Today, ahead of International Women’s Day, on 8 March, the European Commission sets out its Roadmap for Women’s Rights and presents the 2025 Report on Gender Equality. “Building on the significant progress achieved under the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025”, a note from Brussels says, the Roadmap reinforces the commitment of the European Commission to “empower women and girls and fully realise a gender-equal society across Europe and the world”. The document mentions a few points that will be included in the Gender Equality Strategy. Seven are the goals to be achieved: freedom from gender-based violence, in all its forms, and support and protection for victims of violence, the highest standards of health, equal pay and economic empowerment, work-life balance and care, quality and inclusive education, political participation and equal representation, institutional mechanisms that deliver on women’s rights. “Today’s Roadmap shows our strong commitment to continue building a European Union of gender equality and women’s rights”, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, pointed out. “There is no reason why a woman should be paid less than a man. Or why she should have lower health standards or face violence, because of her gender. We know that societies where women and men are treated equally are better, fairer and more successful”. In Europe, instead, one in three women in the EU have experienced physical and/or sexual violence, as found by the 2025 Report on Gender Equality, employment and pay gaps are narrowing only slowly in the EU and discriminatory norms and stereotypes persist, while women are overrepresented in lower paid positions and under-represented in decision-making roles.