At the current rate, gender equality will not be achieved until 2197; the “glass ceiling” remains intact

Brussels – We will have to wait another 171 years: gender equality will be achieved in 2197. This is rather late compared with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which set the target for 2030, but this is the projection made by the UN based on the current rate of progress. Therefore, in a resolution on the EU’s priorities for the 71st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW71) – to be held in March 2027 in New York – the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) draws attention to the obstacles that continue to limit women’s economic independence and their presence in leadership roles, to the prevalence of gender-based violence, and to the need to strengthen cooperation between EU institutions, Member States, social partners and civil society. 

In the resolution – drafted by the rapporteurs Giulia Barbucci, Juliane Marie Neiiendam and Christa Schweng and adopted in the plenary session – the EESC calls on the EU institutions, the Member States, and the international community to take more proactive and ambitious measures. “CSW71 represents a crucial opportunity to turn promises into measurable progress. With 2030 fast approaching, employers, trade unions, and civil society must help to advance gender equality through decent work, entrepreneurship, leadership, digital skills, quality care services, and climate action,” the three rapporteurs stated. 

The text highlights the fact that “progress towards gender equality remains uneven, fragile, and increasingly under threat at national, European, and global levels,” and that “women and girls continue to face structural and systemic barriers that limit their participation, economic independence, safety, and full enjoyment of human rights.” Therefore, “it is necessary to accelerate progress towards equal access to decent work, equal pay for work of equal value, social protection and opportunities in entrepreneurship and leadership roles”. Added to this is the need to pay particular attention to women entrepreneurs and women-led SMEs, which “remain under-represented despite their essential contribution to innovation, employment, competitiveness, local development and Europe’s economic resilience.” 

In short, the “glass ceiling” is still very much in place, remaining “a pressing problem.” According to the United Nations’ Gender Snapshot 2026, which monitors progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, women account for around 40 per cent of employees in companies worldwide, but hold just 5.8 per cent of chief executive positions in the listed companies examined in the report and only 25.1 per cent of seats on boards of directors. 

Achieving gender equality is the fifth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. It covers areas ranging from discrimination and gender-based violence to unpaid care work, from political and economic participation to sexual and reproductive health, and right through to access to economic resources and technology. However, the EESC believes that Goal 5 “cannot be achieved in isolation, as gender equality is closely linked to progress in the fight against poverty and in policies on health, education, employment, the reduction of inequalities, and climate action.” 

In particular, the document emphasises that gender-based violence remains one of the most significant obstacles to equality and empowerment and that preventing and combating it – including when it occurs online – must be “a political priority, alongside effective protection, survivor support, and access to justice.” Almost one in three women aged 15 or over – around 840 million worldwide – has experienced intimate partner violence or sexual violence at some point in her life, a figure that has remained virtually unchanged since 2000. In the last 12 months, 316 million women – equivalent to 11 per cent of those aged 15 and over – have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner.