for all and a fundamental value of the EU. The roadmap for women’s rights, adopted in March 2025, sets out a long-term vision for fully achieving women’s rights in Europe. To help turn this vision into reality, the new 2026-2030 gender equality strategy will outline the concrete measures that the European Commission intends to carry out over the next five years to advance gender equality in Europe.
To maximise its impact, the upcoming Gender Equality Strategy must prioritise addressing health determinants, reducing poverty and exclusion, ensuring inclusive digital and green transitions, reducing health-specific outcomes of gender inequalities, and maximising the use of EU funding and initiatives.
Responding to a consultation on the upcoming strategy, EuroHealthNet recommends the following priority outcomes for women, men and all genders.
- Increase healthy life years for women and men by improving social, economic, environmental and digital determinants.
- Reduce poverty, material deprivation and gender gaps in participation and protection across life stages.
- Make the digital and green transitions inclusive and gender-responsive.
- Health-specific outcomes via achieving Gender Equality:
- Reduce access gaps in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Fix the data-to-policy and action pipeline.
- Embed gender-sensitive, trauma-informed care pathways in primary and community care.
- Value and redistribute care.
- Recommendations for EU delivery, finance and metrics:
- Align the next Multiannual Financial Framework (post-2027) and a proposed EU Competitiveness Fund with gender-equality and health-equity outcomes; include social/public-health investment windows and outcome-based budgeting.
- Mobilise funding streams under the next MFF for health promotion anddisease prevention
- Ensure coherence with the new EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, the EU Civil Society Strategy, EPSR action plan, and the EU CVD Action Plan.
