09 Mar 2026
Commission presents new Gender Equality Strategy
Ahead of the International Women's Day on 8 March, the European Commission has published its new Gender Equality Strategy for 2026 to 2030. With this new Strategy, the Commission aims at reinforcing EU action in key areas, address emerging issues, and intensify the work on implementation of existing legislation and policies.
The Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030 sets clear priorities for research and innovation:
The Commission will continue to fund dedicated, gender-focused research under Horizon Europe, with an explicit intersectional perspective (e.g. on women’s health, gender-based violence, polarisation, disinformation and anti‑gender narratives). Integrating the gender dimension in research design and innovation content remains mandatory in most Horizon Europe calls, and will be further promoted through guidance and monitoring.
A key new measure is an 'Action Plan for Women in Research, Innovation & Startups' (planned for 2026). It aims to increase women’s participation and leadership in R&I ecosystems, tackle structural barriers and gender bias in recruitment, careers and funding, and improve access to finance for women-led innovative companies and startups, including via gender‑smart investment instruments (e.g. through cooperation with the EIB Group and InvestEU‑type schemes).
The Strategy also supports inclusive standard‑setting and product safety, encouraging European standardisation bodies to use representative data and account for gender-specific impacts when developing standards and assessing product risks. This is intended to avoid design biases in products, technologies and AI systems.
In addition, the Commission will launch a 'Research and Innovation Network for a Union of Equality' to connect projects and stakeholders working on equality-related topics, strengthen evidence for policymaking, and support gender mainstreaming across EU programmes.
Overall, the planned actions aim to remove barriers for women researchers, innovators and founders, align standards and technologies with the diversity of the EU population and to ensure that R&I outputs contribute to a more gender‑equal society.
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