Humanists International’s submission pointed to sexual and reproductive health and rights as a critical area where the new Gender Equality Strategy of the European Commission should advance bold measures. Reproductive freedom remains restricted across Europe, given impediments to accessing safe abortions and a lack of comprehensive sexuality education in many regions.
The comments also called attention to the growing threat from well-funded “anti-gender” movements that actively work to undermine gender equality. 14% of the $1.18 billion raised between 2019 and 2023 by the anti-rights movement come from public sources, so the submission recommended taking action to prevent the misuse of European Union (EU) funds.
Humanists International further recommended adopting an inclusive and intersectional approach to preventing gender-based discrimination and violence. This includes collecting disaggregated data and adopting a broad definition of sexual and gender-based violence that includes LGBTI+ persons. People in all their diversity, particularly women and LGBTI+ persons, are affected by such violence, but the existing Gender Equality Strategy limited it to women only.
The submission was in response to the call for evidence for the EU Commission’s Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030, which will set out specific actions the Commission intends to undertake to advance gender equality and is set to be published in 2026.
Photo by Carl Campbell on Unsplash